95 Camaro Z28

iTrader: (2)

I want to set up my own little paint booth for myself. Ill be doing pretty much piece by piece...a bumper...a hood...a spoiler, things like that for the most part.

I can get an 2 horse 8 gallon compressor for pretty cheap locally, with that an one of the HVLP guns off ebay do you think this would suffice?

Im not sure how large of a compressor i need, but like i said, it will be 1 piece at a time, coat by coat. so the drying time for each coat might work well with the recharge time of the tank.

Or do you think spraying coats on pieces the size of an lt1 nose, ss spoiler, and hood would be too difficult with that kinda of compressor?

sunsetta

iTrader: (3)

You need something in the range of 30 gal. minimum, with a 3-5hp motor for painting.
Also you will need to hook up a good water trap.

Camaroholic

iTrader: (1)

The problem I have with my 'little' compressor (5hp, 20gal) is that it doesn't take long before it starts spitting water. A few cycles and it's ready to start chucking water in to the airstream. So tip #1, if you use a small compressor, be sure to have some decent water filters in place. I had a small water separator, but it did not work very well. I had it hooked up right at the output of the compressor. In reality, I should have put some hose between the output and the separator (25 ft?), and then continued with the hose. The length allows the air to cool down and the separator do its job.

The other thing is to watch the CFM of the compressor vs the gun. A 2hp compressor won't hold its own against a high CFM gun - and depending on how much consumption you have, if your pressure varies too much, it'll be obvious in the pattern in the spray.

Fenders / spoiler shouldn't be too bad, but the hood will push it. And you don't want it to dry completely between coats, you just want the paint to flash dry.

I have a small booth I build (and tear down) out of PVC pipe and roll of 3M drop sheet plastic. It works well enough for the same type of painting you're doing.

I gave up on the little compressor and built the air system from hell (5hp/60gal I-R compressor, copper plumbing, filters, watertrap, intercooler, multiple drops, etc). Love it. No regrets.

95 Camaro Z28

iTrader: (2)

wish i had the money or for a set up like that

my problem is im not going to be painting a whole lot.

i gotta good deal on someone wanting to paint my stuff local but i really dont know how well of a job/through of a job they will do.

maybe i can check out places that rent tools and see about renting a big compressor for a few days.

this is my 1st time painting and i thing with proper prep and reading as much as possible i can pull off something fairly decent.

i have heavily contemplated the spray can route and at times it seems promising but i keep dismissing the idea after what i hear on body work sites and stuff.

so it seems i either learn to paint and do it myself...or pay someone a few hundred to paint things for me.