Advice on compressor.

[The Chef]

I have a little compressor for painting which is fine, but I want to use a large paint gun for applying fast mask to many shells at a time. I dont want to spend a fortune as it will just be for masking shells.

What would you recommend.

[eyeayen]

Any cheap 12 or 25ltr one from where ever you can source them. I think you could get them at Aldi or Lidl, one of them were doing them cheap. Otherwise machine mart, anything like that will do, it will sound like a machine gun going off though !

[The Chef]

Thank you. I use'd to have a yellow one but I cant remember the brand. It did indeed sound like a machine-gun but I used to use it for spraying Chocolate. But a 12.5L or bigger should be enough?

Thank you.

[MrMagoo]

I went with the cheapest 25l unit from Machine Mart and have been more than happy with it (just by a big stereo or ear defenders!). Paid about 90 quid for it IIRC, and as it's oil-less it's perfect for airbrushing. Just remember that it will probably be 1/4BSP fitment, and most airbrush hoses or 1/8 BSP, quick search on EBay turned up some handy-dandy converters.

It's more than enough to run an airbrush, if you want to go HVLP for spraying liquid mask ot will be fine up to about a .8 touch-up gun. The main thing to look out for when running guns rather than brushes is the CFM (i.e. air volume) the the compressor can drive.

[eyeayen]

Yep everything MrMagoo said above. 12.5 will be fine if it's only for LM, 25 will take longer before it has to fill up. Not much in it though if you're not doing clear coating or trying to spray anything large 12.5 will be fine.

[The Chef]

Thanks guys will a 17 L per min be enough to run a .5 gun painting on mask?

[MrMagoo]

Hum, doing some math and based on my .5mm HVLP needing at least 2.4CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) to run properly. That equates to 1.13 liters per second according to the good old iterweb, or around 68 liters per minute.

My little unit from MachineMart handles 6.5CFM and is more than up to the job.

[bigred5765]

i use this gun http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Jet-H...item51a098e4ff
worked with my 12ltr compressor and my 50ltr one

[The Chef]

Thanks again guys. I think Im going to save up and keep my eyes open for a second hand bambi.

[eyeayen]

They hold their money dude, you can get new ones, cheap, here

[The Chef]

Thank you Ian,

at that price it isnt worth buying second hand.

K

[Wynney]

How do you clean the fast mask out of the gun?

[julianb]

Wash it out with cold water under a running tap. Make sure you disassemble the nozzle cap, and thoroughly clean all the nooks and crannies. Masking fluid gums them up a treat!

I bought a cheapie compressor from Lidl for £60. It came with a load of attachments including a really cheap touch up gun, which sprays masking fluid admirably, along with pumping up car tyres, air beds, etc, etc,

Noisy as hell, but an old computer box lined with polystyrene dropped over it (with suitable vents), makes it bearable for the few minutes its actually running...

cheers

Ju

[Wynney]

That's cool, have had the Aldi compressor for a while, really good for the price!

Don't normally use liquid mask, but as designs are getting more elaborate the re masking using tape is taking a long time!

[julianb]

Trust me, you'll never go back.

RCS Liquid mask is fab. You'll never go back to tape!

[andys]

I bought a Bambi - from Ian's reccomendations and - although I'm not using it at the mo, as its too cold to paint in my garage, it's great.

Very quiet and built like a tank

[Wynney]

I do a lot with my cutter so need to work out the best way to combine the two mediums @AndyS looks like you've mastered this pretty well!?

[eyeayen]

As long as you plan what you're doing you can lay down vinyl masking and then paint over the top with LM, best of both world