Paint gun recommendation

I searched but nothing relevant came on.

After doing some paint job with an arbor freight hvlp paint gun (wich does ok) i'm looking at buying a mid price paint gun in order to improve the finish.

Looking atthe 100-200$ us range.

Any recommendations?

In reply to physician :

I bought this gun https://www.autorefinishdevilbiss.com/products/finishline/flg-4-gravity-feed-spray-gun.aspx and have been very happy with it. The reason I went with this was it is the least expensive gun that the factory sells parts for. The Starting line guns are throw away, no replaceable parts. For me the gun is better than the painter, which is not saying much. I did struggle getting a decent finish with a HF gun.

I have a Devilbiss Tekna that I bought about 8 years ago and it is a better gun than I will ever be a painter. I use it for base and clear. It is a forever tool unlike the procession of cheap primer guns that I have used up over the years. 

Pete

I use a variety of guns including the HF ones and a couple better quality entry level ones. Typically use a SATA jet 4000 for high end BC/CC or the Tekna PROlite for large jobs. I actually often use a HF gun for mirrors, bumper covers, etc. and you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. The big thing I notice with higher quality guns is the ability to turn down the air pressure, paint volume,  and pattern size for really convoluted areas or if I'm spraying really small parts.

I've seen a lot of cases where the compressor system isn't properly sized, maintained, filtered, or regulated which can have a huge impact on finish quality (more than gun quality). If you've got say a 60 gallon compressor and you're shooting a whole car the pressure rises & drops as the compressor cycles which makes it difficult to get consistent application. Smaller compressors start blowing hot air after a short while so while the settings seemed good at the beginning of a large job when the pressure was high and the tank(s) were cool once that stored air is gone the temp of the air coming through the lines quickly raises and is at lower pressure. Lots of things with the air system can vary so the more consistent you can make it the easier it is to get a nice finish.

Thanks you for all the comments, that is what i need. The compressor is a 60 gal with inline filter (toilet paper style) for the paint gun line with a regulator on the gun... i want a good gun so i know i am the problem.. learning on good tools is always easier...

In reply to physician :

One place where we home sprayers are at a disadvantage is knowing what reducer to use. It comes in slow, fast and medium. A shop controls the environment so they chose one and stick with it. Once we guess and mix, that is what we have to work with. 

While pressure at the gun is important, Airflow is just as important. You do not want your gun to be air flow starved. For that reason, I set the air pressure at the gun with a gauge at the gun and the trigger pulled. But I have the gun regulator set wide open. I then use the regulator at the tank to adjust the pressure until the pressure at the gun drops to what I want. A typical hose will drop 10-15 psi over 50'.  Then I remove the regulator at the gun cause it is just a flow restrictor and a PITA to deal with.

Thank you nohome, its seems logical, i will try that. Maybe my regulator on the gun kill the flow. I had the regulator in the gun wide open and i control with the external one. 

I'll try it your way y setting them wide open and adjudting at the compressor.

Can it reduce the pressure spike i experience each time i pull the triger?

I'm gonna hijack the thread a little bit, I have a 2hp, 26 gal tank rated for 150 PSI. 
I was looking at this gun to spray my car with, does it look like it'll suite my application?

In reply to TurboFocus :

No.  I seriously doubt your compressor can make 12cfm at 45 psi per the gun requirements.  This is one of the reasons I bought a 60 gal 3 hp compressor.  The paint gun I'm looking at is about 10 cfm at 25 psi and I probably need to be real careful on duty cycle.

Ideally I'd have bought a 5hp two stage compressor but I didn't wamt to spend $500 more.

In reply to TurboFocus :

No information about the product in the add. A base/clear paint job needs two different sized tips one for paint and one for clear. No idea what tip this has.

Even my cheap primer guns tend to be in the $70 range since I know that the better it sprays the less sanding I get to do.

ah, gotcha. I ended up looking up my air compressor, its good for 5 or 6 CFM @40PSI. I don't know which one I got...  
Either way I did some research and with my air compressor, I am more than fine with 90% of LVLP spray guns

If anyone wants to recommend me a LVLP kit for less than $150, I'll likely buy it when life slows down

AnthonyGS said:

In reply to TurboFocus :

No.  I seriously doubt your compressor can make 12cfm at 45 psi per the gun requirements.  This is one of the reasons I bought a 60 gal 3 hp compressor.  The paint gun I'm looking at is about 10 cfm at 25 psi and I probably need to be real careful on duty cycle.

 

Ideally I'd have bought a 5hp two stage compressor but I didn't wamt to spend $500 more.

Look around for another tank you can plumb inline like pic below. That helps moderate the pressure changes when using undersized compressors.BTDT

Pic was my temporary setup with 2 60 gal. Now use an 80 gal Matco (Ingersol) with a 60 plumbed inline in an AC area. The 80 gal is in the garage and humidity is always high here in S FL so having the 60 in the AC area helps further condense any moisture. I've got traps/drains, filters, and a Snap On pressure regulator/water filter after the 60 gal and then use inline disposable moisture/filter and another regulator at the gun.

[URL=https://s240.photobucket.com/user/NOTATA/media/Garage%20and%20shop/006_zpsae1870ae.jpg.html][/URL]

Looking at the finishline flg4, do i need a 670 or a 671? What is the difference?

I do understand that 670 is for solvent paint ant 671 for water based paint .. can one do both?