Applying Lacquer

You'll not notice any significant difference between a gravity feed gun that has the paint cup on the top to a suction feed that has the paint cup at the bottom finish wise, They are equally both more than adequate in producing quality finishes. It's down to preference really.

Steve.

Well I have opted for a gravity feed. Hopefully mine soon from ebay. Whether it is good or not I know not. But hopefully it will do the job.

Whats the best way to prep the car? I was thinking of rubbing the old paint down with 400 or something?

Do I just need to get the old paint to a matt finish? Do I need to remove the old lacquer? Do I need tp prime the old paint?

I know taking it back to bare metal is the best way, but how does one do it when just wanting to do a quick 'over the old' job?

It's a real problem trying to get a cheap spray system. But I'd have thought you already have a decent compressor at work, so could just use a conventional gun?

I found the airless things just useless.

But the HVLP ones - like Apollo - very very good once you'd got round the useless instructions. And easily portable for those who don't have a workshop or garage.

Well I have a compressor now. I didn't when I was 19 which was when I first wanted to spray something.

Apollo - that's the very name I'm quite sure without actually digging the beast out. It must be 15 years since I last used it. I've always thought of it as an airless spray gun but if in fact it's something else then I stand corrected. You measured the paint viscosity by timing it running through the hole in the bottom of a small plastic funnel thingy as I recall and once that's right you just fill the gun up, plug her in and off you go. Last job for her was spraying the door of an Alfasud for a mate. His car, black, had a rusty one and all we could find in breakers yards were good ones of other colours. Got a good brown one and I already had black paint because that had been the colour of the job before - one of my motorbike petrol tanks. Hung the door off the garage rafters after doing a bit of prep on it and blasted it over and it came up a treat with nary a trace of orange peel. As good as a proper job but at half the price you might say.

For the pittance I paid for it back in the late 70s it's been one of my better buys. I can't remember the exact sum but I think it was less than just the gun for a compressor based system. £30 rings a bell but I could be wrong. Maybe one day I'll actually get to use it again.

-- Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Baker" saying something like:

I've got an old Apollo kicking around - the floor-standing turbine and the miles of hose - same one? Pity it's got the cheapy plastic gun with it though. Having said that, it performs surprisingly well.

Bout 25 years ago I used my first HVLP setup, made by Volumair - if you can lay hands on any of their kit, it's worth getting.

Yes. Airless ones use a vibrating diaphragm. The Apollo uses something akin to a powerful vacuum cleaner running in reverse.

That's how you measure the viscosity of most paints IMHO - but on my Apollo instructions the viscosity they recommend for cellulose, the most usable DIY car paint, is just far too thick for top coat. Especially given the price. It's fine for high build primer, but after careful sanding of this, I've found something like *half* the viscosity of top coat and several coats to give better results. And reducing the paint to thinners ratio even more for the final coat. Of course cellulose can be flatted and compounded to a fine finish, but at 30 quid a litre for plain colours it makes sense to get a half decent finish to start with.

About 200 quid for the best Apollo these days. As opposed to perhaps 5 times that for a half decent high pressure system. Of course if you have other uses for a decent compressor then the figures are different.

But I've no real use for a decent compressor as I don't have a garage. And the HVLP system works better outside.

That's the one yes.

-- Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines