Any Painters Out There? Advice on Astro Pneumatic

[Robenstein]

Hello all...figured this was the closest forum to ask this question. Has anyone out there used the HVLP guns sold by Astro Pneumatic? What did you think? I am looking at one of these or getting a Graco Sharpe Finex 3000 or an Iwata Air Gunsa AZ3.

I will be using it to paint guitars with acrylic lacquer as well as doing some light basecoat/clearcoat work.

 

[Trav]

For stuff the size you want to do a full size HVLP is way overkill. A nice Iwata LPH 80 104G with E4 aircap is perfect.
Low CFM, 5" spray fan, a perfect touch up or smaller project gun of the best quality.
I got mine direct from Japan from this seller, great deal and 100% legit.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANEST-IWATA-Grav...=item33a3736793

BTW the Astro sucks as does the Airgunza (it is not a real Iwata) both have garbage air caps and are CFM hogs.

 

[The_Eric]

I have the Finex in both 20 (3000) and 4 ounce size (1000). So far the surface finish has been acceptable and the only complaint I have is the reservoir caps do not hold up very well to chems. Not a big deal if you're going to replace the cup with a 3M disposable system.

If you like, you can demo either of mine before purchasing.

 

[Robenstein]

Ran into a guy at my pop's shop today that upgraded to a high end Sata and is selling a barely used DeVilbiss FLG4. I can have it for 110 bucks and it comes with a 1.3, 1.5, and 1.8 tips.

Thinking that might be my ticket.

 

[Trav]

FLG4 is a decent mid priced gun as was the FLG3. Do you need such a large gun for what your doing? They take a lot of air to run them and are best for large surfaces like automotive. Good price though.
These things chuck a lot of paint out, they are not very economical on paint use. I painted a small tractor fender with the lph 80 Iwata and it used about 8oz of 1:1 reduced paint with very little over spray, the full sized would have used double that.
The 1.0 tip on the small gun is equal to a 1.3 on a big gun.

If you are going to use a 2K clear which is nice on wood get an air mask, not a cartridge respirator. The 2K contains isocyanate that a normal respirator wont stop and give you permanent disabling lung damage.

 

[Robenstein]

I would like to have the option of doing larger objects such as tables.

I actually have a pretty darn good compressor so air supply is not a real issue.

I will pull the trigger on the DeVilbiss. I can always upgrade later when I have more cash flow.