So I'm painting my first truck. I am using a hvlp gun from Home Depot which I have used before. I started painting the inside for practice. At times the paint came out good and covered well but at times it was very light and made me angry cuz it took 4ever. I was using Rustoleum satin black for the interior. I thinned it with acetone about 15 percent like it said. If i thinned it too much, it seemed to come out better, but the color was more clear. Any tips?
Everyone has their own way of doing things, here's mine: Most HVLP guns have two control knobs at the rear, the upper one is typically the fan knob, which controls the air that causes the paint product to "fan" out. I typically open this one all the way up, then turn it in 1/2 turn. The other one is the material knob, and I usually run mine two tunrs out from fully closed. Your may be slightly different, play with each and see what happens. Be sure to set your air pressure (at the gun, not the wall) at whatever the manufacturer recommends, mine is 23 lbs at the gun. Having said that, I strongly suspect your problem lies in the material you're trying to spray. Go to a local auto paint store and pick up some low-priced primer and reducer, a bunch of plastic, graduated mixing cups and be as accurate as you can when mixing the paint and I'll bet your problem goes away.
Definately listen to the guy above.Check into primer or paint and also a good gun I prefer sharpe cobalt's .Buy online it's cheaper Im not familiar with home depot spray guns.But cheap spray guns are ****.I bought one just to spray primer once 15.00 Adjusted spray pattern worked great for 2 seconds then went real heavy on spray .I stopped threw gun in trash can. Sanded the next day and cleaned my other gun.
Hey Lee, It does sound like your trouble is the reduction/thinning of your material. I'm of the oppion that most cheap HVLP spray guns are about as worthless as mule ***! But......I understand you gotta go with the gun you have, not the one you wish you had! Try this: tape some newspaper to the shop wall and test all your spray gun adjustments and paint mixtures there. Try the directions given above for gun adjustments, and try adding alittle more thinner to your mixture of paint. You want a spray pattern, there on the newspaper, that is uniform in shape and glossy all the way across the spray pattern. When ya hit that combo on the paper with your adjustments and thinning, you'll be ready to lay down some killer paint. Good luck! S****ey Devils C.C. "Spending A Nation Into Generational Debt Is Not An Act Of Comp***ion!"