Painting question

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I am looking into getting a spray gun. i have a 33 gallon Craftsman compressor. Can i use an HVLP gun with this compressor? Does an HVLP gun need a special compressor? the reason i ask is cause i saw several HVLP guns at harbor freight that were in line with my compressors CFM rating. Actually they required less cfm then what this compressor can output. What guns do you guys recomend? I want some kind of gravity fed gun whether its HVLP or not. Any info on this matter would be great. thanks

 

[JP_in_STL]

I'm not a Pro Painter by any means. I have a smaller (30 gal) compressor and found that it really depends on what you intend to paint as to what gun you can get away with. The Harbor Frieght guns are Astro knockoffs and decent enough for the amateur user but I've been told they use alot of air, more than they are rated for. I picked up a barely used Sharpe Platinum HVLP for $150 that only needs 7.5CFM which is all I could hope for from my small compressor. If you just intend to paint parts/panels and not a whole car you can use the smaller compressor and gun. I painted a VW Thing with the Sharpe and it came out OK, but I painted the hood and doors seperately.

Lurk on autobodystore.com as they have a decent forum and you'll be able to glean all the info you need. They're mostly pros and Len who runs the site often has deals on quality used equipment and some of the lower end guns he sell would probably fit your needs.

- JP