New project, old pick-up, old gun

B

Brads62K20

Hi all, just found this great site a little while ago and have been lurking and soaking up knowledge from you generous fellows. I have only painted a couple vehicles before, and that was 25yrs ago. I'm almost done with the metal work on this old farm truck with many a thanks to MP&C Robert. I bought some SPI epoxy primer and I think my plan is to take one panel at a time, get it down to metal and as straight as I can , primer it, filler, and primer-block etc.
I really don't want to go spending a bunch of money on a new gun as I really don't plan on doing this any more when this truck is done. I plan on shooting single stage and still have the old Sharpe siphon gun I used before, is there any reason it won't do the trick now? Thanks, Brad.


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Just my 2 cents..........use the old gun for epoxy,primer and under coats. Buy a good gun for top coat then resell afterwards or even find a used one.
 
Brad,

Let the Sharpes gun tell you what it can do. Decades ago at my motorcycle shop I used my top of the line siphon feed Sharpes guns for SS base and another for both lacquer and Imron clear. Great guns. The Sharpes had a "curly" pickup tube at the end which decreased the likelihood of sucking air when shooting from below. Clever and effective. Used my Binks for epoxy primer (Dupont back then) and a Big tipped Devilbiss for any metallics and flake.

Not knowing which model Sharpes you have (or remember the model numbers of the guns I still have in storage), I can't say that yours will perform as mine once did, so try the gun ahead of time with each product you intend to shoot. 25 years is a long time and O-rings, gaskets and packings will be brittle. Purchase a kit, disassemble and clean all parts well, remove any corrosion and if no parts are pitted, install the kit and give the gun a go. Watch closely as you test spray each product, adjusting air pressure, fluid feed, thinner percentage fan width and speed of movement until you like the results. Write down those adjustments for each product so you won't have to rely on memory later on. Use highest quality slow thinner on SS.

Hope your experimentation works out well. It just might.

Keep us informed and ask questions as needed. There are some seriously talented painters here who are generous with their knowledge..., even some old-timers who remember getting great results from older technology guns.

Lance
 
Thanks for the replies, guys, I'll definitely get a kit for it and try it out. It's funny how you get that mindset about older tech.- those old guns worked so well for so many years, but, now that the newer ones are so prevalent, you start to think they won't even do the job.
 
Don't know if this is your situation but another thing to consider in my very limited experience is if you're working in a small garage or shop without really really good ventilation it doesn't take long for overspray to fill the room making it really hard to see what you're doin'.
 
I can understand not wanting to waste money, but also keep in mind that very few of us will be able to help you run that gun or solve problems that might be related to it, since we've all moved on to gravity guns (decades ago, in my case). A decent spray gun, if it's well kept, will have substantial resale value. You can count on getting 1/2 to 3/4 of your money back when you're done.
 
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