Spraying epoxy from an LPH400

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I have sprayed close to 2 gallons (4 gallons sprayable) of epoxy over the past 6 months, and I'm still struggling to get it to spray well. I have been using a crappy 1.5 tip Bostitch that I got on clearance from walmart a few years go. I figured it would be ok for epoxy, but I'm hoping the gun is what is giving me trouble. My very novice eye tells me I am not getting good atomization. I played around tonight with a wide range of settings

I have a brand new 1.4 LPH400 that I was planning to use for base / clear, but I am thinking of trying to spray epoxy with that tomorrow just to see if my results are different. What settings should I start from?

What about reducing? 30 years ago when I sprayed acrylic enamel, i was taught to use a viscosity cup. Is that worth checking on epoxy?
 
Put several pieces of masking paper on the wall. Close your fluid needle all the way. Open your fan to 90-100%. Set your air pressure to max recomended to start, then start backing out the fluid and check your pattern on the wall. When you get a nice full wet pattern stop. That should get you close to an ideal setting to spray Epoxy with. From there you can make minor adjustments to the fluid needle or simply speed up or slow down your passes.(depending on what's needed)
 
What Chris said is how I do it and using the same gun you have. My settings are the same as for base coat.
I shoot it mixed 1:1 and only reduce when using for a sealer at 1:1:1.
 
Thanks guys. All good input. I thought I wanted to "preserve" my Iwata for finish spraying, but the more I read about epoxy being fussy to spray, I am getting on the page of using it whenever I can and getting real familiar with it.
 
Here are the settings I used:

air at gun using analog regulator/fluid knob - turns off seat/ fan knob - turns in from full out

20/4/0 and 25/3.25/2 (adjust based on what works for you)

I induced at least 4 hours and, many times, let it set over night with the cup loosely covered with aluminum foil.
 
I use 1.3 hvlp gun to spray my epoxy 2/3 full turns from fully closed,adjust fan and spray just fine..,,your nozzle is too big imo.
I use a staring line devilbiss gun.
 
I sprayed 1 coat of epoxy on my trunk lid last night with the LPH400. I had a few ounces of mixed epoxy left that I wanted to use, and I saved that paint so I could paint guns with the same batch of paint. It was the last few ounces (maybe 12 ounces epoxy and 12 ounces activator) from a gallon that I opened about 9 months ago. Is it possible that small amount of epoxy in a gallon can had thickened up some in that time? I feel like some reducer would have helped.

I mixed and sprayed a little Sunday and some Monday with the Bostitch 1.5 gun, and the rest last night with the LPH400 (1.4). The Iwata is crazy nice compared to the Bostitch (LOL, surprise, right?) I still have a lot of room for improvement, but I am seeing hope. I will see how it does with a fresh gallon of epoxy (Delivered last week :)).
 
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