HVLP paint gun

[ccford]

I'm painting a truck (69 F100) for the first time and have a few questions for the body work guys...

1 - What is difference/benefit of the high dollar HVLP guns vs. the low end guns. It looks like you can spend 25 - 200 or so and I can't tell the difference between them. I'm leaning towards a hot rod flatz paint. http://www.tcpglobal.com/Customshop/ksflatz.aspx

2 - What advice can anyone offer to stop the rust in the seam of the running down the bed. I've sand blasted it out and gone over it with a wire brush. It was fairly bad. There's a few places where it has rusted through (small holes). I'm planning to use rust encapsulator, but want to do anything else I can to prevent it from showing up again.

3 - What is the sealer material / filler stuff in the rain gutter? Also seems to have been in the bed seam at one point.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer

[Dirty Offio]

I hope someone else has a good answer for the filler on the body seam...I want to know too!

BUT, on the paint guns I can help.

The cheaper (older design) paint guns are LVHP guns. (Low Volume High Pressure) They move a small amount of paint at a time using ALOT of air. (compared to HVLP)

HVLP is High Volume, Low Pressure. It is a newer (not new, but newer) technology. It uses alot less air pressure and moves more paint in comparison.

Pros:

HVLP: ALOT less overspray, and a good painter with one can usually paint faster.
LVHP: Easier to use, less likely to get sags and runs. More likely to orange peel.

CONS:

HVLP: It moves alot of paint, so until you get the hang of it you will probably sag and run your paint, worse than using LVHP.
LVHP: Lots and lots of overspray. No matter what you use, overspray is always a problem. It is worse with the older guns.

No matter which you decide to go with, find a refrigerator box or some scrap body panels to practice on until you get a fairly smooth technique down. If you still have sags or runs or orange peel, no worries, that is all fixable, it just takes time.

[BobbyFord]

Use 3M seam sealer. Do not use the water-based seam sealers as those shrink over time, creating cracks for moisture to get into.

http://3mcollision.com/3m-fast-n-firm-s ... 08505.html

http://3mcollision.com/3m-ultrapro-auto ... 08300.html

[bjde0b]

I used lord fusor seal sealer.

[chad67]

I used a HVLP gun for the first time this past summer. I thought it was very easy to use and didn't have any issues with runs at all. The best part is-I tried it because my buddy was using them and I found a coupon in Hot Rod magazine to get one from Harbor Freight for $9.99! I was skeptical, but found the results to be excellent. The paint cup is 20 ounces, but I mixed my paint a quart at a time to refill the gun. My flat black came out uniform.

[chad67]

Here's the bed side I painted, turned out pretty well.

[ccford]

Looks good. Any rust coming through the seam? I'm still debating on whether or not to weld mine shut.

[chad67]

No, but it hasn't been on long. I cleaned the seam out to bare metal and laid on a coat of flat black. Once I have all the body work done on the whole truck and everything is sprayed-I'll put the seam sealer in and spray the whole truck over at one time. So, right now I am using the black as a primer since the truck has to sit outside.