Spray Gun Problem

[vicarious484]

Hi Everybody,

Wondering if you can help me figure out what's going on with my spray gun. I haven't used it in a year and I'm trying to spray a color coat (black). The spray mist comes out fine it seems but there is almost no color at all. I am mixing pigment with nitro lacquer. I tried soaking the gun tip and feed in thinner, but it still sprays almost no color. I got the gun from Stew Mac and it worked fine for the first guitar I finished. Help! Thanks, Glen

[rsguitar]

Hi Everybody,

Wondering if you can help me figure out what's going on with my spray gun. I haven't used it in a year and I'm trying to spray a color coat (black). The spray mist comes out fine it seems but there is almost no color at all. I am mixing pigment with nitro lacquer. I tried soaking the gun tip and feed in thinner, but it still sprays almost no color. I got the gun from Stew Mac and it worked fine for the first guitar I finished. Help! Thanks, Glen

Well glen did you clean the gun after you last used it? If not I usually flush my guns with lacquer thinner after each use to make sure that the gun will spray well for the next project. There still may be some old finish in the gun. When one of my guns in not working well I take it all apart and soak it in lacquer thinner in a one gallon container and leave it over night. The next day I use a brass brush and thinner and scrub it up to make sure all the old finish is gone. Then I Lube up the gun in key areas( spring, trigger, all threads,etc.) and reassemble the gun.

Next what type of colorant or dye are you mixing with your lacquer? and what type of finish are you trying to get(opaque,trans.)? It maybe that your mix is a little bit off and need to add more of the dye to get your desired results. I need a little more info to understand what you are trying to do.

I hope this helps

Mike

[thegarehanman]

EDIT: you beat me to it, mike

I'm guessing it looks like you're getting a good mist, but you're either getting almost no material or you've got water in your line. Get some pipe cleaners, some spray gun cleaning brushes, and some lacquer thinner. Take your gun apart and give it a thorough cleaning, then try again. If you mixed the lacquer and pigment well, then you should not be having this problem. There's no way the gun could separate the lacquer and pigment inside the gun. Another possibility is that the lacquer looks sufficiently colored, but that's an illusion because it's several inches thick when inside the cup. It's possible that in reality, there's very little pigment in the lacquer and that it doesn't show up well when sprayed in thin coats.

peace,

russ

Edited June 6, 2007 by thegarehanman