Best Airless Paint Sprayers: Read the article for the Subtleties and prudence of choosing a spray machine. We hope you enjoy the extension.
Quite effective of all types of equipment for painting is considered to be an airless spray gun.
This is a device whose principle of operation is that the paint coming out through a special nozzle is significantly crushed and only then fixed on the surface to be painted.
The fixation of small particles occurs due to the high speed of their application. To put it more simply, an airless spray gun is a very ordinary pump that runs on an engine.
Through a special hose, the liquid composition is fed to the nozzle, where it is crushed into the smallest particles. After that, the material is applied under pressure to the surface to be painted.
Airless sprayers are widely used both in domestic needs and on an industrial scale
With their help, they can be applied to the surface:
- Epoxy and alkyd mixtures;
- Latex and alkyd formulations;
- Fire-resistant and textured coatings.
Such a sprayer operates from a network with a voltage of 380 or 220 volts. It is characterized by high efficiency and mobility.
How does the paint spray machine work?
The airless spray gun has a body made of aluminum or plastic, which contains all the elements of the device. The safety system is responsible for the safety of the equipment. The device is protected from clogging by an installed filter that traps even the smallest dust particles.
Useful! The device is also equipped with a safety bracket that protects a person from accidentally pressing the trigger or in case of a possible fall of the gun.
The handle should be comfortable in shape and have a non-slip surface. Its length can not be less than 15 cm.
To make it as easy and fast as possible to make rotational movements during operation, the device is equipped with a rotary mechanism that has the appearance of a small drum.
The painting process begins with a trigger. It is necessary to press to the moment of a contact element with a handle. A safety nozzle is used to close the main rod.
A very important function is performed by the nozzle. This is a cylindrical element that is responsible for the efficiency of spraying. The rod itself is most often made of a metal-ceramic alloy.
Information! As a rule, an airless sprayer is equipped with a cleaning device that allows you to quickly and easily clean the equipment from dried particles of the dye.
Features
If used incorrectly, you can accidentally spoil the appearance of objects, so the work must be carried out in accordance with all the rules.
Also of particular importance is the correspondence of paint and solvent, for example, water can not be used to dilute the oily substance.
The nozzle is small in size, which is why it can often be clogged with grains of dried paint, small debris. If the sores get into the jar with the coloring composition, they must be filtered through a sieve made of synthetic material.
The best option is an airless spray machine with a replaceable nozzle, thanks to which you can quickly replace the clogged nozzle and get back to work.
Advantages and characteristics of paint spraying equipment
Many of the surfaces in household or industrial environments and can be painted by hand. However, the result is likely to leave much to be desired. Airless painting has the following advantages over manual application of the composition:
- very high labor productivity, automatic equipment allows you to significantly increase the speed of work;
- performing a high-quality layer on the surface of the part and eliminating the inhomogeneity of the substance on the surface;
- the ability to paint the surface in hard-to-reach places by spraying the composition to the smallest splashes;
- the absence of streaks and streaks is achieved due to the fact that the tool does not touch the surface.
If you choose the wrong tip to the device or set the wrong spray speed, then there is a risk of smudges and splashes. They can also appear when painting parts of complex shapes. With a careful adjustment, this will be completely invisible.
When choosing a device, it is important to pay attention, not to the tightness of the seals, channels, and cavities. This will help avoid spills. The connection point of the device and the hose must be equipped with a rotary mechanism for easy operation.
Useful! It is useful to have a locking shut-off valve and an additional fine filter.
Calculation of the dimensions of the cameras
Ways to paint alloy wheels at home:
To correctly calculate the camera parameters and correctly choose the equipment for painting the car, you need to understand the principle of their operation in car service stations.
The painted chamber is called a separate box, insulated and having special lighting, an air filtration system.
The entrance to this room is equipped with a gate. In addition to the main unit, there is an external unit with a ventilation system and an automatic air heating function.
The arrangement of two consecutive blocks facilitates the painting process but takes up a lot of space.
The size of the paint chamber is affected by the following factors:
- Number of operations per day;
- Paint quality;
- The number of funds that need to be invested in the equipment and its regular operation.
Despite the presence of several factors, there are standard parameters of the car paint room: 6.9 m in length, 3.9 m in width, and 2.7 m in height. The larger the area of the camera, the higher its cost.
6.9 * 3.9 * 2.9 m.
8.6 * 4.0 * 3.4m.
6.9 * 4.0 * 2.7m.
6.9 * 3.9 * 2.7m.
7.5 * 3.9 * 2.7m.
When planning the size of the chamber for printing machines, it is necessary to choose the right room so that the operation of the equipment does not cause difficulties. The following requirements apply to the room:
- Non-residential;
- The availability of additional space to accommodate equipment of the drying chamber.
The placement of the camera depends on the selected design option:
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- Ready-made housing, often made in China. It is not very expensive, but you will have to seal the gates and doors, as well as mount the grate on the floor. The standard area of such a structure is 7 * 4 meters and the height is 2.7 m (passenger cars) or 3.4 m (trucks);
- Use of the garage: The option is only cheap at first glance. In fact, it requires a large investment in the treatment of walls, floor installation, completion of the gate, expansion of the service area, and installation of ventilation;
- Construction of a metal structure on a concrete podium (with an underground device).
When determining the base option of the paint chamber, you can proceed to the choice of equipment.
Working process
In order for the paint composition to fall on the surface smoothly and beautifully, it is important to set up the equipment correctly. To do this, the device is adjusted after testing it on cardboard or newspaper. The test is performed by pressing the trigger on the unit and spraying the paint until noticeable smudges form.
Next, you should carefully consider how exactly the excess paint behaves. If all the settings are correct, the drips will flow down evenly and equally. If there are more pronounced rivulets of the composition at the edges of the spot, then either take a more viscous mixture, or reduce the pressure.
Heavy smudges in the center of the spot indicate that you need to reduce the flow of paint. If the stain is too light, it is necessary to reduce the viscosity of the material by adding a solvent to the composition.
After adjusting the unit, you can start painting the surface directly.
For high-quality painting, you need to tilt the gun right-left and up-down. When the required amount of work is done, the device should be well cleaned of paint residues and lubricated with a special composition that does not contain silicone.
Heavy paint artillery
Does the car body need to be polished immediately after painting
A car service company, all work related to painting is carried out mainly by means of automatic and high-tech installations, aggregates, cabs, boxes, and other devices. You can select the following equipment for auto paint:
- vehicle preparation post;
- paint-drying and painting chambers;
- the cockpit of mixing colors;
- infrared drying;
- automatic car washes for sprayers.
In addition to the main units of equipment, additional units are needed to work with paintworks, such as paint injection devices, machine lifts, compressors, extractors, and slipway frames.
The starting point for the car is an automated training post. Here, preparatory, straightening, and painting work is carried out.
Preparing the workspace
What do you need to paint the car yourself? You should pay special attention to the workspace. To paint a car, you need to have a lot of space in the garage, since the car itself, the equipment for painting, as well as the person who will be engaged in painting should fit
It is desirable that there is a space of about 2 meters around the car. In addition to large volumes of space, the garage should be well ventilated. In order to see all the swells and smudges in the room, it is necessary to install good lighting, which will be directed at a small angle to the object being painted.
When painting the car, the following safety measures should be observed:
- The room should be well ventilated
- The compressor that creates the pressure must be located outside the room during operation, as a spark may occur in the contacts.
- In the room where the painting will take place or is taking place, you can not smoke.
- The work should only be carried out with a respirator on.
From all of the above, it is clear that painting a car is not easy, especially if you are doing it for the first time. Immediately try to paint yourself is not worth it, initially, it is better to work with an assistant from a specialist, as you can see the whole process of work. And only then, having gained experience, you can try to paint yourself.
Materials
High-quality car painting with your own hands is impossible without the use of appropriate materials:
- paint, hardener, and thinner (the mixing ratio can be found in the instructions for each type of paint). As a paint, you will most likely need acrylic enamel, since it is most often used in painting car bodies;
- soils:
-
- acidic, if there were pockets of corrosion on the surface before treatment;
- ground-insulator;
- soil is a minimum.
- putty:
-
- filling-used for processing surfaces with large dents;
- for reinforcement – has inclusions of fiberglass, well suited for processing large areas;
- finish – used at the stage of the final drawing of the planes;
- universal;
- putty for plastic-has good adhesion to plastic elements (mostly used in working with bumpers);
- liquid-allows you to hide particularly small scratches and pores.
- abrasive materials of different grain sizes (p80-p1500) for grinding and washing the plane (scratches are applied to the surface, which improves adhesion and level the plane), as well as wipes for degreasing the surface. Degreaser, a common acrylic black paint that will be used as a developing layer in the process of sanding the putty.
Technology
The procedure for carrying out the work includes the following stages:
- dismantling of elements that prevent access to hidden cavities. Details that will not be painted should be covered with insulating material (masking paper, newspaper, film);
- surface degreasing, removal of bitumen stains;
- removing the old paint layer from the repair area (preferably putty on “bare” metal), covering the entire surface;
- putty with subsequent grinding and giving the body element natural shapes;
- repeated application of putty (at one time it is almost impossible to perfectly remove the plane);
- application of the development layer and re-grinding;
- the application of soil;
- washing the soil (wipes to the metal or putty are covered with a second layer of soil);
- degreasing;
- applying the required number of layers of base paint;
- surface coating;
- finish polishing.
Important nuances
It is worth considering that to paint the car yourself, without having experience, is quite difficult
You should take into account many factors, including:
The temperature of the air in the room
It depends not only on the proportions of mixing additional components with paint, varnish, putty but also on the drying speed of the latter, which is important in the process of inter-layer drying; lighting.
You will not be able to evenly put a layer and monitor the formation of shagreen if the room is poorly lit; the selection of a shade of paint should be entrusted to a competent colorist; to properly prepare a non-new car, it may take a significant amount of time and effort
The use of an orbital sander can speed up the process. If you do not stop the price of this device, be sure to estimate whether your compressor can pull it. Such a pneumatic tool consumes a large amount of air.
The quality of the preparation directly affects the appearance of the parts after painting. Be sure to find a part or surface that will serve as a training ground for you to work with the spray gun.
Ideally, you should check the compatibility of the materials (for example, sometimes the soil and the base can not be combined well, which leads to the” undermining ” of the layers.
Only a complete repaint of the plot can fix this. Such troubles can lead to a mismatch in the technology of mixing the proportions in the preparation of the material, poor degreasing of the surface).
The question of training is especially acute if the scratches are located locally, and you decided to paint the element with a “transition“. It is almost impossible to perform such a technique at home without experience in painting work.
Application of the tool for paint-free removal of dents
Since the tool for removing dents without painting is divided into several groups, the methods of using it differ from each other.
So, for the adhesive pulling of dents, a special adhesive system is necessary, which allows you to level the surface of the body in cases where it is impossible to get close to the defect from the inside.
We are talking about a pistol that pulls out a dent by sticking to the surface with glue. However, in garage conditions, motorists often use an alternative-a suction cup with hot glue.
The suction cup, which corresponds to the size of the dent, is glued to the body, and then the surface is leveled by pulling on it after the glue hardens.
Equipment in the form of hooks is used in the case when there is a part under the body skin that is designed to strengthen the structure (a stamping, a box, or a shelf of rigidity).
The lever in the form of a hook is inserted between the skin and the hidden part, relying on the body power part from the inside.
To align the surface of the body, the handle is turned so that the dent is pulled out by the beak section by section.
Choosing a hook for pulling a dent is simple: it is enough to correlate the size of the roughness, the thickness of the metal with the size and thickness of the lever.
Sometimes an additional tool in the form of hammers, anvils, or accessories is required to correct the body geometry in a paint-free way.
Important tips:
The anvils take on some of the load while tapping the part with a hammer in order to level the surface. And various accessories help to assess the condition of the paintwork.
So, if the paint thickness tool shows that the layer is very thin, then it will be very difficult to avoid damage during the removal of the dent without painting.
To remove dents without painting, it is important not only to be able to handle the tools correctly but also to perform the work in a good light.
If it is insufficient, then often the result of working in daylight will not satisfy the motorist: the sun will expose all the remaining defects
Therefore, equip your garage with special lamps that will allow you to accurately control the actions during the straightening of the body.
If weather conditions allow, the removal of dents without painting can be done outside in the sun.
Painting chamber
Automatic painting is completely carried out in special sealed boxes – paint chambers equipped with temperature control, lighting, and ventilation devices. Paint boxes operate on different energy carriers:
- antifreeze;
- hot water;
- LPG and natural gas;
- electricity;
- diesel fuel.
Due to the heat exchangers and heating elements in the chamber, a constant temperature is maintained.
The ventilation system of the supply or supply-exhaust type provides the necessary air exchange in the box. Different camera designs may contain monoblocks or separate devices.
Paint chamber
The equipment for the paint chamber is, of course, the equipment located in the heat-insulating room, which is made of various sandwich panels and is selected depending on the specific tasks. The camera is illuminated by special lamps.
In the market of paint chambers, various modifications are presented, having different dimensions and different additional functional sets for painting the car.
There are also models that work only with a certain type of paintwork, for example, boxes for painting with water-based materials.
Water-based paints can significantly reduce the amount of rapidly evaporating organic mixtures in the atmosphere.
There is another group – equipment for powder coating. Many companies make a choice in favor of this particular technique because of the high speed of work.
Powder coating does not require complicated preparation procedures and the application of repeated layers.
This technology provides a strong polymer coating, which makes the surface of the machine more resistant to mechanical damage.
Powder coating equipment has a number of advantages:
- The composition of the dyes does not include solvents. And this saves time and money on the preparation of paints for use, in addition, this production is considered less dangerous.
- Powder losses are only 2-4%, whereas when using liquid paints, this figure is 40-50%.
- Powder coating equipment saves working time. The entire cycle takes about 0.30-2 hours.
- The transition from one color to another is faster.
- Storage of powder paints does not need a special fire-fighting room.