Air compressor for spray painting?

[AndyAndyAndy]

I'm thinking about buying air compressor set up for spray painting. Mainly motorcycle parts, welded metal frames of shelves/tables. Just general stuff around the house. I already found out that I need compressor with very high CFM for this. And compressors around 3000 Bath that are usually sold around he aren't enough.

 

I don't see any adequeate compressors.  If somebody already using any, could you recommend a brand, where did you buy it, what was the price?

[stubuzz]

Have you got a spray gun yet? If so check the CFM needed to run it before selecting a compressor.

[Crossy]

How much use for spraying will it realistically get?

 

A compressor is a dead useful thing to have but ours rarely gets used for painting, the set-up and cleaning just isn't worth the hassle, out with the Toa acrylic spray cans I'm afraid. You can get a pretty good finish with modern spray cans.

 

In reality the beast gets used to pump up tyres, work the coolant spray on my lathe and operate my air-nailer (another one of those things you wonder how you managed without).

 

EDIT And with a pressure reducer blow up 1,000,000 balloons for assorted family parties which seem to gravitate to our place for some reason.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

Maybe you are interested in an alternative without compressor.

One reason is that compressors can be dangerous if they are not properly maintained and/or bad quality.

 

 

[SimpleMan555]

Depending on your CFM/LPM requirements you might need to use a 2-stage compressor with large storage tank to reduce cycling.

 

In the USA to run a 6-8 CFM Cuturi pneumatic Hammer I use for stone sculpting ,  I purchased a Two-Stage Puma Puma @  5-HP with an 80-Gallon tank (230V Single-Phase). It was a very good unit and Puma compressors are available here in Thailand at a reasonable price. 

 

I will purchase a similar unit here in Thailand after my new studio is finished later this year. A small 1hp 92L PUMA that delivers 203 LPM costs about 35,000.00B both on Lazada and in a few stores that stock them. (https://www.lazada.co.th/products/belt-driven-air-compressor-puma-pp-21-1hp-92lpuma-i1962564014-s6254556413.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.22.7ea264845FOIDI&search=1)

 

Ingersol-Rand and Dewalt also make excellent compressors but I believe they will demand a higher price.

Cheers!

 

 

 

[kamalabob2]

I see decent Puma air compressors with Mitsubishi electric motors at fair prices in Thailand.  In Buriram I bought a WestAir brand belt driven air compressor with a Mitsubishi Electric motor. It has been used for many painting projects in the village. Westair air compressor is an Australian Brand that was imported into Thailand. I've met the MD who was from Perth, Western Australia. 

https://www.westaircompressors.com.au/

[sometimewoodworker]

On 2/28/2021 at 1:25 PM, AndyAndyAndy said:

I'm thinking about buying air compressor set up for spray painting. Mainly motorcycle parts, welded metal frames of shelves/tables. Just general stuff around the house. I already found out that I need compressor with very high CFM for this. And compressors around 3000 Bath that are usually sold around he aren't enough.

 

I don't see any adequeate compressors.  If somebody already using any, could you recommend a brand, where did you buy it, what was the price?

I have 2 the first was a Puma claiming 13cfm that needs repair (it does need oil from time to time???? )and it was running virtually non stop (90% duty cycle) the second Puma is a 3 cylinder model that can cope at about a 30% duty cycle. 

 

but you haven’t given enough information about the material you will be putting through the spray gun and how big an area at one time. For shellac almost anything will do, for acrylic house paint airless is best but you can get a reasonable finish with a good air system. Those are probably the 2 ends of the spectrum.

 

I would upload pictures but the forum SW is so screwed I can’t 

[Yellowtail]

If you are only spraying smaller stuff, you can get by pretty good with a small compressor and a big tank. 

 

Your tank can easily hold enough air to paint a motorcycle tank or frame, particularly if you run an HVLP gun...

 

Do not buy a small tankless compressor for painting as it will be useless. 

[sometimewoodworker]

19 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

If you are only spraying smaller stuff, you can get by pretty good with a small compressor and a big tank. 

 

Your tank can easily hold enough air to paint a motorcycle tank or frame, particularly if you run an HVLP gun...

It looks as if you haven’t done that much spray painting or you are talking about a tank that is several hundred litres.

[Yellowtail]

5 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

It looks as if you haven’t done that much spray painting or you are talking about a tank that is several hundred litres.

 

It looks as if you haven't done many exercises using the ideal gas law. 

 

I'd bet my car against a box of donuts I've painted a wider variety of <deleted> than you have.

[ukalan]

On 2/28/2021 at 1:25 PM, AndyAndyAndy said:

I'm thinking about buying air compressor set up for spray painting. Mainly motorcycle parts, welded metal frames of shelves/tables. Just general stuff around the house. I already found out that I need compressor with very high CFM for this. And compressors around 3000 Bath that are usually sold around he aren't enough.

 

I don't see any adequeate compressors.  If somebody already using any, could you recommend a brand, where did you buy it, what was the price?

where are you based andy

[sometimewoodworker]

On 3/4/2021 at 3:06 PM, Yellowtail said:

 

It looks as if you haven't done many exercises using the ideal gas law. 

 

I'd bet my car against a box of donuts I've painted a wider variety of <deleted> than you have.

I keep my usages of gas law to SCUBA usage, and yes I am able to do the simple math involved.

 

I don’t want your car or a box of donuts, and don’t want to bother with your one-upmanship or to know what word the forum SW edited out. Nor am I concerned about the items you’ve used spray equipment on, congratulations BTW ???? 
 

There is no point in trying to spray much using a tank of air only, unless you have access to a SCUBA compressor and tanks or some seriously large pressure vessels.

[VocalNeal]

On 3/4/2021 at 9:37 AM, sometimewoodworker said:

It looks as if you haven’t done that much spray painting or you are talking about a tank that is several hundred litres.

 

Air receivers in the US are sized in gallons so makes sense they could also be sized in litres?  But not several hundred. Two hundred? Maybe would be about 100 gallons. 

 

One doesn't need a large spray gun to paint motorbike frames? I use rattle cans but in remote locations the colour choice can be limited.

[sometimewoodworker]

10 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

 

Air receivers in the US are sized in gallons so makes sense they could also be sized in litres?  But not several hundred. Two hundred? Maybe would be about 100 gallons. 

 

One doesn't need a large spray gun to paint motorbike frames? I use rattle cans but in remote locations the colour choice can be limited.

It isn’t the size of the gun but the volume of air available and minimum pressure that can be usable, since a spray gun will use up to 80 litres per minute (depending on your gun) at a pressure that’s a minimum of 20 psi and a compressor can only go to a little over 100 psi you can appreciate that a 200 litre tank is not going to allow much painting time.

 

Rattle cans are a total different case and can’t be compared to air spraying.

[Yellowtail]

17 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

It isn’t the size of the gun but the volume of air available and minimum pressure that can be usable, since a spray gun will use up to 80 litres per minute (depending on your gun) at a pressure that’s a minimum of 20 psi and a compressor can only go to a little over 100 psi you can appreciate that a 200 litre tank is not going to allow much painting time.

 

Rattle cans are a total different case and can’t be compared to air spraying.

 

And how much painting time (trigger engaged) might it take to paint a motorcycle tank or side cover? 

 

[sometimewoodworker]

7 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

 

And how much painting time (trigger engaged) might it take to paint a motorcycle tank or side cover? 

 

Once, not long, but enough times to build a good finish quite a while.

[Yellowtail]

On 3/8/2021 at 8:54 PM, sometimewoodworker said:

Once, not long, but enough times to build a good finish quite a while.

But to avoid the paint running you have to wait between coats yes? I guess I should have said coat rather than paint.

 

 

[sometimewoodworker]

12 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

But to avoid the paint running you have to wait between coats yes? I guess I should have said coat rather than paint.

Either is OK to paint an object will usually involve several to many coats. I did not figure that time into my answer, so it is still the same.

It is extremely unlikely that a single tank, unless SCUBA pressures and tanks, will be enough. If it were I would not have spent over 30k on my compressor and quite a bit more than that on spray guns etc.

Edited March 11, 2021 by sometimewoodworker

[Yellowtail]

14 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Either is OK to paint an object will usually involve several to many coats. I did not figure that time into my answer, so it is still the same.

It is extremely unlikely that a single tank, unless SCUBA pressures and tanks, will be enough. If it were I would not have spent over 30k on my compressor and quite a bit more than that on spray guns etc.

 

Well, that just has not been my experience. I can put a coat of paint on a motorcycle tank in under a minute, a side cover in half that.

 

The last compressor I bought was a 25HP Garner-Denver screw.

[sometimewoodworker]

21 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

 

Well, that just has not been my experience. I can put a coat of paint on a motorcycle tank in under a minute, a side cover in half that.

 

The last compressor I bought was a 25HP Garner-Denver screw.

So you are not talking about an amateur using a pressure tank or compressor but being a professional painter with correct professional compressors and equipment.

Your usage is totally irrelevant to the usage of the OP together with the cost exceeding 350k just for the compressor so probably upwards of half a million baht just for equipment, and probably as much more for the correct spray environment at a minimum.