Who sprays with 120V compressors?

[strutaeng]

I've heard from members that spray paint with 120V compressors and say it works well.

I was spraying some cabinet doors last night with oil Coverstain. I have a beefy compressor that puts out some 22 CFM, but I have it on a temporary set up about 50' from my garage and need to drag out an extension chord and long 1/2" air hose.

I tried to shoot them with a Husky sidestack compressor (3.0 CFM @ 40) I have and discovered it doesn't work. I was able to shoot some 3" and then the spray pattern dropped off, even though the tank pressure was higher than the regulated gauge pressure. The "sound" at the air cap also trailed off.

After some 20 minutes of stopping and waiting for pressure to build up I had done 3 small doors (with horrible orange peel.) I finally fired up my main compressor. 15 minutes later I was done with the remaining 12 doors.

My spray gun is a CA Technolgies Jaguar HVLP that requires 13.5 CFM @ 29 psi, so the pancake compressor performance should not surprise me. How are folks spraying with, say a 30 gallon 120V Husky/CH?

I've thought of getting a 30 gallon 120V compressor since I don't have 220V (yet) in my garage, but I'm skeptical that would work either. Maybe get at low-CFM spray gun for smaller projects? Even those are in the 8-12 CFM range.

Do I just keep dragging hose around?

Thanks for your input.

 

[Weekend_warrior]

I think the ones that are having good luck have guns that have a CFM rating within their compressors range. I have a 30 gallon husky, but have not used it to paint. You can also pick up some pretty inexpensive HLVP guns from wagner or others for finishing. I have a gun that I got from free (cheap one) so I have not tried it yet. Need to figure it out. I was going to try with a piece I had built my wife with chalk paint, but she knocked it out with a brush. I didn't have to spray in the garage so it was all good.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003PGQI48/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[ford33]

For smaller compressor owners who need to paint, try a LVLP spray gun. Low volume low pressure spray guns requires 3.9 CFM at 30 psig. Consider a Spray-it SP 33000K or the low cfm spray gun from Eastwood.

 

[Jess]

I have an old gun and when I am painting, I gang two compressors together, set the regs above my working pressure and use a small reg at the gun. I can't afford another larger compressor for my modest painting needs but have access to a second compressor. It has worked for me so far.

 

[kaje36]

I have a Husky 36 gallon oil-less 120v compressor that I use, and it has no problems, I have painted a few cars and trucks with it. I even had a professional painter friend that uses it once in a while to help me out, and he never saw any issues with it. it was the biggest 120v compressor I could find. I think its 8 or 9cfm at 90psi.

 

[sberry]

How can we have a 22 cfm comp and not have "220" ? But, use a friggin hose. Why go thru all this to save 25 ft of hose? I sprayed from 200 ft of 3/8, ran it hi pressure and regulated it at point of use. Spend the effort putting power to run the one you have and still end up with something for the effort.

 

[Zeke]

I've never had a 240v compressor and I've sprayed out all kinds of projects including cars. Currently I use the HF purple gun but I have the old school Binks and a nice 2 qt pressure pot set up plus a cheap conventional primer gun that I keep intending to throw away. But it lives perpetually to see another batch of primer.

 

[stikman56]

I sprayed quite a few cars with one,never any issues. Never was starving for more air.

 

[Bobf]

I painted a PU and two old Ford cars with my Sears (1971) 1 HP 120v compressor. I used a suggested by my paint shop supplier Sharpe gun with a low pressure/volume head. Still have the two cars and the compressor (working) and the paint still looks good.

 

[strutaeng]

How can we have a 22 cfm comp and not have "220" ? But, use a friggin hose. Why go thru all this to save 25 ft of hose? I sprayed from 200 ft of 3/8, ran it hi pressure and regulated it at point of use. Spend the effort putting power to run the one you have and still end up with something for the effort.

sberry, I have a detached garage with only (2) 120V circuits. The 22 CFM compressor gets connected to my electrical main box at the main house, some 50 feet away from detached garage. It's just out in the open covered with a tarp for the time being.

I intend to run a subpanel to the detached garage latter.

 

[Trey T]

I have spray painted two cars, quarter or fender size area, using a 20gal tank with 1.5HP CH pump. I got a little bit of orange peel probably because the air was pretty moist.

The bigger the tank, the better. Ideally, if you're to paint an entire car (i.e. a porsche 911), you'll need at least 60gal tank with a dryer (to remove moisture from the air).

 

[creativecars]

When doing a complete paint on a vehicle with a 120V compressor I would work it pretty hard with old siphon feed guns. I then came up with an extra 30 gallon tank that I would connect both inline, that gave me 50 gal total. It would take a while to build up pressure in both tanks, but for spraying I would not run short on air.
With todays spray guns it would be much easier to do.

 

[ozyborn]

Gun CFM rating lower than compressor rating? great. Otherway around? problem. 120,220 or 3 phase. Math is the same

 

[n20junkie]

I have a craftsman 27 gallon 2 stage 110v vertical on wheels. Its been a great compressor for 4 years and I spray cars, run DA's and so forth with no problems. Air boards are too much for it, but thats about it. I love how portable its been and its nice and quiet.

My new shop will have a nice 220v 3 stage, but this thing is the trick for smaller shops. 7.3scfm at 40psi if your need the rating.

 

[TX63CONV]

If you go to the paint forums like autobody101, they will all tell you that at a minimum 60 gallon and 12-13cfm. I agree that it can be done with a smaller setup.....