Opinions on cheap powder guns

[Zpider]

Hi all...

I know many use a cheap gun like the Caswell, Hot coat or the Harbour Freight guns. What kinda result are you getting from them? I know that an industrial setup gives better results, but i wanted to hear from you whos in the same situaion as me, and just wanna try powder coating.

My main work today is coating with the Techline coatings.

[Electrathon]

The Caswell and Harbor Freight guns are similar design, Both have the powder on top. The Hotcaot is on the bottom. I have used both kinds and have had excellent results with both. My understanding is the only real difference in a professional and a home gun is the powder transfer is higher in the professional, so you will have less waste. There should be no difference in quality of the finished product.

Your finished job relies more on the prep work than on the application gun.

[Zpider]

Youre right there, same with the coating i apply today, wrong preparation = crappy result.

One thing i hear over and over again is that the cheap guns dont charge the powder enough...

[jtagger19]

I have a $3000 wagner gun and 2 hobby guns
the only thing I like about the expecive one is that you can adjust the KV to 100 to get a better coverage of powder in deep areas
down side is that it only works with 5lb of powder
so I mostly use my hobby guns
end results have more to do with the quality of the powder and surface prep

[dannydone]

Hobby guns made my life alot harder then the Wagner I bought.

1. Not enough charge

2. Always a problem trying to get in those hard to reach areas which causes you to add more powder which causes orange peel.

3. The rubber o-ring seal expands and needs to be adjusted often or replaced.

The hobby guns offered are exaclty what they are "hobby guns". If you go on Ebay sometimes you can get a good deal on a nice professional gun and you will notice your work will come out alot better with less effort.

[Zpider]

Well, since this it just a complement to our coating of Techline coatings we ordered the Caswell gun now. So, gonna give it a try and see. If PC turns out to be more business than i expect, then maybe we end up with something more of a pro gun in the end, but for now this seems like a way to start at a low cost.

Thanks all for the input.

[Popeye]

jtagger19,
Why only 5lb powder? You should be able to get or make a fluidizer hopper. The one we use handles 1/2 to 5lb of powder.

[jtagger19]

how do you go about that ??
I bought it used and use it as I got it .
if I'm able to use 1/2 to 1 LB of powder it will be perfect.
cuz that is the only down side to it

[hvac36]

Well if the biggest problem with the Hobby gun is the Power Supply why not just up the Power ? Let me do a little research and see what I can come up with. If they can do it in the big guns why not the little ones ? Hmmm give me a few days...

[Popeye]

jtagger,
What does your setup look like? I'm sure you have a powder pump that siphons the powder out of the box. Two hoses go to the pump, correct?

We have hobby gun and could never get the results we were looking for mainly because most of what we spray is larger items. Constantly filling the cup was a pain and not very productive...for us anyway.
I noticed there was a sweet spot, a certain powder level in the cup and it shot great.
Don't get me wrong the hobby guns are GREAT and a heck of a value, we just can't justify a pro setup at the moment.

I bought a hopper from "east..." in hopes that would solve the problem, it didn't so save your money! I've got one for sale...

We got a chance to look at a pro setup and the big difference was the fluidizing powder hopper and a powder pump. We ended up making several fluidizing hoppers, they'll work evenly from .5 to 5lbs in the hopper.

Next step was to get everything so it was user friendly. Fabricated a control box with 3 pressure regulators, of those the one controls the siphon pressure on the pump, second one controls the dilution pressure on the pump and the third controls the fluidizer pressure.

There's some relays, transformer, 3 solenoids and some switches to control manually if we want. Did away with the foot switch and disassembled the hobby "box" and mounted it in our control box. Mounted a momentary switch to the trigger... 3/8 hose from the pump to the powder inlet on the gun and Viola it works

I've been thinking about talking to Caswell and see if they'd like to sell this setup. Don't know if they would be interested or not...

Hvac36 is correct... the big thing is need more power!
Hvac36, I was in the Hvac/r business for almost 30 years.

[jagboy69]

Zpider asked the question about cheap guns basically.... I have never tried a professional gun. I dont really have the need. I use my cheapo gun in my average garage, at my average house... but on my NON average car. The guns work...and work very well they do. I will NEVER paint another metal car part again unless it wont fit in my oven. Given the choice, I'd PC the entire EXTERIOR of my car if I could.

[tdsongster]

What is the best of the 3 major guns?

I am trying to decide if I want to buy the caswell gun, the chicago electric (harbor freight) or the 90 eastwood gun? What does everyone recommend?

thanks

[Electrathon]

I prefer the one with the hopper in the bottom over the one on top. Both work, but the bottom design is less messy and a little easier to watch what you are doing.

[hvac36]

Re: What is the best of the 3 major guns?

I am trying to decide if I want to buy the caswell gun, the chicago electric (harbor freight) or the 90 eastwood gun? What does everyone recommend?

thanks

The Caswell gun from what I'm told has a little more power out put I think 16Kv unlike the Harbor gun which has 10Kv, The Hot Shot gun I'm not sure about but I like the Top feed gun myself...

[Banditperformance]

Re: Opinions on cheap powder guns

I have a Hot Coat gun myself,(not the pro gun) and I am not impressed. It has fallen apart, barrel came unglued and charge wire broke, and is hard to clean. Hard to get all the powder out of the inside of the gun. I also orderd the "performacne diffuser" from ********. The hole they drilled in it for the charge rod to ctick through is about .007" to big, so the diffuser just slides off the end. I have to hae 2 little ty-wraps to hold it on. I also think I remember reading somewhere that the voltage was 9Kv. Low compared to Caswell gun. I can live with the gun's shortcomming's, I have goten used to it U guess, and think the bottom hopper style is easier for handling. But, I would liek to be able to up the voltage. I trad in the tips and trick's, Non-Stick kept refering to spraying at around 20Kv. was in the Alum tip I belive. I do High quality Hot-Rod and Muscle Car jobs and can't justify a hopper style gun just to get an adjustabl;e power supply. I do alot of color changes and 1/2 Lb of color at a time suits me just fine in my shop.

Anyone have plans for a higher voltage power unit? Schematic's? I am a Electrician by trade, I can build it no problem, but just am not familliar with what component's they are actually using in them and whwew one would surce these components