Painting your car with a spray gun can be a stressful job, even if you are a professional. So How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A car, is the major factor.
But if you know How to adjust the spray gun when Painting A Car, the task is almost done.
Most of us think that using a spray gun is a tough job, but actually, it is not. All you need is to master the tricks, and you will love the perfect results that you will get in the end. Adjustment of your spray gun is the basis for the right painting task for your car.
So coming to the major topic, we will explain how to adjust a spray gun when painting a car.
Table of Contents
A Guide How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car?
1. Cleaning And Setup Of A Spray Gun
Cleaning
How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car, When you need to use a spray gun for painting your car, it is essential to clean the gun before use. No matter if you cleaned the gun when using it last time. But it is also essential to make sure it is clean before use. It will affect the performance of the painting if there are dust or debris particles.
You can use soapy water to clean the spray gun. You will need paint thinner, gloves, goggles, paper towels, toothpicks, plastic cups, gun wrenches, and bristles cleaning brush. After arranging all the items, follow simple guidelines.
- First of all, clean out the paint cup with paint thinner.
- After that, disassemble the spray gun body; you should take help from the manual for proper disassembly.
- Once disassemble submerge all the parts in the paint thinner for 30 minutes or more.
- Then wipe out everything properly to make sure proper cleanliness
- Once done, reassemble all the parts of your spray gun
Controls
How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car, Spray guns come with three basic controls to allow you to adjust the spray gun to get maximum performance.
- Fluid adjustment
- Fan control
- Air micrometer
A. Fluid Control
How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car, It will allow you to make adjustments for the distance that a fluid needle will travel back, away from the fluid each time you pull the trigger. By making that adjustment, you will allow the maximum amount of fluid to pass through the nozzle opening.
You can make a spray gun fluid adjustments by unscrewing the fluid control and then pulling the trigger back to the full opening position.
After that, screw the fluid control in until you feel some force from the backside of the spray gun trigger. It will make it easy for the fluid to rush out at the maximum amount.
B. Fan Control
How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car, Making adjustments for proper fan control is also essential for good performance. Fan control is available on the side of the spray gun body; from that, you can make adjustments to the air distribution for different drilling or air passage.
Air passages commonly found around the fluid nozzle are atomized air passages. Airflow from these drillings helps the material draw from the gravity cup and atomize and disperse the fluid.
Another air passage located on the horns of the air cap assists in shaping and squeezing the fluid into elliptical patterns of spray.
When you make fan control adjustments in the right way, it will allow complete control to distribute the atomized paint and horn passage in the correct quantity for good quality paint.
C. Air Micrometer
The final control is the air micrometer control also called the air adjustment valve. An air micrometer is used to make adjustments to the air pressure and volume to deliver the spray gun’s air cap.
It should be used for minor adjustments to finalize the correct adjustments for the excellent painting task of your car.
Generally, it should be in a full opening position to remove the restrictions and pressure within the spray gun.
But for the right painting job, you need to follow the expert’s recommendation for adjusting the correct pressure level. You can only get the right amount of spray from a spray gun at the proper pressure level.
2. Connecting With The Air Hose
How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car, Connecting the air hose is not a tough job; you need to follow the instructions for the proper connection. If there is loss or improper connection, it may affect the pressure that affects the paint gun performance.
You will see the sanction for attaching the air hose at the end of the spray gun. It is simply first, unscrew the sanction by rotating it anti-clockwise. Once it opens, you will see a place where you can fit the air hose pipe easily.
Enter the air hose pipe inside and push it firmly to make sure it enters perfectly. Once it happens, screw the sanction; you will have it perfectly attached to pull the pipe out; if you see it is loose, make it tight. But if it is okay, then go for the following process.
How Do Air Pressures Affect Spray Gun Performance?
How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car, It is evident from experience that air pressure affects results. Pressure adjustment has tremendous importance because of the pattern and lots of paints depending on the pressure.
When you increase the pressure level, you will get wider patterns, but the dots at the edges will become smaller.
If there is any change in the pressure level, it will also affect the performance of the spray gun. So it is essential for the consistent performance of your spray gun while painting the car to keep the pressure the same.
While painting the car, air pressure of about 28 to 29 Psi is best for getting precise results. Modern spray guns also offer a pressure level of up to 40 Psi with better and more precise performance.
If you keep the air pressure at a lower level, then the speed of paint flow will reduce, which makes thicker dots, and the result will also be unclear. So for the proper finishing of your painting job, pressure must be proper during the work.
3. Thinning Of Paint For Spray Gun
The right level of paint thinning is necessary for a better painting experience. It is a tricky process, and you need to use the right level of all materials to get accurate thinner paint.
Water and paint have different properties. The more water you will add, the paint will become thinner and like the water. So for a good paint, you need to use the right amount of water in the paint mixture. So, How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car depends on it.
Step One
While preparing the paint for the spray gun, you should mix the paint with 10 percent of the paint volume in the water and shake them well. Make sure it properly mixes, and there are no thicker blocks of paint that look separate in the water and paint mixture.
Step Two
To know the right thinning of paint, first, check it in a funnel; if the material passes slowly, it means you need to add more water, but if it is passing smoothly, then it is okay.
Step Three
Once you have got the fine combination, add it with the same ratio and prepare all the solutions you need for painting.
Step Four
Before applying the paint over the car, first, make check on the testing cardboard. Please put it in the sprayer and check it on the testing board to make sure the paint is properly rushing out from the spray gun.
Once ensure that it is okay now you can paint your car.
4. Filling The Spray Gun With Paint?
Let’s see the following steps to fill the spray gun with paint.
- Spray guns come with tiny filters that fit inside the bottom of the cup.
- Unscrew the cup cover and set it aside.
- Now take a funnel, use a specific funnel for the paint, and place the funnel on the stand.
- Keep the spray gun below the funnel by the cup upside down.
- Slowly pour the prepared paint material into the funnel
- When you see the cup is near to fill, stop adding more. Do not fill the cup; it is better to keep it a little lower than full.
- Now screw back the paint cover and check the spray gun that is properly attached, and there is no leakage from the upside or downside of the cup.
- Your spray gun is ready for spraying on the car.
- Your spray gun is ready for spraying on the car.
5. Spraying With A Spray Gun?
How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car, It is not a simple job to hook the sprayer up to the paint and start painting your car. It needs a little practice and technique for properly spraying of the paint for fine finishing.
Step One
When spraying, adjust the gun horizontally and keep the air knob open. After that, adjust the fluid knob; it makes you able to depress the trigger at ¼ inch with each pull. It is good to practice this technique on cardboard before applying it to the car.
Step Two
While spraying, ensure the light coats of spray on the car instead of thicker coats; thin layers of paint give a better and fine look than the thicker layers. With a thicker coating, you will see the texture of oil paint and uneven surfaces when it dries. So it is better to spray thin coats repeatedly.
Step Three
You will also need to adjust the fan pattern depending on the surface. For the broader surfaces, you can set the fan pattern narrower.
Step Four
Make sure you maintain distance all the time when you paint. It is good to keep the distance of the pain gun about 7 inches away from the car’s surface. If you keep the spray gun perpendicular, maintain a distance of up to 3 inches from the car’s surface.
Step Five
Start painting the areas that are not obvious; it will assist you in avoiding leaving such areas.
Step six
Before applying the next coat, make sure the first coat is dry.
Step seven
For the car paint, when starting your job, flick your wrist. It will ensure there will be no distinction when you are spraying.
How To Clean The Spray Gun After Nitrocellulose Lacquer?
If you have sprayed the nitrocellulose lacquer, it is good to clean the gun after finishing your job.
Step One:
First of all, open the gun and shake it a little bit to drain the paint; after that, take the lacquer that remains in the gun and pour it into the container, and let it for a minute to properly drain.
Step Two:
Now take a rag; it is good if you take a heavy-duty rag, wrap the rag around a stick and clean the cup. Rub it properly to all the surfaces of the cup to make sure the nitrocellulose lacquer is removed correctly.
Step Three:
Next to that, pull the spray gun trigger and move it up and down to drain the remaining lacquer in it. Take a clean rag and clean the lacquer and all the surfaces of the opened spray gun and make sure you have removed the lacquer as much as possible.
Step Four:
Add lacquer thinner to the cup, attach the cup with the spray gun, and spray the lacquer over the surfaces you want to clean. It will also clean the spray gun’s inside parts.
Step Five:
Connect the gun with the air hose and remove all the thinner in the bottle if it remains. Now open the cup and clean it properly with a clean rag. Wash it with hot water and leave it to dry; store it safely when dry.
How To Clean Up After Water Based Lacquer?
- You can use any of the recommended cleaners for cleaning the spray gun after water-based lacquer.
- Clean the cup and other parts of the spray gun with a paper towel.
- Pour the cleaner into the spray gun and spray it with full pressure to ensure all the lacquer has been removed.
- Now open the cup and clean it with a clean paper towel and leave it to dry.
Maintenance Of Spray Gun:
If you deal your spray gun with care, you can extend its lifespan. For the performance and long life of a spray gun, it is necessary to keep it maintained.
- Ensure you properly clean the spray gun after each use and make sure it is clean before using.
- Do cleaning after two or three weeks even if you do not use the spray gun
- Do not store the spray gun in wet places because it may cause corrosion
How To Troubleshoot The Spray Gun?
Follow simple guidelines to troubleshoot the problem when the spraying gun is not working correctly.
- If there is any leakage, the fluid nozzle is loose; you can remove the issue by tightening the nozzle.
- If you see a gun leak from needle sealing, then check the Teflon packing it may damage, and replace it to get rid.
- Do your guns spray sickle-shaped? Check the air cap. It may damage and replace the air cap to solve the issue.
- Do you see oval shape spray patterns? Check the air cap clogged at the fluid needle remove and clean the cap.
- Are paint sputters from the gun? It means the material is insufficient in the cup, so refill the cup for proper working.
- Is atomization incorrect? Air pressure is too low, or the material is thicker, adjusting the pressure or thinning the material.
- Experiencing runs and sags? If the paint flow is too much, or the material is thin, adjust the pressure or add some paint to thicken the material.
How To Do Occasional Cleaning?
Do you not use your spray gun for many days? But you must clean it properly after two or three weeks to maintain it.
If your spray gun is clean, you can use water instead of cleaner to remove the dust particles. Spray the water and leave it to dry, and store it when it is dry. For a spray-gun surface, you can clean it with a paper towel.
How To Do Occasional Lubrication?
Like all other machines for better performance, your spray gun also needs proper lubrication. It is good to lubricate it with any of the recommended lubricants after one or two months; even if you do not use the machine. Apply the lubricating material with your hand or through a toothbrush where your fingers could not reach.
Air-Compressor Setup Of The Spray Gun
How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car, When we talk about the air compressor for the spray gun, it means using a suitable sprayer for the spray gun. You can adjust the pressure by making a different adjustment to make the sprayer gun suitable for different projects.
Different air compressors offer different levels of air pressure for spraying with a spray gun. There are three major air-compressor requirements for the spray gun Psi, CFM, and tank size.
If you need more pressure, then make sure the Psi level is also higher.
CFM is also essential to consider because it measures the volume of air produced in a minute. Always ensure that your CFM rate is higher than the required rate for your job; otherwise, pressure and volume will lose at the same time.
The right side of the tank is also essential for a proper and consistent supply of paint for fine finishing.
Conclusion How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car?
How To Adjust A Spray Gun When Painting A Car? Spraying a car with a spray gun could be an excellent experience for you. But it is not a simple job that you can perform efficiently. Before setting out to paint a car, you should get some necessary training and knowledge for the satisfactory completion of the task.
We have guided you in detail about the spray gun setup, its use, preparation material, connection with the air hose and air compressor, and all other necessary information for a perfect painting experience.
