Painting Spray Gun / painting spray gun application, how to choose paint gun and air compressor

What kind of paint gun and air compressor should I use?

Getting the Right Spray Setup

Any style spray gun can give you good results if it has the right fluid tip size.

The recommended tip size for the paint or primer you are using can be found in its Product Data Sheet.

Larger tip sizes are used with thicker material, like primers.

They create less overspray, but more texture.

Smaller tip sizes are used with thinner materials and can give you a smoother appearance.

A picture of a paint gun showing the fluid tip

The size, in millimeters, will normally be marked on the fluid tip.

A picture of a typical fluid tip showing where to find the size

The following chart gives recommended tip size ranges for gravity feed guns.

Product
Tip Size Range
Touch-up/Small Parts0.8-1.1mm
Clear Coat1.2-1.4mm
Base Coat1.3-1.5mm
Primer1.4-1.8mm
Polyester Spray Filler2.0mm+

Paint Gun Feed Styles

Gravity Feed Guns

Gravity Feed Guns are the most popular style for painting cars. They use less air and paint than siphon guns and can lay out a paint job with very little texture.

Siphon Feed Guns

Siphon Feed Guns can spray a paint job with very little texture, but they use a lot more paint and air to do it.

Pressure Feed Guns

Pressure Feed Guns are usually used for thick paints where appearance isn’t a main concern. They use the least amount of paint and air, but can give a lot of texture.

What does HVLP mean?

Any feed style can be an HVLP Paint Gun.

HVLP stands for high volume, low pressure.

These guns create less overspray.

This means more paint goes on the car.

The downside is, they use more CFM (cubic feet per minute) of air compared to Non-HVLP Paint Guns.

Either one will work well when matched to the right size compressor.

Matching your paint gun and compressor

air compressor for air paint sprayer

For small projects or single panels, your Air Compressor should be rated at 100% of the CFM required by your paint gun.

If you’re spraying a whole car, you’ll want 150-200%.

For example:

  • A 15-20 CFM air compressor is a good match for a 10 CFM paint gun.
  • A 6-8 CFM air compressor is a good match for a 4 CFM paint gun.

Compressors with lower CFM ratings won’t be able to maintain consistent pressure.

This will result in texture and runs.

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