I would like your opinion on spray gun recommendations.

I have a 60 gallon 3.2hp and a 20 gallon 1.6hp compressors connected together. I would assume my cfm is ~13. I also have a black pipe airline setup ~30ft of it with drain drops and a paint drop with water/oil filter and a .1um filter on that drop.

I'm a little concerned with the air use though. I run a syphon style sand blaster all of the time and the tanks need refilled in about 10 minutes of work.

Let me know what you think, i don't need an HVLP gun, so conventional or HVLP recommendations are welcome.

 

I love my iwata lph 400, but haven't used it all that much yet. They aren't cheap, but with material savings and with its superb atomization, making life easier, it should pay for itself after some use. I have a different hvlp gun I've been using for base, and it does a great job for me with base laying metallics even well, but never could get it to spray clear worth a darn the few times I tried.
I am dedicating my iwata to clear, but they do also have a seperate base cap you can buy. I bought one, but haven't took it out of the box. If you don't want to lay out that kind of cash for a gun, there should be many cheaper models that will do a decent job, as well as a conventional,and produce a nice paint job. I got by with cheaper ones and an old sharpe 775 conventional for years, and a real cheap iwata tuul shed knock off for a short spell, but not having used that many different guns, don't really have a recommendation. I do notice having to dump on less clear with todays higher solids materials with the iwata to get the clear slick then the conventionals, cheaper guns I've used in the past. Some seem to like the astro evo guns, which I believe may be copys of satas, and have stainless parts. There are certainatly enough threads out there asking gun and gun recommendations. Watch the air requirements though, some off the hvlps out there are supposedly real hogs and need a hefty compressor, high flow regulators and fittings.
Sandblasters really seem to like to suck the air.

 

Sandblasters DO suck air. You can't go on that to determine your compresors worth! My blasters gets my 18.5cfm comp to kick in every 10-15 mins.
I like my HVLP gun - moslty becuase the cup is on top, no mopre siphon hole dripping or clogging...better solids lay out.
KenSeth - are you sure you got the right tips (caps)? Base and Primers use smaller caps(caps), High Solids Clears and Metallics like bigger caps. Some guys will run two guns, one for clear and with a differerent/bigger cap, but also so there's never any color in the clear.
I use HVLP for everything paintwise, but still use an old DeVilbiss siphon feed for primer.

For some real good inof, check out the AutodyStore.com forum.

 

The IWATA guns he's speaking of have an air cap designed especially for spraying metallics, nothing else (LVB series) that eliminates the mottling issues you may have experienced with other guns, and they use another cap for clears and solid colors.

As far as the size for primers go, I am using either a 1.8 or 2.2 in a Devilbiss Finishline III for spraying epoxy primers and high build stuff, like the Slick Sand. For base and clears, 1.3, 1.4 and rarely 1.5 using a Devilbiss GFG670. Also just picked up the Iwata's Kenseth was talking about. Still getting them dialed in, doing more f/g and metalwork than painting lately.

 

I am aware that guns need different size tips for base, clear and for higher build primers, and may have different caps available for different materials.
I do use seperate guns for primer, base and clear. I use one of my old conventionals for primers, which has a larger tip and also don't wouldn't want to run primer which can be difficult to keep clean from passages through a gun I spray color or clear with .
My base gun is a hvlp- accuspray that I've had for probably 14 years. Its actually a pressure feed gun, and has a 1.1 tip (pressure feed tips run a tad smaller) It does really well for base, but few times I tried, hasn't done clear well. Some guns just aren't good at multiple things. Maybe with a tip or cap change would help, but really never had a need to, as I've always had other guns that would do well with clear
My Iwata, 1.4 tip, I am dedicating only to clear. Also being a 400 gun, I clean really well after use, and let the nozzle sit in reducer. Mp is right, the iwata has a different cap for spraying base, that I bought just in case, don't really plan to. The accuspray sprays base quite well and metallics even for me, with seldom much mist coating, as well as being pretty stingy on material useage, so don't really think I'll have to use the iwata for base anytime soon.

 

Sorry - I ddin't mean to imply you didn't know. I was probably just getting it clear in my own (feeble!) mind.