What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

I love priming!...

#74430

Member
Hey all,

Just thought I'd share my first experience with my new priming gun.

I use to hate priming and all the associated clean-up, therefore I decided to buy a dedicated priming gun with disposable cups and heads. For those who aren't familiar the 3M PPS Accuspray is what I'm talking about.

- Disposable atomising heads (last a while as long as they are looked after).
- Disposable paint cups (which are gravity fed and collapse for spraying at any angle.
- Disposable lids (with inbuilt filter)

I'm in love. Excellent application and zero clean up... Takes seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrH_6ttt06k

If you prime....Do yourself a favour and buy one. No I don't work for 3M nor any other associated distributor.

Take care and build on,

Dan
 
3M PPS

+1
Just sprayed primer and paint on all the interor parts. Love those disposable cups.
 
Dan,
Are you reusing the heads (if so how long/hard to clean)?

I also hate the clean-up.

Thanks,
Jason
 
Top coating?

Hi Larry, have you used this gun for any top coating applications? If I finally go down the road of replacing my traditional gun with an HVLP it would be nice to use something that is able to be used for primer and top coat. I just spoke with Dan and he mentioned that he was running this off a typical single phase 240V compressor (i.e. approx 3hp for you Americans) which is good to know, as supplying enough air from my compressor was a concern (also a single phase 240V).
Cheers,
Tom.
 
Hi Tom,

I have a Startline HVLP gun (manufactured by SATA). You can buy several tip sizes. I have a 1.3 tip that I just used for priming my VS and VS components. It applied a light primer coat easily. This is the tip size recommended for topcoat, as well as the specific primer that I used. You can get a 1.8 tip for high build primers.

This gun is not overly priced compared to the other SATA guns.

Cheers,
Joe
 
Top coat

Hi Larry, have you used this gun for any top coating applications? If I finally go down the road of replacing my traditional gun with an HVLP it would be nice to use something that is able to be used for primer and top coat. I just spoke with Dan and he mentioned that he was running this off a typical single phase 240V compressor (i.e. approx 3hp for you Americans) which is good to know, as supplying enough air from my compressor was a concern (also a single phase 240V).
Cheers,
Tom.

Mine is the previous model but yes, I just sprayed all my interior parts. All the primer on the plane was sprayed with it. SWP60G2. On the interior parts, I sprayed the primer then top coat within a 30 minute window. SW Jet Flex solvent based. I used the small 5oz 3M PPS cups on most parts. Routine worked pretty good.
I also use a 240v single phase, 5hp, 20 gallon. It barely keeps up but so far so good.
Details are on the "Fuselage" page of my blog.
 
Jason,

Yeah I'm reusing the heads. I've only done 3 applications so far but the head is clean as. Once you've finished just run some thinners through it and wipe the needle as per the video. Works a treat, takes 2 secs.

Dan
 
This looks like a great system. For those with good spray guns already, there are other options to make cleanup easier. I used the DeVilbiss DeKups disposable cup system while painting my -10. Saved umpteen gallons of thinner. You can clean the head with a couple ounces of thinner and throw the rest away. It has a special cup with disposable liners. Comes with 3, 9, 24 and 34 oz. sizes. You can mix in the lined cup, paint and throw the liner away.

Link is:

http://www.devilbiss.com/portals/2/documents/dekupsbinksbrochure-r.pdf
 
Last edited:
I use the cheap Harbor Freight gun with disposable cups. When I'm done just throw the cup out and run some mineral spirits through the gun and wipe off. If the gun gets too nasty I pay another $10 and buy a new gun. If I was going to paint the outside of the plane myself I would probably get a better gun but for empennage part painting it's worked great.
 
Dan,

What a funny coincidence - interdependently from your post I just ordered a Accuspray system from Amazon.
After quite some research, I figured that this is probably the best choice for priming. Unless someone expects a showcar(-plane) finish, it also seems to do a decent job on topcoats.

Oliver
 
I am trying to get a consensus from the builders on the best gun. I am hearing a lot of Binks and Apollo at different airshows. Any other brands to consider? Also, with regard to the tip size my favorite spray tip is at a 1.3 if the paint has a viscosity of 20 seconds in a #2 Zahn Cup. For thicker paints that can not be thinned, such as filler primers for composite substrates I would use a 1.5 approx. depending on the paint being used.
 
Back
Top