Which is the gun of choice for spraying water-based lacquer. Would it be the same for shooting Nitro? I know there are endless choices of guns out there, I've used a few but I'm looking to see if a certain one that keeps coming up as an option. Thanks
I use the small touch-up guns. I have a more-expensive one and one from Harbor Freight and I can't tell any difference. I also have a gravity-feed gun that I am not so fond of.
The Devilbiss EGA 502 with a 395 nozzle tip was the old standby. It is called a "Touch up Gun" but works fine for projects up to a dreadnaught guitar size. Watch for one on Ebay. My first one is 45 years old and still in use. I found a new in the box back up on Ebay.
Bart and Bob,
Are you thinning waterborne finishes to spray them with the guns you mentioned?
I also have the DeVilbiss EGA gun Bart is describing—It's a classic, now costing several hundred dollars on eBay if you can find a good one—funky ones can be found for $50, and maybe you can get parts.
https://www.ebay.com/p/1323646790 I used one for years and years (and years) to spray nitro—it's a great gun, and a huge benny is that you can use the small Hellmann's glass mayonnaise jars with it, so you can keep different colors, mixes etc. at hand—just eat a lot of ham & cheese sandwiches with mayo and you have a supply of jars.
As I said earlier, you basically have to dismantle it and clean all the parts between sprayings if you are using water borne, then keep a jar of acetone on it during storage, which I got tired of doing. You need to use pipe cleaners and acetone and learn all the parts and how they fit together—it reminds me of cleaning my weapon blindfolded in the army.
Edited by - Ken LeVan on 12/06/2020 13:42:26
Using nitro I clean my gun once a year although I must soak the air cap in thinner every month.
The nitro sold today is tame compared to the nitro of decades past.
