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Yes, I'd like to be able to burst with it as well but could go back to the HP gun if need be. To clarify, those "kits" come with three tip sizes each.

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I'm not very clear on this. Is the .8, 1.0 ,1.4 the diameter of the nozzle and what is better for spraying in our use. Can a 1.4 be dialed in to do what a 1.0 can do? Can a 1.4 spray a thicker product the a 1.0? Could you explain the nozzle tip #s ?

I still believe that one of the most important components here is technique. While at Charles Fox's shop attending one of his workshops, I saw (and played) one of his Ergo guitars. The finish (McFadden's nitro) was absolutely beautiful. He uses the $20 "Touch-Up" guns from Harbour Freight and said that be BEGINS the leveling process with P1500 paper before going on to Abralon pads and then the buffer. I think Joe is right when he said that the leveling/buffing process is where the magic is. I use an inexpensive HVLP conversion gun and get a relatively smooth finish off the gun by thinning the material and adding a little retarder to help it flow out better. It takes longer to build up the finish, but the leveling process is MUCH easier this way.

Chuck

$20 guns, been there , done it. Same with the prevails. Got tired of messing around with a piece of crap guns and getting runs because of lack of control over amount and spray pattern etc. If you're serious about this guitar finishing and building and have the cash to buy a compresser and all the stuff for finishing then to get cheap on a gun is just plain Stupid. Yes, that's right stupid. Like I said, been there and been stupid. Plans in the works for a spray booth at last. I'm tired of standing out in the carport spraying on a finish etc. too. I apologize if this sounds harsh or have affended anyone but that's just all the built up frustation coming out from using those cheap guns.

Hopefully someone truly in the know will chime in but as I understand it, you need the right size tip for the viscosity of the finish you're laying down. It would stand to reason that if a particular finish requires a 1.4 but all you have is a 1.0, you could thin it down to the right visc. for the 1.0.

I'm leaning toward the kit with the .8, 1.0 and 1.2mm tips as this seems like it would be small enough to spray thin shellac with the .8, USL with the 1.0 and if need be, the 1.2.

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Andy;
I bought that exact Asturo set. I ordered the Sata, but they were on long backorder & I finally ended up choosing the Asturo kit. .8, 1.0 & 1.2 mm.
The first time I tried it, I hated the thing & wondered if I'd made a huge mistake.
But... After playing around (And reading some instructions I found on-line, GASP!) I found the settings that worked for me. I've only sprayed two instruments so far, but I'm very happy with this little gun.
I found I was tending to close up on the distance between the gun & the work too much. The light spray pattern looked feeble after years of spraying with a big siphon gun & I automatically closed the distance, creating really bad orange peel.
After getting the gun dialed in, I moved further away & poof! No orange peel! Just a thin, glassy sheet of finish & minimal overspray.
Between changing guns & finish material (I'm using Chemcraft polyester now), the learning curve was STEEP! I still have more bugs to iron out, but the gun is not the problem.
Oh yeah... Communication / customer service with Spraygun World was less than one could ask. Low prices seem to be reflected in the level of customer service provided. The SATA gun was on backorder for weeks & they didn't bother to notify me. It took a bunch of phone calls & e-mails before I finally got the new gun in hand.
I advise starting with the highest recommended pressure at first. As you get used to the gun, keep playing with the settings & lowering the pressure.
By the way... I'm not convinced you HAVE to pay a ton of $ to get good results. I still use my $20.00 ($40.00 in Canada) off-shore siphon gun (like the one Stew-Mac sells) & get great results. I can level a big guitar in an hour with 800 grit, wet. I've never had to go coarser than 600 to level. (This might not be true with the HVLP or conversion guns.)
Good luck, Dan

OK, To explain atomization, in order to spray a liquid finish you need two things, the liquid (paint, clear, sealer, primer etc) and air. When you pull the spray gun trigger/handle you allow the air and the finish to collide inside the paint gun near the fluid nozzle. You have a fluid needle that is matched with the fluid nozzle. It has a tapered end that seats perfectly in the fluid nozzle. The air and fluid combine here and are forced out through the air cap. This is also matched/machined to the fluid nozzle. If you were to magnify the liquid as it exits the gun you would find that the spray pattern is tiny drops of liquid suspended in air. The smaller the opening of the air cap/fluid nozzle/needle valve (.6, .8, 1.0) the finer the little drops. This is considered to be a finer atomization and will allow the thin colors of the burst finish to flow together without splattering and looking obvious. You can slightly achieve a similar pattern with a larger 1.2 to 1.8 by thinning the product and choking off the needle valve quite a bit but it will still not perform as well as the smaller openings guns will. I use a 1.0 but I may actually get a .8 set (air cap, fluid cap nad needle valve) for my gun to have the option of further atomization.

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jw ( o)===:::

Thanks Joe, that's very helpful to me. I'm very interested in learning to do sunbursts as tobacco sunburst is one of my favorite finishes. My Sata has a 1.4 setup. What do think, get a setup for the the Sata or a deicated gun for sunbursts (maybe a Iwata) or dial in the 1.4 and see how it does?

Thanks everyone for the advice. I just ordered the .8, 1.0, 1.2 set. I've got a gallon of USL so I'll definitely have some material for practice. I'll take some pics and post what I learn.

thanks again,

-Andy

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One thing to consider. I just found out, in the usual 'hard way', that a 1.2mm fluid nozzle is a tad too small for me. What it caused was little bubbles in the finish as it was being sprayed. Admittedly part of the problem was the fact that my brand new Binks Mach 1sl needed to be rebuilt because the innards were wacked (my typical luck...trust me). Before the rebuild the gun would created bubbles even when spraying straight thinner, post rebuild it shot thinner fine but appeared to have a little of the bubble issue when shooting vinyl sealer. Yes I do reduce the stuff, but am aware of various issues with such action such as having to spray more coats (which means more sanding and prep time) and also spraying wood on wall where drips become a rather large issue. Since I have as of yet to find a Zahn #2 cup locally I can't say for sure, but I am rather confident that the amount of reduction I use ends up with a product viscosity that falls at the upper limits of a #92 fluid nozzle (1.2mm). I got my first chance to use the system today and upon seeing the possible bubble problem I drove the 2 miles to the supplier and got a #94 fluid nozzle (1.4mm) and when I sprayed the top coat using said nozzle it shot great. Perhaps part of the issue was the fact that the plywood I was spraying was a tad rough after getting its grain raised after staining..said roughness will grab the product as you apply it and can cause bubbling. As of this writing I don't have enough experience with the system to say what's up for sure. I have a load of sub-tops for some table tops I've already completed, and when I get to sealing those I will take the time to change the fluid nozzles out and see what's up. When I first deduced this problem (the first time I used the gun) I was freaked out. After spending a long, long, time Googling the subject I only found one post that seemed to apply to my situation (I know what solvent popping looks like and that wasn't it...it wasn't contamination of the air or product, I also know what that looks like...over reduction didn't help, and the only solution I could arrive at was to push the limits of retarding so that the bubbles could pop and let the finish level out...I was under a deadline and had to get the stuff finished...it came out fine, though it was a definite drama as the lacquer I was shooting cost $180/gallon!) was by a fellow who had the same problems with a brand new Sata gun. Lots of advice was directed his way...he had purchased a setup as recommended by the manufacturer for the product he was spraying, and was using PPG's guidelines for reduction. In the end he found that moving to the next larger needle solved the problem. Maybe an expert can chime in, but from what I know about fluid dynamics its quite possible that too small of an orifice for a fluid being pushed out at pressure causes some bubbles to be created...some sort of pre-atomization that simply put causes a severe nightmare.

Chris, I would dedicate the Sata as your workhorse gun, use it for sealing and clearing and solid color jobs (if you do solids) With that 1.4 you can darn near push strait nitro through it.
Look into the Iwata LPH-80 mini HVLP. It is available in a .4, .6, ,8. 1.0 and 1.2 I think. I would go for the .8 or 1.0 and you will be able to get a very controllable spray. With bursts, I like to build very slowly.

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jw ( o)===:::

Thanks, I'll start looking into it. I'll see if my local guy carries it.

One more thing. The 1.0 comes with a E2 or E4 cap. What would suggest?
http://www.coastairbrush.com/proddetail.asp?prod=LPH80

Questions:

What were you spraying and did you thin it?
What tip
What pressure

thx,

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Got the gun today - very quick turn around but, they sent the wrong tips - I received a 1.2 and a 1.5 rather than the .8, 1.0 and 1.2 I ordered.

Anyhow, I did some test shots with some rather old USL I had laying around and the results are very promising! I'll post some pics after I lay down another coat. The biggest difference is the lack of a gas attack in my basement after spraying. There are a bunch of dust specs in the finish but I suppose that's probably because I didn't screen the lacquer before I sprayed.

Are you guys straining on the way in to the cup or do you strain from the can into another container then re-fill the gun from their and not re-strain?

Thx,

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Here's two shots of Target USL - full strength (i.e. no water added). I was impatient so the board was sanded 100g with an RO sander and has one thin coat of shellac to seal. 1.2mm tip, 27psi at the handle, 2 turns out on the air knob, 2 turns fluid.

You can still see a lot of sanding marks telegraphing through but I think had a sealed better before I sprayed it would look better. I took a shot in the glare to accentuate the surface. The other thing is that the USL is cupping the wood like mad! Definitely seal well with shellac prior to spraying this stuff!!

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Hi Andy,

It's funny, I've been thinking about getting the same gun/package for a week or two, and looking for reviews online. This thread never turned up in a google search, so glad I peeked in here.

Are you happy with the Asturo WB and did they send you the correct tips yet?

Thanks,
Todd

Yes, I'm happy with the gun and no they haven't sent the tips yet. I've heard they're pretty slow with customer service and figured I'd wait until after the holidays to bug them again. The 1.2 is working well as is and I won't be needing the smaller ones for a several months. One thing that's really nice is that it's all stainless - this makes cleanup really easy.

posted some shots here: viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=20181&hilit=hvlp The pictures actually look worse than in person, and it's better after the application of 5 more coats.

Do realize that the only thing I have to compare it to is my old school $20 jamb gun which did a good job but also did a VX gas attack in my shop too.

Overall, I would recommend and I'm sure as I play with it more my finishes will get better and better. I'll post back once I get resolution with the tips.

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And don't forget with the gravity feed you don't need to blow air through it to clean it.