Spray Gun

[Michael Golden]

What is a good spray gun for bow building? Nothing expensive but will get the job done. I remember Jason Westbrook (I think that was his name) building a bow and used one for the finish but, can't seem to find it on a search.

[OconeeDan]

I use an automotive touch up spray gun that works well.  Cheap and easy to use, maybe 30 bucks?  Hook to an air compressor.
Dan

[d. ward]

Same as Dan...8 oz.detail spray gun..I've got several different models rangeing in price from 39.99 to over 500.00 for the best one I have....I have a $99.99 automotive 8 oz gravity feed detail gun that is probley the best of the 6 or 7 spray guns I have.The 100.00 gun does the same finish as the 569.00 model...and you could never tell the difference..But for 100.00 or less you can get a great spray gun.I personaly like the gravity feed better as when the gun get low on product you will not get that orange peel with the gravity feed gun...bowdoc

[Badlands]

I use a airbrush with a #1 tip.  I'm sure it doesn't put out as much finish as a spray gun, but it has worked well for me.  I sprayed 6 bows last sunday.

Brad

[iacornfed]

I use a Pasche VL airbrush. The whole kit cost about $75 plus you need an air compressor. I have used it for 18 years with no problems.

[Apex Predator]

What is the minimum air compressor requirements for such a spray gun?  I have a very small pancake style compressor.  Just wondering if I need a new one.

[Badlands]

Note sure about the spray guns, but I doubt that they take much preasure. I'd bet your compressor will be fine.  When spraying bows you don't need to spray for long periods of time so the compressor has plenty of time to stay pressured up.
I have a small air brush compressor that works fine. Before that I sometimes used a nebulizer and it did the job too.

Brad

[OkKeith]

Apex,

I'm not a profesional bow builder (but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express) but have built quite a few bows. Like you I decided I wanted to use spray finishes.

I had a small compressor (probably like yours) and a cheap Wal-Mart, Testors brand, air brush I had adapted to go on the compressor (about 2 bucks worth of plumbing stuff from the hardware store). I used it to paint bass poppers for flyfishing.

The only problem was the jars were too small to hold enough finish to do a whole bow. One day as I was cleaning the rig up I disscovered that the Testors brand paint thinner jars had the same size mouth as the small jars that came with the air brush, VIOLA more volume and enough finish to do a whole bow. I think I paid 10 or 15 dollars for the air brush set.

I do thin my finish and put on light coats (no runs, drips or errors so to speak). I generally do 3 coats of high gloss, then a coat of satin to get a no-shine finish.

Like I said, I'm no pro, but this works for me.

Another option is to head to the pawn shop the weekend after payday and see what was hocked the week before and never claimed. I have found lots of good tools and stuff this way.

OkKeith