Gelcoat Gun Nozzle Size

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Gelcoat Gun Nozzle Size

Author	Message
Brian_s	Brian_s posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 99, Visits: 2.5K	I printed a new Nozzle. I have not had a chance to try it yet. I bought a HVLP spray gun with a 3mm nozzle. Seems to work OK but it is more fiddly to clean.
	Reply Like 5
Hanaldo	Hanaldo posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 28K	It's wonderful for gelcoating something this size: That would have been impossible to do by brush and a nightmare to do with a HVLP gun. The G100 got it done quick and easy.
	Reply Like 3
George Sychrovsky	George Sychrovsky posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 24, Visits: 1.6K	I have this gel coat gun and its horrible piece of tool I use harbor freight gun with 2.2 mm tip but I thin the gel-coat with some styrene or acetone --------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer opinions of others will vary depending on what they are selling
	Reply Like 4
AdamHutchin	AdamHutchin posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 8, Visits: 53	I first of all just went for a cheapo eBay special, I wanted to make sure it would actually work before investing in a better gun. If you're looking at a "decent gun and compressor setup", I'd say always get the biggest compressor you can afford. Air tools like belt sanders etc are really useful for composite work but can use a lot of air. I've got a 100L, 3HP unit and it's big enough to spray/run air tools etc quite happily, fairly constantly. I used to have a smaller 30L one and it was largely useless. It just couldn't keep up. Hanaldo makes some good points about cleaning though, the 1.8 tip is no fun for that! Hanaldo, I do have a depth gauge, I just happened to be spraying it into a mould with lots of curvature in it. the variation in thickness just came from my inexperience of using the gun and I ended up with thicker areas in some of the tighter radii than others. I just need to practice and be less cack-handed.
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Hanaldo	Hanaldo posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 28K	The cheaper guns often have rubber seals in them that will melt when exposed to the gelcoat/acetone. So it's better to buy a good quality one; note that doesn't necessarily mean more expensive! Best bet is to ask for something that can handle acetone at a spray paint supply store or similar. Also if you can, get a bigger tip. 2.5-3mm is ideal. Smaller will work, but it's harder to clean and you don't need to worry about orange peel from the bigger tip. Adam, I do recommend buying a gelcoat depth gauge if you're having trouble with the thickness. It can make quite a difference if your gelcoat is sensitive to thickness (which many are), so it's good to have a tool to measure it until you get the feel for it. And they are cheap cheap, so it's a no-brainer really.
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scottracing	scottracing posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 460, Visits: 5.2K	what make of spraygun did you go for? Would the cheaper all in one HVLP systems be of use or is it worth going the full hog and buying a decent gun and compressor setup?
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AdamHutchin	AdamHutchin posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 8, Visits: 53	I thought I would reply to this as it's a question I'd been trying to find the answer to previously. I didn't want the EC cup gun as it seems to be designed for delivering loads in much higher quantities than I was looking for, like you I wanted to do a comparatively much smaller mold. In the end I just used a normal spray gun with a 1.8mm tip and it worked really well. I would suggest though that you actually look at the gun before buying one as I went into a shop and took two of them apart. One of them would have been a nightmare to clean all the gel coat out of whereas the other is much more straight forward; still not a fun job but manageable. The other thing I found is that it's quite hard to visually gauge the thickness of a clear gel coat as you're spraying it. Even with a 1.8mm nozzle I still ended up spraying it too thickly in some places but I guess with some practice it will become easier.
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Brian_s	Brian_s posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 99, Visits: 2.5K	I hadn't thought of that. I will give it a try. Thank you. Brian.
	Reply Like 6
*VVS*	*VVS* posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Moderators Posts: 226, Visits: 334	Very clever! Can you use the 3d printer to make a smaller nozzle for the gun? 😉
	Reply Like 5
Brian_s	Brian_s posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 99, Visits: 2.5K	This is a picture of one of my Moulds. As you can see it is not very wide but it is long. I made a modification to the cup gun. I usually only spray about 100g of GC50 which is about enough to wet the cup. I used a 3D printer to make an adaptor to fit a smaller cup. It works quite well.
	Reply Like 6