Compressor Question

I have an air compressor that puts out 10.2 cfm at 90 psi, and 11.5 cfm at 40 psi. It has a 60 gallon tank.

I want to use a Devilbis Finishline 4 gun, requiring 13 cfm.

What sort of performance should I expect?

Thanks,
Dave

You will be fine. Painting you never just squeeze the trigger and paint continuously for hours, it's off and on over and over and there is plenty of off time for the compressor to stay ahead. I painted my RV with the same finish line gun and a 60 gallon compressor and never had to wait on the compressor to get enough air. PS - get the Devilbiss Dekups system and you will end up with a better job with less cleanup every session.

You'll have about 90% duty cycle with that setup so there will be some waiting on it to catch up. Expect some water in the lines on hotter days and when spraying large sections. I would run an disposable water filter at the gun plus a separator at the compressor at a minimum.

The FLG 4 is a great gun for the price.

And yeah dekups or 3m PPS 2.0 is worth getting. Much quicker cleanup and you can spray with the gun in any orientation.

+1 on PPS

If you are going to run a paint system that has limited cross link time between coats, PPS makes it realistic. The ability to purge the air from the inner liner and run in any orientation is huge as well. I used a C.A. Technologies setup and it was good to work with, the expertise available over the phone was even better.

When I was painting large sections, I tied in a second portable compressor to my shop unit. The extra 6 Cfi was probably more mental than technically necessary, but it allowed my desiccant air dryer some regen time. It’s a cheap way to add temporary capacity. Regulate as close to the gun as possible, short lines, gun filters, use good regulators. Lots of people have good luck at HF, but why rely on luck?

Painting was frustrating, but really rewarding at the same time. Spend the money, buy a good filtered forced air respirator. Above all practice. Not just mixing, spraying, but choreograph each work session, and how to move around the current work.

You won't get a very good finish with the DeVilbiss Finish line series. I had one that I used to repaint the nose bowl on the C-152 I rebuilt. I spent the money and upgraded to the DeVilbiss Tekna series gun with the DeKups system at the recommendation of the paint supply house I used when painting my RV-10. That was the best decision I ever made! I had about $700 into it all when I got it and that included a case of 50 DeKup liners and caps. Dripless all position painting with this set up and no spitting when purged of air.
I would be VERY tempted to get one of the new HF guns that are professional grade and are at a $200 price point. The DeKup system will fit this gun which is available in a HVLP model, or one that is HTE compliant. https://www.harborfreight.com/paint...al-hvlp-gravity-feed-air-spray-gun-56152.html

David Paule said:

I have an air compressor that puts out 10.2 cfm at 90 psi, and 11.5 cfm at 40 psi. It has a 60 gallon tank.

I want to use a Devilbis Finishline 4 gun, requiring 13 cfm.

Click to expand...

The 13 CFM is draw from the tank. If concerned about the 10.2 compressor falling behind, plumb another tank in parallel.

60 gal tank should be fine.
Only issue I ever had was with a Campbell direct drive 30 gal unit. About a half hour into a large priming session, the motor overheated and tripped the thermal cutoff. Yikes! A mad scramble ensued to rig up a pedestal fan to blow on the motor while my paint pot life ticked away and then wait for the thermal breaker to reset. The next weekend I bought a 30 gal belt drive compressor and gave the crappy Campbell away. Did all my painting with the new one without issue, just try not to have any leaks in your system so all the air gets to the gun.

I bought a 5 gallon tank made for air ride systems. From my 60gal compressor I have a 12ft vertical loop of 5/8 3003 tube that feeds the 5 gal tank. From there it goes through a filter water separator direct to the hose (no quick connect). I had no moisture issues at all. I even paited when it was raining once. The cooling loop and second tank do a great job of getting out the moisture. Also had a last chance filter at the gun (Devilbiss Finishline).