Expert: Gary - 11/5/2009

Question
i would like to paint my own car and own a small compressor that can be used around the house and to touch over my car i have my eyes on a 2 gall 1hp compressor twinstack campbell hausfeild could you give me some advice on this i will be using a hvlp gun from picasso  

Answer
Hi Camal,

From experience I can tell you that a small compressor like that is only good for airing up small tires, brad nailers, or air staple guns. They really won't work for painting at all unless you are using an airbrush. Even though your HVLP gun says something about low pressure the gun will still require a large amount of air volume to actually work correctly. My general recommendation for using an HVLP Spraygun is a 5 hp with a 60 gallon tank. In my opinion, that's the bare minimum. Here is a link to some airbrushes that would let you do small touch-ups on your vehicle: http://www.repaintsupply.com/cat_air_brushes1.cfm