info on compressors from a professional paint site. I run a single stage 220V 5HP 80 gal. tank setup with a Sharpe 3 stage separator - not cheap but works well. You can certainly do it differently & much cheaper - start reading & you'll figure it out. Your biggest problems will running low on air volume & creating moisture in the lines thus spraying it into your paint - bad thing to happen.

do a lot of reading before you invest anything. Good luck.

http://www.spiuserforum.com/search.php?searchid=114766

PS - whatever you do - use proper ventilation & a respirator at a minimum rated for Isocyanates. Not one of those cheezy dust masks, that is truly a fools errand & you see people doing it.

Im looking to paint my coupe in the future ,would a brandnew suction fed gun do the job ? Its not a cheapy ,its old but still in the box
also whats cheapest and easyest to paint ? acrylic?

Not that I know what I'm doing
But I use a bottom pot for primer and a gravity feed for colour

good info there. Painting is something that I certainly havent mastered, but will be having a crack in the future.

WHat sort of dollars would you spend on a easy to use paint gun?
Ive got two cheapies -$70-at home that I have used for spraying concrete sealent, so I doubt that they are nay good for car paint. One is a gravity feed top pot, and the other is a venturi feed bottom pot.

I think last time I had a go painting i was running at around 80-90psi, so that si clearly to muuch pressure.

Im running a 18cfm belt drive single piston unit that has been trooping for about 8 years now. Goes great. Ill try and wind down the pressure output to 30 psi and see what I get.

Minimum would be 8CFM preferable would be 12~15CFM but make sure they are a belt drive with proper Pistons.

Many of the Chinese made compressors around rate on the Tank size rather than compressor flow rate,What I mean by proper pistons is that many of the Chinese cheapies have a conrod with a solid cast flat piston in one piece so at top dead centre it rocks from side to side as they do not use a piston pin assembly like a proper compressor or Car engine,the piston if fixed and part of the conrod and for rings they use an "O" ring.Total rubbish and only good for occassional pumping up of a slightly flat tyre.

When spraying panels a bigger tank can be more important than a bigger pump that supplies "Fast Air" and a quality second hand unit is better than a new one that is rubbish.
For quality finish a spray gun designed for metallic paints will give better results even with conventional standard non metallic paints as it has better atomisation and gives a smoother and finer finish off the gun.

As always preparation is 90% of a good quality good looking paint job and steer clear of anything IsoCyanate such as some Two Pack paint as Cyanide will either Kill you or make you very sick.

Old school acrylic paint allows easy repair of any mistakes unlike any two pack paints,but a combination of a good ACrylic color coat then getting a pro to apply the baked clear coat top coat saves you money and gives a modern tough finish if thats what you want,that is the system used by BMW,Basecoat,Acrylic Color coat then 2 Pack clearcoat for toughness on solid clor paintjobs.
HP w3ould be around 1.5 to 2 HP MOTOR
tANK SIZE AS ABOVE IDEALLY 12~15 Cu Ft
Air pressure depends on Gun type HVLP means High Volume Low Pressure and means generally a bigger compressor for that type of gun but an old school High Pressure or conventional Gun uses less volume of air but pressure vary from 30 Psi to 45Psi depending on paint type.THe HVLP uses between 8~15 Psi and has less "Overspray" but may want something between 15~30 CFM compressor with a much bigger Tank size for opotimal use.

Main thing you need it enough air to sucessfully paint your largest panel in one go which may mean 20 passes with the gun depending on panel size as you go left to right ,Up down and then both ways at 45 degree angle to ensure even coverage and good finish off the gun as that saves you much work later.

Hi Guys

Can you guys tell me what minimum configuration air compressor needed to paint my car ?

Hp Rate(HP)
Gallon Capacity(Ltrs)
PSI Rate

thanks
regards
sumith