will this compressor work for painting..

[cmurdah]

hey guys. looking at painting my bike again and dont want to go the spray paint route again (faded within 6 months) and was looking at air compressors. i live in an apartment complex so a big compressor is out of the question but i came across this pancake at harbor freight

http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/air-compressors/3-gallon-100-psi-oilless-pancake-air-compressor-95275.html?limit=50

will i be able to paint my bike with this? im sure with such a small tank i will have to wait for it to refill quite often, but will it do the job? thanks

[whrich13]

in short...NO. 1.0cfm is not nearly the requirements of a HVLP gun. 5.0 is like bare minimum and a 3 gallon tank will have the compressor running every 5 seconds of spraying. I use a 4hp 10gallon compressor which is adequate but not ideal.

[steves]

You want more CFM so that you don't get under pressured when you spray.

Color-rite will mix paint into rattle cans as an alternative... as well as most local paint shops.

[Cheriff]

Definitely too small (technically it is the compressor I am referring to). To really know this answer you need to find the gun you want to use, then see what CFM rating it requires. OR find one with a huge storage tank and low CFM so that you can use the stored air. But most likely even with this arrangement you will run out of the stored air at a bad time and have to wait for it to build back up. Also if you are doing this look into dehumidifiers to extract the water out. When I was looking to do this years ago, I had discovered inline "snakes" that are disposable but the cheapest option for eliminating water/oil..

[whrich13]

harbor frieght sells cheap water/oil separators and dessicant dryers that are inline. I use these with no problems

[cmurdah]

thanks for the info guys. might just go with another rattle can job until i get into a house

[jcobb]

Look into renting one from home depot and using a friends house for the day. The home depot near me rents spray guns and compressors but i really would only trust their compressors

[diesel]

I was using a 35 gallon compressor when I was painting and that was the smallest I would want to use. Like jcobb said rent the compressor from home depot and buy a gun at harbor freight for like 30 bucks.

[Woodmysta]

Good question and good answers...I never thought to rent the compressor but will consider that option now.

[steves]

Also, it just dawned on me that you might find a stack compressor with enough CFM to drive a paint gun.