Which spray guns should I purchase?

I'm in the process of restoring a wd45 and am ready to paint it. This will be my first paint job and am in need of some guidance. Which spray guns work the best? Aren’t there a couple types of sprayers, siphon and hvlp? Whichever one I decide to go with, what should I look for in that particular gun? What it is made out of, what to nozzle is made of, and so on. What is the difference between a $15 gun and a $100 gun? Please write your opinions. Thanks

Here is my 2 cents. Don't spend a lot on money if they are your first guns or if you are going to only do a tractor or two. Figure on spending about $100-$150 on a kit. The kit will probably contain 1 or 2 hvlp guns, a touch up gun and a pressure regulator. For a beginner you won't notice the difference between a $50 gun and a $500 gun. The only difference is that if you forget to clean it out well, drop it, damage it etc, it is only $50 to replace instead of $500.

I painted 1 entire tractor with a touch up gun because that is all my compressor could handle. The hvlp guns will take a bunch of air. Make sure you have a water trap on the compressor since you want dry air.

If you have a piece of scrap metal around (or even cardboard) practice on that so you get the hang of adjustments that need to be made (spray width, paint volume, air volume and gun speed).

You should first define what the capacity (cfm) is of your source of compressed air and at what pressure. Then you can proceed to gun selection. Spray gun air requirements need to be supplied by whatever air compressor you have available. Most likely you'll be selecting a gravity-feed hvlp gun since they are the most common nowadays. Forget the $15 ones. Think at least $80-100 as being about the bare minimum.

Do NOT make your tractor your first painting project. You will likely be disappointed with the result if you do. Start out with practice on some throwaway part like an old car hood, fender or something similar. Then progress to a smaller project than an entire tractor. Once you have some confidence in producing an acceptable result, you can then graduate to your tractor with some assurance of it being a project you can be proud of with a minimum of hassle.

Before the age of clearcoats, metallic's had to be sprayed on even to avoid splotches. Now a days painting is easier and decent guns are a lot cheaper. It's cheaper to trash it than clean it.

I just got a gravity feed spray gun at Harbour Freight for $15.00. I figured what the hay I'll use it for primer and if it trashes, chunck it. I've used it twice so far and it still sprays perfectly. I'm keeping my $100 dollar gun clean for high dollar paint. I'm shooting acrylic enamel on an old backhoe with this thing. I've got an old Tiawan syphon feed gun I was using for primer that needs constant repair. You know clogged up bleeder hose, clogged nozzel...etc.
The gravity feed gun I put a $15 dollar mini regulator on that way I get a better air supply pressure. I keep saying I'm going to put an in-line water separator but after 20 years of saying it still haven't had a major problem with water.

Best paint filters I've found yet are my wifes cast off hose. About half as big openings as paint filters from the store.

I put an old tee shirt over my head then an old ball cap backerds and then my resperator. The tee shirt keeps paint out of my hair and from going down the back of my neck as well as keeping the sun off me. If it gets to nasty it becomes a shop rag. It also soaks up sweat off my head and keeps it from messing up the paint job.

Good luck with your paint job.
John