Stephen Newell...

Do I set my HF gun on 25-30 lbs? Thanks.

The pressure would vary from gun to gun. I use a HF siphon sprayer and set the pressure at 40 lbs. You would just have to start at 30-40 lbs and adjust the sprayer up or down depending on the gun and the paint. Generally the thinner the paint is the lower the pressure you can use. Just try the gun out of some cardboard or something not important to get used to using it before you start painting the tractor. Try to keep the nozzle the same 10-12 distance from the work as you are using it. Often people make an arc motion where you get less material on at the first and last of the stroke and too much in the middle where it runs. What I used to tell my employees is to pretend the sprayer is on a tract keeping it aimed the same direction and kept at the same distance.

Then when you spray think of how roofing shingles are laid with one row overlaping the previous row. You do the same thing with the paint keeping a wet edge always. That way the paint is a uniform sheet over the metal. If you get too far apart it will show a line where there is very little or no paint like you skipped a row putting on roofing. It's just one of those things that will take practice. If you do spray something and have a dead spot in the middle just leave it. If you try to go back and hit that spot it will leave a line anyway. Then you have extra paint applied making it take longer to dry and fix the problem. Better to just let it dry, scuff sand it and put another coat on the entire panel.

failure to keep a "wet edge" shows up frequently on the east or south sides of buildings.

I sanded and primed my tractor last week- then rattle-canned it and looks decent ; now I have maroon pad- sanded it and ready for the gun and paint; i think? lol...do I wipe down with a wet cloth after the maroon pad? I tried air and doesnt work very good. Also- I just spray one layer at a time? cant go over it 2 or 3 times ? Thanks!

Before you proceed I think I would find out what the rattle can paint is. A lot of rattle can paint is lacquer and a lot of paint doesn't adhere to lacquer very well. If your paint isn't spraying very good you probably need to thin it more. I can't really give you a ratio because I don't use that brand of paint and it's different for nearly every gun.

ok and thanks.

I can see why I dont use a gun; my NEW gun says to dismantle gun and clean and reassemble.......with this and that and dont do this and dont do that...what a mess....

The only time I dismantle a gun and clean it is when I leave some paint in there for weeks. If you put some lacquer thinner in the gun and spray it through the gun right after using it dismantling it is unnecessary. You can even re-use the thinner. If you keep an empty can or a jar pour off what you used to clean the gun in the can and in a week everything will settle to the bottom and the thinner will be clear on top. Now while you may be using the gun daily with one job you can spray the thinner you are using to thin the paint and what is left over you can use it to thin the next batch of paint. Overnight the slight residue of paint left in the gun won't harden up. It's just when you think you will be done with the sprayer for a long time clean it better.

I was wondering on that- Ill just spray thinner thru it to start and clean out anything that might be in it; then again when Im done- I may not use it again for a year! Thanks again

Great explanation Steve. I always enjoy reading your posts nice job CM