The famous Harbor Freight Purple gun

Dean Jenkins

Promoted Users
So I wanted to spray Evercoat Slick Sand polyester primer. In reading the TDS, it called for a minimum 2.0 mm tip.
The largest tip on my Devilbiss primer gun was 1.8 and a new tip/needle is ~$100.

I had seen a YouTube video of a guy modifying a Harbor Freight Purple gun to 2 mm by drilling out the tip, so I thought I would give it a try. $26 gun, worst I could do is ruin it and have to sand all the paint off . . .

So I got the gun and drilled the tip with 5/64" (2 mm) bit. Checked that the needle still seated correctly, and it did.

Dang if it didn't work! Cool.

The slick sand went down pretty good.

Won't be using this gun for base, clear etc. but for this it worked just fine.

FYI, slick sand really is "spray-able" filler. You can smell it.
Bondo has one smell, paint has another. This is bondo.
 
So the harbor freight gun....I used to use it for 2k primer and throw it away afterwards. That was when they were like 12 dollars and even cheaper with a coupon ....last time I bought one maybe 3 yrs ago, the thing was packing with wax. Or grease. All in the needle and air cap....uh??
 
So the harbor freight gun....I used to use it for 2k primer and throw it away afterwards. That was when they were like 12 dollars and even cheaper with a coupon ....last time I bought one maybe 3 yrs ago, the thing was packing with wax. Or grease. All in the needle and air cap....uh??
Yep, same here. Was weird and took awhile to clean.
 
CHINA HORRIBLE FREIGHT is what they are. I wasted my money on a couple of their "tools" and they were absolute junk. Cost more to return them than the refund I would've gotten, so I threw them in the trash and vowed never again.

I bought an Air Gunsa 2.0 (AZ3HTE2-20GC) and it sprays polyester primer great. The only thing I will change on it is the plastic cup, as it is difficult to clean.
 
The main reason I went with the HF purple gun was that I wanted to spray that day and any others would have to be ordered and wait a week. So I thought I would give it a shot.
 
Let us (me) know how well the Slick Sand, sands?

Thanks,
I thought it sanded really nicely. Used 180 and it leveled out easily.
Nice thing is the the color difference between sanded and un-sanded is very noticeable, so low spots are easy to see.
Since I had black epoxy under it, could see high spots as well. So no guide coat needed.
As others have mentioned, the initial sprayed surface is pretty rough to the touch, but it knocks down easily.
The only thing I didn't like about it was gun clean up. It is thick, sticky stuff and dries fast.
You have to have your work flow dialed in and everything ready to go. When you add the hardener to the paint you have to hustle to get it in the gun, get it sprayed and clean the gun.

I was using the HF purple gun (modified to 2.0 mm tip) and none of my DeKups adapters fit it, so I had to use the plastic cup that came with the gun and that was extra clean up as well.
 
Thank you, Dean.

When using Slick Sand, will a 2k primer be needed on top of the Slick Sand, or just use spi epoxy as a sealer before base? Also, can Slick Sand be wet sanded?
 
A finer spraying gun will give you a much flatter spray. A 6 stage turbine gun, which is true hvlp, gave me a much flatter finish than a cheap modified gun or a vapor had as they use a smaller tip size per material type. Not a budget setup though.
 
Thank you, Dean.

When using Slick Sand, will a 2k primer be needed on top of the Slick Sand, or just use spi epoxy as a sealer before base? Also, can Slick Sand be wet sanded?
Some polys don't need anything over it before sealer. If you are going to put something over it, a final application of Epoxy would be better than 2k urethane. But either Is OK.
 
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