Air Brush or Spot Gun

My regular gun is a turbine driven HVLP bleeder gun (1.3 mm tip). I don't seem to be able to reduce the spray profile less than perhaps 4", although perhaps I'm not doing it correctly (less air and paint?). I checked but the manufacturer doesn't offer smaller profile guns.

I'd appreciate your suggestions.

The turbine paint systems are cumbersome and have a very large hose. I understand your dilema. With the way it connects into the gun and the bulky hose it's hard to use one as a jab/spot/touch up gun. Your movements and spray techniques are limited by the size of the hose and gun and you have to be careful to keep the big rigid hose from touching your work. I sold my system for that reason. It was impossible to get low enough with that bulky inflexible hose to paint rocker panels on cars unless you put the car on jack stands. An expensive add on whip hose didn't solve the problem either. Since i found i needed a spot gun too, i switched from a turbine system to hvlp compressed air guns.

If you buy a touch up gun: The draw back with a gravity feed is you can't paint upside down or tip the gun as much. Gun liners are suppose to solve that, but my supplier doesn't have them. I have found regular and hvlp spot guns both give good results and the hvlp has less over spray than a regular eclipse brand spot gun.

I try to replace bolts with the yellow zinc or stainless steel where ever a grade 2 bolt will do and leave them natural as a personal preference. When i do paint bolt heads, i use a sheet of card board and punch holes in it. That protects the threads from paint, then i spray them from one direction then bend the card board or turn it to catch the other side as needed. Their are bolt protector socket liners out there, but i use Rod's touch up artist brush method when needed or a foam brush and some times matches in a pinch.

I have found a spot gun to be extremely versatile for tractor painting. They originally came about to do the door jams on automobiles, hence the other name - "jam gun". I have two spot guns. One is an older non-hvlp gun with a 6 oz cup and 3-4 inch maximum fan pattern. The other is a newer hvlp gun with a 4 oz cup and a stated maximum 6 inch fan pattern. I think the 6 inch is a little overstated and that a 4-5 inch pattern for that one is more realistic. To date, I have done all my tractor parts individually and it is not practical to fire up my full size gun for a bunch of relatively small pieces. I have done all the sheetmetal work on my AC-B with just the hvlp spot gun. Most tractors do not have large broad areas like an auto hood or roof and a spot gun can be used to advantage. I believe that if you can cover an item with a single coat from a single filling of the cup, a spot gun can be used...especially if there are no large flat areas.

The fan pattern on most guns can be adjusted down from the maximum with the pattern adjusting screw. The fluid control may also have to adjusted to suit the smaller pattern. I don't do that with mine because I simply prefer painting all the time with a full pattern. If the parts can be accommodated with a spot gun I will use that. If not, then I will use the full sized one. For bolts and nuts, I simple set up a bunch of 'em on a wooden backboard and do 'em all at once with the spot gun at full pattern. Any touch-up of nuts and bolt heads after assembly is done with an artists brush. If you have areas where a 1" or 2" pattern could be used, a spot gun might fill the bill for you. That method will work with the MTK or any hardened paint but to go back and add paint to a non-hardened enamel later on could result in lifting and ruining of the paint, depending on the actual paint and solvents used.

I have never used an air brush but from my reading about them, they should spray the MTK just fine.

I can't help with your turbine gun as I know nothing about them.

Rod

I use the terms jam gun, spot gun, mini gun and touch-up gun all interchangeably. I think they all refer to a small gun that usually has a maximum pattern of about 4 inches and a total cup capacity of about 4 oz. I agree. I wouldn't try to use a spot gun to touch up nuts and bolt heads. Or even an air brush for that matter. A decent application with an artist's brush is satisfactory IMO.

Rod