Harbor Freight 00086 touch-up gun

I needed to spray a battery tray and the area around the battery after making some repairs. My binks and devilbiss guns were too large to get in there easily. I recall steve_p telling of the inexpensive guns at Harbor Freight. Gads, I never thought I'd go back there to buy tools........ but in this case, I'm really pleased that I did!
I paid $14 for their touch-up gun. The cup held just enough to do that area, tray and all, and the small diamater cup didn't get in the way.
The top trigger meant I could drop the gun down into the area to spray and wasn't working my hand at an odd angle reaching down for a normal trigger.
It operated smoothly and sprayed a nice pattern right out of the box. Literally, I had to make only a couple small changes to get the pattern I wanted. I figured this green metallic would cause some issues - maybe uneven spray, blotching, etc. but it didn't. Any irregularities I blame on my lack of practice and shaky hands.
And at that price, if it goes bad, I'll scrap it for parts and get another.......
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=86

Pros : Light, easy to use top trigger for hard-to-reach spots, small diameter cup stays out of the way, easy to clean. At roughly a pound, it wan't hard on my arthritis.
Cons: I looked but it doesn't look like they carry any parts - if something happens, I either wait and hope to order parts, or scrap it and buy another, (I choose the latter option) Can't think of other cons.............

jkarisny wrote: Ha! I bought one of these guns the other day. I used it once, it sprayed ok. Then I soaked it for 10 min in thinner, and 2 of the adjustment screws dissolved! WHAT? It wasn't even new thinner! I think I'll stick with the name brand stuff from now on.

Yeah, but for $14, and thats cheaper than taking it to a body shop and paying them to do it for you......

I'v got 2 of those guns. there not bad, but when mine clog up or crap out I don't think I'll replace them.. just like the rest of my siphon feeds... I'v got 2 gravity feeds, and there spray is 110% better.. eventully I'll get the gravity feed touch up gun...  There no Iwata, Binks or Devilbliss but hey.. I'v got less than $200 in all my paint guns ( and I have 6 ).. if I had enough compressor, I would have the 4340 purple HVLP also

and yea, in the instructions it says not to soak them..  but I would also wonder what kind of thinner, as there are specific gun cleaning thinners.. I use lacquer thinner but I don't soak them.. I spray them out, and then wipe them out with the thinner on a rag.. removing only the tip

Well.. when you consider the cost is only $15  ( and mine was on sale for $5 each ).. what more do you want?  you could buy a few and throw them out as you use them... whats' a good gun cost? 150 at the minimum, if your going to use it a few times a year, theres no point... I also checked the adjustment screws on 1 of mine.  looks like aluminum, but theres no cast lines inside or out.. so it's probably some kind of coating on pot metal.. but  was $6 and a few years old now so I can't complain.... only things HF has failed me on are drills and a saws all

I have two of the small gravity feed HVLP guns from HF and have had them for 5+ years.  I modified one for primer use by drilling out (by hand) the nozzle and mainly use this one only now. The construction is pretty good on them, and I have ordered spare parts for them from HF in the past.  I think they have all of the parts, at least everything I've needed, I batch order stuff, and they are also reasonably priced.  I think these guns are usually $40-50.  They spray pretty good for the $.  They only put out a small spray pattern (max) so it's kind of a pain painting something as large as an assembled engine with them.  I also have a DeVilbiss touch up gun, I think an SRi?, and it's much sexier, sprays a 2X larger pattern than the HF if desired, sprays nicer, and, of course, costs 5-6X as much.  So, now I use the modded HF for primer and the DeVilbiss touch up for everything else. 

Edited by Steve_P - Aug/25/2009 at 2:16pm