Gel coat guns

I saw this and thought it might work well for us for smaller layups (17' and under?) We have a B5 Binks unit but combined with it being tempermental and requiring a major amount of cleanup before storage, this may be a good alternative. Any thoughts would be helpful. And before you say it, We are not lazy infact the opposite. We just don't use enough gel for our boats or parts to justify the time required to properly care for the B5. http://youtu.be/W4Ae2kRMias

 

Depends on what makes that gun work= "if" it uses a small piston, like a mini airless the heat generated by the piston will cook the gelcoat before much comes out, a cup/blurter gun like a Polycon http://www.buefa.de/wps/portal/buef...vfH4jfwASwoDqQ!!/dl4/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/ is simple to clean etc, I've used on some largish stuff. Jeff.

 

Thats the kind of feed back I was hoping for. I will look into what makes the Graco tick. The Buefa gun looks like a great alternative as well. Thanks, Dan

 

any resin dispensing equipment needs to to carefully maintained and serviced all the time !! as for the size you can make small parts 1 foot square or big parts 100 foot square no mater ! simply by the adjustment of pressures to the main pump or changing nozzles flow rates cane be changed to suit what ever sized job you have . The settings are all in the hands of the person operating the equipment and his knowledge of the gun . if he dosent know then who's at fault is it !! his ot yours ?? yes they can be tempramental but who do you blame for it being like it is ?? the equipment or the people using it ? its not a toy !! its a piece of high precission equipment and should be treated so !!

We have a venus chopper gun being used as a resin saturater gun only and we are making a 90 foot boat at this moment , the same gun when it comes off that job will make small parts just less than 1 square meter in size ,it has one operater only ,no one else touchs it . he understands it ,its his baby . never fails ever . the gun is more than 20 years old and belonged to small power boat manufacture and has do a enormous amount of work in its past !!. When i first arrived here i serviced all there guns from end to end , after i had the job of teaching the guys how to use everything , the gel coat gun and chopper guns have been going everyday for the past two years , faultlessly !. In the past 2 weeks the resin gun has pumped 15 , 44 gallon drums of resin on just this one job so far and never missed a beat.

Any problems with any equipment falls squarely on the sholders of the operater !! its his total responsability to know and understand the guns workings intermitly from the end of the resin hose that drops in a resin drum to the catalysed resin that squarts out the end onto the job he is in charge . External mix guns are a little harder to maintain than internal mix guns and have to be kept in absolute clean condition all the time but even so its the guys responsability to look after and understand it 110% .you must have a operaters manual !! read it from cover to cover !!!! or is it only read when all else fails !!

 

Thanks Tunnels!!! think you could hop over to my other post and give me your honest opinion about that!! Thanks, Dan

 

whats you other post ?? :?:

 

Titled "Paging Tunnels"

 

Guns gel coat ot chopper . This morning had to gelcoat a panel 2.5x 1.2 so venus gun , 20 minutes the whole job was finished and on with the next Guns are always in disassembles state and cleaned soaking in acetone . just put everything together, plug in the air line . set the correct pressures for the pump, the air assist , prime the catalyst pump up to its running pressure change the pin from 1.5% to 2.0% and spray into a big cardboard box to make sure all is operating correctly and go spray the panel !!. that took longer than the actuall spraying . gun hasnt been used for 3 weeks but its ready to go always and never fails !
Chopper /resin saturater gun the same, it will get used this after noon to wet out the glass going on the same panel . its quicker ,easyer and you get the mix ratio you want with only the over spray as waste .flush and can sit for a day !!pick up the handle and pull the trigger instant resin ready catalysed !! push the button to flush with and again can sit for as long as you like .
Over night always disassemble and release the high pressures but just leave a very low pressure to keep seals in there place and stop rubbish getting up the line . Guns are there to be used big job or small doesnt matter even a brush full of catalyzed resin in a cup is not a problem .

A place i worked was two companies under one room and run as two separate places i used to watch a gun operater purposly cause a problem part way through a job so he could go outs side and have a smoke . the same guy used to make everything dripping wet and resin running every where . There foreman was a non glassing person and knew nothing about guns at all and even less about glassing . He asked me one day what was wrong why is it so hard to keep the gun going and why is there resin every where in puddles ??
The operater had a sick day so I sent one of my female opertaters to him for a day to do all there spraying and they never had one single problem for the whole day!, no puddles and no stopages everything clean and tidy .
Next day when there gun operater arrived at work he was fired before he had time to step in the door no questions asked !and i lost my operater till they found some one to take her place .
Female workers are more particular , make a far better job and always come to work on time because 99% of the time they have a family to support on there own !!
!! so what do you think??

 

I think I would like you to tell us how you would store a Gel coat or chopper for an extended period of time (3 months or so) It seems like when we take them out of storage is when we have a few issues, Dry seals and such. Thanks, Dan

 

Anything that moves needs to be oiled or have grease on it !!,the main shaft for the pump rub some vasaline on it and let it cycle a couple of times . Release the pressure but keep just a little !!,the gun possible wd 40 spray and hang it up !,Catalyst pumps the same we have a bypass tap on ours so has no pressure at all but the shaft to the pump a light coat of vasaline and move the saft up and down a few times . Drain the catalyst out of the bottle as it will go off anyway the gel coat will stand up to 6 months or pretty near . Just when you start up the pump again let it pump the gell coat round and round for 5 minutes slowly to remove all the separated pigment and get some new product in the lines and throught the pump . You can pump just straight resin through . !
why dont you use it as a saturater gun and spray all your resin ?? just push the gelcoat out and resin will follow!, lower the pressure change the nozzle what ever you need to make it usable for resin . keep it working and you will have far less problems than it being stored for months !!

 

i take the guns totally apart after each use,its the only way to get clean the right way.i never in my life have ever oiled any gun,or any air tool used for painting or prepping,including sanders, the oil can contaminate the shoot. the rubber seals are cheap and easily replaced.

 

If a guns been sitting for a long time unused half a cup of thinners puts paid to any oils and grease !! im talking smears not blobs .