Originally Posted by
Scratcher09
Harbor fright guns are poor quality. I cringe at the idea of using them for anything other than primer or sealer.
Harbor Freight sells probably a dozen different types of spray equipment, all of which (of the ones that I've used) were perfectly OK for their intended purpose. I've got an HVLP from them that's fine for spraying anything up to huge barn door and I've got a $10 airbrush kit that I've used recently for painting a bike frame with excellent control and efficiency. Obviously prep work is the most important part of any spray job, and in my experience, control is the most important part of applying color. Especially on skinny bicycle frame tubes.
Dissing a brand name because it's cheap is counterproductive to the discussion of what's available to an amateur who wants to get his feet wet, which is exactly where a lot of us are at here, I'm guessing. My advice for people attempting their first paint jobs is go ahead and buy those cheap crappy spray kits (think "airbrush") and a cheap crappy compressor and a cheap crappy regulator from HF and see what you can do with it. You definitely need the regulator, though.