Rudolph Hart

Jim they don't come in light medium or heavy but are gauged by the tip size.For a suction cup gun(the pots on the bottom)fluid tip sizes go from .8mm up to 2mm and larger.The same applies to a gravity fed spraygun(pot on top).You don't say much about the material you are using,and what thinning ratio you are using for topcoats or primer.If you only have one gun make it a 1.2mm set up.You can thin the primer down and patiently apply a few coats instead of 2 or 3 out of a larger set up.For topcoat you can make the necessary needle adjustments to throttle it down and it will do quite well.Most people who paint at home use the maximum size single phase electric compressor they can get away with without blowing fuses,usually around 12cfm although i one saw an old 17cfm single phase but it would blow a fuse now and then.

If you need to buy a compressor there's basically only two ways to go and bear in mind i'm not talking about professional equipment but more the type you buy at home handy man shops for around 5 or 600 bucks over here and they can usually take a fair bit of abuse thru lack of maintanance etc.It will be a 2 or 3 cyclinder and have about 1.5hp(electric) motor fitted.Reciever tank size is usually quite small too,around 20ltrs.They generally rev their nuts off(run fast,and i mean FAST)so that the manufacturer can claim an increased cfm(cubic feet per minute of air delivered to the reciever)over another rival brand.Because of this they also run VERY hot if you spray for more than a couple of minutes and this introduces your next problem..WATER.Since these compressors usually have the water/oil trap mounted to the machine and the air is red hot when it passes thru it,the water/oil trap does'nt work because no cooling and condensation has had time to take place,to release the water so it can be trapped and therefore preventing it from being passed thru the gun to the surface you are painting.Take it off the compressor and wall mount it as far away as practical OR..you can hunt around for the old cast iron single cyclinder one's in the same size.They have a large single bore and run slower and cooler,are generally better quality and will outlast the frantic rattlers by years.Good luck.