Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1992 - 54

Fairgrounds. In ralking wirh rhe various
company reps and checking our rheir
producrs, I was able ro learn some useful
ridbirs abour rhem and rheir use.
All of rhe guns I saw ar rhe rrade
show cosr ar leasr 5100, quire a bir more
rhan rhe ones I had used in Iowa or
Buffalo. The Asrros I used were very
similar ro rhe Sharpe model D, which
rerails for abour 5100. Reps rended nor
ro be roo specific abour why rhe more
expensive guns were superior; one said
rhey were "berrer builr, like a Mercedes."
My own experience is rhar rhe lower
priced guns are adequare.
Some guns were sold separarely from
rheir painr cups. Some, if nor all, of rhe
manufacrurers sell exrra cups, so rhar you

of concern ro aurobody workers because
ir makes car painr less glossy. Cosrume
painrers will probably nor be borhered
much by lack of gloss, bur inadequare
pressure will resul r in sparrers.
An air pressure regularor, which is
somerimes necessary, is available from
rhe same sources as rhe spray guns. Mosr
compressed air sysrems already have
regularors, eirher ar rhe compressor or ar
air ouders mounred on rhe shop walls. A
small regularor wirh a gauge rhar firs on
rhe borrom of rhe gun handle is also
available. Ir is recommended for rhe besr
con rrol because rhe pressure ar rhe wall is
nor always rhe same ar rhe orher end of
rhe hose. Prices for air pressure regularors
srarr ar abour 59, and rhey are easy ro

/

Cyprus College student Edith Nwagbara practices with auto touch-up sprayer.

can change colors wirhour washing up, a
boon especially when making samples'
The lowesr price quored for exrra cups
was S5 each, rhe highesr abour S20.
Only one of rhe guns (rhe SATA MiniJer, S 178) had rhe cup mounred on rop
of rhe gun for a gravirv feed. The orhers
all hang from rhe gun and rhe painr
feeds by siphon acrion.
Company reps esrimared rhar rhe
guns work ar anywhere from rwo pounds
of pressure per square inch ro GO
pounds. A consensus was rhar berween
15 and 40 psi was a good operaring level.
Too much air pressure can cause "holes"
in rhe spray parrern. Too lirde will cause
poor aromizarion of rhe painr, which IS
52

1992 SUMMER

TD&T

insrall. However, I experienced no
problem wirh air pressure regulared ar
rhe compressor or ar rhe wall ouder.
Auromobile painr dealers, lisred in
rhe yellow pages under Painr Dealers\X/holesale, carry rouch-up or derail guns
as rhey are somerimes called. The auro
parrs srores rhar I called in my local area
were willing ro order, bur did nor always
have rhem in srock. And rhey were nor as
likely ro srock pressure regularors and
adaprers (in case rhe sprayer does nor
already fir rhe air hose coupling).

and Hor Air 2 brands rhar I had chosen
for rheir color qualiries. Eura-rex has rhe
abiliry ro air cure wirhour hear-serring
Hor Air is designed for air-brush use and
has superior consisrency. Eura-rex is rhe
harder of rhe rwo ro mix and rhin and is
nor consisrenr in rhickness fram barch ro
barch. Deka is a non-roxic brand rhar
rhins and cleans up wirh warer, anorher
highly desirable qualiry. Ir is widely
disrribured in arr srores.
I had no problems wirh clogging of
rhe sprayer, bur I was careful ro clean ir
our rhoroughly by spraying warer
rhrough ir. The guns are made ro be
used wirh solvenr-based painrs, and rhere
is no reason for nor using rhem should
you need a glossy effecr, bur I would IIOt
recommend spraying solvenr inro rhe air
of your workplace ro clean rhe gun. You
can ger some soh'enr ro go rhraugh rhe
nozzle by pushing rhe rrigger lever afrer
deraching rhe air hose, or hold a rag over
rhe nozzle, causing back pressure rhar
will wash rhe painr back our inro rhe
cup. I found rhar rhe sprayer will easily
use painr as rhick as heavy cream, bur
rhar when ir was as rhick as pudding or
exrerior house painr, ir did nor draw
rhrough properly.
A few years ago I warched a srudenr
sray lare every nighr for a week ro brush
painr some uni rards she had designed,
having given up her plans ro spray painr
rhem when she learned she was
pregnanr. And I rhink back on so many
projecrs of my own where I could have
achieved quicker, berrer resulrs by
spraying or spray-srencilling if I had had
rhe conrrol rhar an auro rouch-up
sprayer gives. I am very exci red abou r
conrinuing ro use ir whenever an air
compressor is available ro me, as ir is in
mosr rhearer shops. The inirial
invesrmenr is easily covered by rhe
savings in canned propellanrs, and rhe
slighdy longer clean-up rime is made up
in quicker painring and rhe sheer joy of
using rhis versarile rool.

m

Maria Wortham is all imtl'llctor at Cypress
College alld a freelallce costllme desigller
a lid pa i II ter/d)'er. A Jess iOIl 011 this
techllique is scheduled for the 1993
USITT COllfereJIce
Stage Expo to be
held ill Wichita, KS, durillg March 1993.

cr

ENDNOTES
."h.lilJblt.· from Cerule.1I1 Blue. I~ O. Box 21168

PAINTS
The painrs rhar I used were Euro-rex 1

Sc.mlc. \X'A ')8111; ~06-·j·d---4·1.
AV.lil.tble from Textile Resourcc.'). 1060::' l3loomflcld
SI.. los .-\1.1IniI0>. CA ()Q-~O; ~ U--I.> 1-%11
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1992
