Good buddy of mine wanted to paint his motorcycle frame last week. He has a small 12 Gal Sears compressor, but not a good spray gun. So naturally he asks to borrow some of mine. Now I know this guy takes care of tools, but he doesn't know squat about painting -- yet alone taking care of paint guns. That's why I keep a general purpose finishing gun in my paint cabinet. It's a 1990's vintage Taiwanese Buffalo brand; which is an excellent copy of a Binks #7. It has a 1.4 and 1.8 fluid tip and sprays a good finish. I also gave him my cheap general purpose primer gun -- good for epoxy and acrylic primers.
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0454%20Medium.jpg)
These are the guns when they were returned --- LOL. He swore up and down that they were clean. I made a bet with him (six pack) that they were filthy. I stripped the gun and filled a can with lacquer thinner and dropped the air cap, nozzle, and head in for a few minutes. The clear lacquer thinner turned blue --
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0450%20Medium.jpg)
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0452%20Medium.jpg)
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0453%20Medium.jpg)
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0451%20Medium.jpg)
Needless to say I got my beer, but I also wanted to show him that just running clean solvent through a gun is only half the job. I don't fuss about these guns -- they are relegated to general painting purposes, but more importantly, -- they get loaned out because the really good equipment stays in the paint cabinet.
The guns were cleaned, slightly lubed at the trigger points, and a new vent hose was replaced on the primer gun -- good to go for the next loaner.
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0455%20Medium.jpg)
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0456%20Medium.jpg)
Bottom line -- I keep these on hand for friends and quick paint jobs, so that the good stuff can remain under lock and key.
As usual Ray great write up!
I couldn't agree more! My best guns are the short list of tools that I will never loan anyone. I don't really have any guns that I would call good to loan out to anyone either.
My pops horror story from the late 1950's, early 1960's was lesson enough to teach me to never loan out my best spray guns. Pop told me a story about how he bought this little spray rig outfit from Sears likely before I was born in 1962. Anyway, the setup consisted of the Craftsman best spray gun from that time. 15-20 feet of hose, and a tiny one lung air compressor that was portable. (Definitely not one capable of supplying adequate CFM to paint a car with) Numerous versions from the era can readily be found on eBay any time you look. No tank, direct drive motor feeding the pump. Honestly only real use for them is blowing chips off the bench or the like, perhaps using to blow passages on an old carb clear or something like that. I have his sitting on a shelf above my bench ready for use when I just need a little puffer to blow chips from the bench and the like.
Anyway, pop loans his puny little inadequate outfit to a friend. Dad had not even used it once, it was brand new. It took 3-4 months for dad to get the thing back. By the time he got it back, it looked awful, multiple colors of paint overspray covered the thing, the hose was split and tape wrapped to cover cracks, and the gun didn't look much better. The thing looked like it had bounced around in the bed of a pickup truck all summer! Turns out the idiot dad loaned it to had been attempting to use this thing all summer in some way to paint houses!
Under very best circumstances (new) it was not much of a compressor setup. But what little good dad might have ever realized from the thing was already used up by the time he got it back. I never forgot that story.
I have a short list of things I won't loan. I have been burned numerous times through the years loaning tools. Common tools like pliers, sockets, wrenches, screwdrivers etc. I do have a huge amount of tools one might use in a pinch, but few or any of which hold any value to me. I would let a guy take and use anything in that box with zero concern about what happened to those tools. I have one or two guys I will loan mast of the good stuff to, but those guys have phenomenal shops and tools as good, or better than mine and take great care of everything they own.
That said, I would hesitate to loan any of my best mics. dial calipers, or dial indicators to really anyone. Those skilled enough to need those tools likely already have such tools better quality than anything I have to loan. I would say, if Ray was a neighbor and asked to use a 12" micrometer, I would loan Ray the mic, or likely any other tool I own to include any spray gun I own without a moments hesitation. There are not many Ray type guys in my little corner of the world though. LOL
Generally, it you loan a tool, expect it to come back broken or damaged if it comes back at all. That really sums up my experiences with loaning tools to others. The guys that know how to treat tools always seem to have their own with no need to borrow from others is what I find.