ACF 50 spray gun? Any good?

Cheers for all the replies. I understand it needs to be misted on, not sprayed liberally, as I had my bike treated at the beginning of the year and saw it done. If the portable bottle can produce a mist s linked to earlier, I'll give that a go, can't really justify buying a compressor.
 
Personally I warm up the ACF50, then fill up a Clarke TG2 Professional Touch-Up Gun connected to a compressor. Fires a nice misty layer all over the metal work of the engine & allow it to dry.

That thumb operated gun can be got from machine-mart for £20 :beerjug:

Nippy-normans are a good place to get the large bottles & they usually provide the small mist spray bottles for free. Just remember to warm the ACF50!
 
I would not just "spray" the bike with ACF .... it is better to use a cloth to wipe the bike all over - the spray that comes with the kit is not really a spray in that it does not "mist" - it just splodges onto the bike and the you follow up by wiping it over with a cloth - the cloth gets impregnated with AFC and then you can treat all the bike

you are wasting you time and money if you buy what could be called a "proper" spray - you need to use ACF sparingly

use a paint brush
 
The spray cans and the trigger bottle that comes with the bulk bottle (which I buy) are both useless.
I have a compressor (well actually two, one in my van and one in the garage) and I'd read before about using a spray gun to apply ACF so I bought a cheap touch up gun.
What a revelation - just turn the compressor down to 4bar ish, adjust the delivery needle on the gun and it delivers a narrow, directional fan shaped mist exactly where you want it.
Rather than the gallons I used to use with the crap trigger bottle that either broke or delivered a stream, I did the whole bike with about 250 ml (half the reservoir in the pictured gun). As I usually do, I then followed up with a small paintbrush dabbing ACF onto all the spoke junctions in the hubs and wheels.

Compressors are dead handy things once you've got one - it's almost worth getting one just do do this job...

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Compressors are dead handy things once you've got one - it's almost worth getting one just do do this job...


You are definitely convincing me!! Any recommendations for a small garage compressor. Perhaps one with the grunt for adding small cutting / sanding tools in the future.
 
I've got these (oil free) - been fine and the one in my van gets quite a of of use.
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/airmaster-tiger-7510-2hp-50-litre-oil-free-ai/
Best to see what your air requirements are in terms of tools (CFM) and go from there. Bear in mind you'll have to budget for airlines, oiler (if you're using tools) quick releases etc but stuff like this isn't that expensive. Bigger is nearly always better with compressors but watch for noise levels if you've got close neighbours.
The ones above aren't too noisy and give me enough air for my needs.
 
Nice bit of info Matt....Yet another thing on my crimbo list :thumb2

Just one question....Do you spray all the exhaust ?
 
Just one question....Do you spray all the exhaust ?

Yep - the whole lot.
It smokes a bit (well, a lot!) when you first start it afterwards but it's fine after a few minutes.
 
Good info here. What does everyone use to wash their bike before treatment? I guess ideally something that gets spayed on, left for a moment to do its work, then washed off, but doesn't strip paint and dissolve metal at the same time ;-)
 
Good info here. What does everyone use to wash their bike before treatment? I guess ideally something that gets spayed on, left for a moment to do its work, then washed off, but doesn't strip paint and dissolve metal at the same time ;-)

I use Bilt Hamber Surfex HD, which is an all purpose cleaner, just diluted down 50:50 get's rid of all the crud and quite easily, just applied with a garden sprayer. Goes a long way, but I don't leave it on to long.

Rhino Goo is excellent stuff to, and that's on a 2 for 1 offer at Demon Tweaks at the moment, I just use that neat, again in the garden sprayer.
 
A friend of mine bead and vapour blasts classic car and bike parts.
He uses CorrosionX as a last stage of his metal cleaning saying it’s better than ACF-50.
His main customer restores classic Jags. They aren’t fussy. Oh no! His other customers are people restoring old bikes and cars. We know how fussy they can be.

His 50% cleaned Kawasaki demo cylinder head and block is amazingly spotless and not greasy to handle. Even with all the handling the treated cylinder bores are perfect. The non treated side is red rusty.
 


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