Written By Steven Craig

ARTIST PROFILE

STEVEN CRAIG

DATA

Steven Craig is the owner and head painter of SKC CUSTOMZ in Lake Havasu City, AZ. In the past Steven has won the House of Kolor Prestigeous Painter Award and was a 1st Place winner of Dupont's Hot Hues Awards. He most  recently was awarded the Matrix System's FX Grand Prize Award for the second time. Steve paints a wide range of jobs from guitars to large off shore boats. Visit  his web site at

Airbrush : Iwata HP-BH, Custom Micron B, Iwata Eclipse CS, Iwata HP-BCS
Spray Guns: Iwata LPH400, Iwata LPH-400 LVX ,Iwata LPH300, Iwata LPH-80
Paint Media: PPG, Xotic Colours and Matrix Systems, assorted AB Tattoo inks.
Surface Media: Everything I can get paint to stick to.
Masking : R-Tape and 3M Masking Tapes
Projector: Artograph
Lighting : Natural and Florescent. Spray-Line and Spray King Paint Booths

"Iwata LPH-400 LVX"

Teaming up with Iwata's LPH400 LVB the LPH400 LVX eXtreme basecoat technology was developed for use with 90-95% of basecoat colors and engineered to provide increased productivity in application for solvent or waterborne basecoats. While the LPH400 LVB remains the set-up for the most difficult or complex colors the LPH400 LVX handles all the middle range colors where productivity and speed is a must. Extensive field-testing and painter evaluation reports prove that the LPH400 LVX is much faster than the competition and has an ultra smooth application with no technique change. Inlet pressures, spray distance and overlap are the same for the LPH400 LVX as a normal LPH400 LV.

NEW LPH400 LVX
eXtreme basecoat gun

 Normally, when Iwata releases a new spray gun my  distributor for them sends it to me knowing that I will purchase it with no questions asked. Marco Rodriques from Pro 1 Automotive (my Iwata dealer) called me and  requested   that I  stop by his store before I closed for the day. He informed me that he had just received the first two new Iwata LPH-400 LVX spray guns to enter the state of Arizona.
 I didn't want to purchase another spray gun at this time, so I went there with no intention of buying one.  Marco threw his sales pitch at me and I replied, "I'm not buying another gun right now." We went back and forth on this for over an hour. He kept trying to sell me on the point that the gun was designed specifically for Metallics and Pearls. The whole time I'm trying to explain to him that I have no problem spraying metallics.

 I've always felt that being able to lay heavy metallics evenly with no modeling or zebra-striping is what separates a great painter from a mediocre one. Those who know how to apply them take great pride in the fact that they can. It shows they have the knowledge and experience that can demand high dollar amounts for their ability.  

 "This spray gun will level the playing field."

  As usual, Marco told me that he would take the spray gun back if I didn't like it. I still wouldn't budge on the fact that I just didn't want another gun right now. So, he kept adding extras, like a gallon of the new PPG Vibrance Clear developed for custom work. Needless to say, he finally got me to cave in and reluctantly buy the spray gun.

The LPH-400 LVX has a newly designed air cap to produce excellent pattern and droplet spread.

 The following day, the new spray gun was put on a shelf where it remained for about a week. I began a new project that would be done in Candies and required a heavy metallic silver base. I figured this would be a good time to give the new LPH-400 LVX a field test.

 Starting out, I mixed up the amount of silver I would  normally use for this size of project. On an average, to get good solid coverage with a heavy metallic silver it would take 3 to 5 coats of paint to remove any striping. A medium wet coat followed by 1 or 2

arrangement coats.
 I took a piece of cardboard in the booth with me to test the spray pattern before applying it to my project. Starting out at the recommended 16 psi the pattern didn't look like the gun was atomizing correctly. It looked as though the gun was delivering large paint droplets. Trying to correct what I thought was too low of air pressure, I set the gun at 20

psi, which is what my Iwata LPH-400 is set at. Immediately I knew this setting was incorrect and I would have more silver airborne than  reaching the surface. After adjusting the gun and doing a few test patterns it seemed the sweet spot was between 14 psi and 16 psi. I began by applying one medium wet coat. I stood back to look at the first pass

and stopped. Walking out of the spray booth,I immediately called Marco. I informed him that I demo'ed the new Iwata and to get over to my shop, NOW! He hesitantly asked, What's the matter? Don't you like the new gun?" I told him to just get over here.
 It didn't take long for Marco to show up at at my shop. I think at this point he was worried that I was unhappy with the new spray gun and it didn't deliver what Iwata claimed it would. When he came in I kept up with the demeanor that I wasn't happy. I said, "Come in the booth. I want you to look at this."
 We walked in the booth and I sternly said, "Look at it!" Marco stood there for a few seconds trying to figure out what I was so unhappy about. With a smile I continued with, "That's one coat of paint. I had achieved full coverage with no modeling or striping with one perfectly even coat." Anyone who has ever sprayed House of Kolor's Orion Silver knows that this is

impossible. Marco laughed and then proceeded in calling me several names using very colorful language, if you know what I mean.
 We talked about how much I liked the spray gun for a few minutes then Marco thought he would call John Beck who is the regional representative for Aset-Iwata and run him through the same routine that I just did to him. He called John and told him that I wasn't happy with the spray gun and then handed me the phone.
 The first thing out of my mouth was, "John, I'm not telling anyone about this spray gun!" He seemed a little baffled for a minute then I continued with, "I don't want other painters finding out about the LPH-4000 LVX. This gun is going to level the playing field and make mediocre painters look like experienced custom painters. We get the big dollars because we have the experience to apply hard to spray metallics. Now everyone can do it."

 John told me how excited he was about the new spray gun. He felt that Iwata produced another full size gun that will be revolutionary to the industry. He asked what psi I ended up using. I told him between 14 and 16 psi. He said that what I did when it didn't look like it was atomizing correctly is what many painters will do and may disappoint them with the gun unless the get used to the low psi. It made a lot more sense when he explained that to deliver the metallic better a larger droplet was needed that would hold the metallic in place and keep it from standing on edge. 
 John got such a thrill out of our conversation that he told me of a similar encounter. He said he was demonstrating the new LPH-400 LVX at a collision shop where the owner was equally reluctant to purchase another new gun. The painter there was preparing to spray a red metallic made by Dupont which he felt was one of the most difficult colors to apply. The painter finally agreed to try the new gun, figuring this would be the ultimate test and didn't  expect   any  miraculous
 

results. After applying two coats of paint he stopped. He looked at what had been produced at this point and to his amazement he had full, even coverage and the metallic had layed flat with none standing on edge. At that point his helper was walking by and he handed the gun to him and told him to spray the same paint on a panel. Now, this person was just a helper and had never painted before. He got the same results as the professional painter did, two coats with full and even coverage. The owner turned to John and said, "I'll take five of these guns!". 
 By using what he had learned and me as a reference, Marco being the uncanny salesman that he is went out and either sold or took orders for 8 of the LPH-400 LVX's that day.  Obviously,  I got over my wanting to keep this gun a secret by writing this article.  I highly recommend this spray gun to every painter out there. The LPH400LVX could only add to your talents - not to mention its a sound investment.

The only difference between the LPH-400 and the LPH-400LVX is the air cap. The LVX cap has a faster fluid speed delivery, larger pattern overlap, & spray distance are less critical.