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Devilbliss No.30 restoration

21K views 30 replies 7 participants last post by  Jack R 
#1 · (Edited)
Devilbiss No.30 restoration

Just thought I'd share this, decided to get round to restoring my dads old spray gun as it had gone a bit sticky having been sat for a few years. So far I've stripped it down and started cleaning all the old paint off but it's looking promising so now ordered some bits and waiting for the delivery before going further, not sure how old it is but it's at least 36 years old as that was when the old workshop burnt down so I'm guessing this was brought new then. :thumb:





Figured it would be worth doing as it's still something I use from time to time plus it's sprayed a few of my cars in the past plus a lot of my dads. :D
 
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#3 ·
I take it you know a bit about them then??? Any idea where I can get replacement parts from or even an exploded diagram from???

Currently still waiting for some bits to get it polished up properly at the moment, but hoping to get this underway again soon :thumb:
 
#9 ·
Got a bit more done this morning :thumb:

All of the gun parts are now clean and ready for polishing :buffer:



Next up was to start on this, got it all stripped down but as you can see it's a bit of a mess



Nice 50/50 and looking promising



I hadn't noticed until now that it was a English company from Bournemouth of all places



This is now freely moving which it hasn't done for as long as I can remember



More to come soon.
 
#11 ·
Managed to get the pot cleaned today, what a pain that was! Ended up burning it off. Started with the blow lamp and a scraper.



Then finally finished off with a blow lamp and wire brush, don't think it came up to bad and just got to tap out a couple of dents then it can be polished up with the rest.

 
#13 ·
Finally finished off the cleaning now and decided to make a start on the polishing :thumb: still a lot to do but it's starting to look much better.
Not sure how far to take it the minute as I don't want to loose to much of the patina but I might try to smooth it out a bit more as some of the deep scratches are bugging me.

Here's a few pictures so far.....





 
#14 ·
Bit more done this morning, but still along way to go.

Attacked this with the angle grinder and flap disc first, which had promising results of the shine coming back



Also gave these other bits another rub down and have got it to where the bad marks have gone without taking away to much metal.



Ordered a load of foam sanding pads (from China), felt polishing pads (for the Dremel) and a pot of mother's polish too :D which should keep me going for a while! Depending on when the sanding pads turn up I'm hoping to get this finished over Christmas but I'm not sure when there going to turn up.
 
#17 ·
Still waiting for the sanding pads and a few other bits, so decided to get this cleaned up and back in use.

Looking a bit unloved



Stripped down and ready for cleaning



Decided to use my new toy to wash it down with, very impressed by it to be fair, used very little solution and did a great job of cleaning



All back together, didn't require anything other than a clean and a bit of lube on the seals



Reinstalled and working perfectly



:D
 
#20 ·
A bit more done today :D

The pot is now at a point where I'm happy with, nice and shiny but retained all of its patina. Could of got this like a mirror with not much more effort but it was never ment to be a museum piece.



The gun has come up well, first up was a final rub down



Then again on with the polishing without going to mad it.



The lid for the pot has now been rubbed down and ready for polishing



Then it's on the this bit



I've also finished cleaning and polishing all the other little parts so it's almost ready to go back together once the final two parts above are finished :D

Fingers crossed should get those bits done tomorrow :thumb:
 
#21 ·
Some of the reassembly has started mainly so I can see what bits I need to order, so far it just seems to be the filter, drip cap and pot seal so they’ve been ordered :D hopefully will get some more photos up later but I’ve hit a small problem with the trigger seal which is a small nylon ball which stops the air passing by, unfortunately it’s slightly out of shape and more annoyingly no longer available :confused: there is a few options firstly I’ve tried to repair which will hopefully work, however if this fails I can either buy a second hand gun for spares or convert it to the newer spec version which fits the same casting and visually looks no different until you take it apart.
 
#23 ·
So the part above has cured that issue but now that works it's highlighted all the other leaks:wall:, I'm assuming that when I stripped it down the bits that looked like old tread lock where actually disintegrated rubber seals. Hoping that eBay will be my friend as these rebuild kits have apparently been obsolete for a number of years now.

In the mean time I polished the lid for the pot and made a start removing the casting marks from the lever which is now ready for polishing :thumb:



 
#24 ·
The eBay search has been successful, just ordered a full service kit for £22 which includes the part I repaired in the above post. Should be with me in the new year, so just need to get the other bits of polishing done then wait for the deliveries.
 
#27 ·
Well it's finally finished :D

Pickup pipe and clamp was easily polished up and all reassembled with the new filter and gaskets





It certainly looks a bit better then when I started :thumb:







Just need the weather to improve a little now so I can get the shed resprayed but I think it will be a while before that happens
 
#30 ·
Thanks

Turns out there a lot which all look the same but with very subtle differences, the main casting is the same from late 70's until recently from what I've found out and is used in both this model range as well as the pro. Thankfully there popular so lots of parts still available if your patient :thumb:
 
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