Patent ID: 7244464

Claim:
A method of positioning a spray gun at a desired distance away from a target surface, the method comprising: a. illuminating a pair of spots on a target surface by directing a first beam of visible light and a second beam of visible light emitted from spaced apart locations on a spray gun, wherein the first and second beams are angled to approach one another in a direction taken from the gun towards the target surface and offset such that the spots are always offset from each other; b. moving the gun toward or away from the surface until the pair of illuminated spots are in a predetermined desired alignment pattern on the target surface whereby the gun is positioned at the desired distance from the surface; and c. causing the spray gun to deliver coating material to the target surface while maintaining the gun substantially at the desired distance by keeping the illuminated spots substantially in the predetermined desired alignment pattern by moving the spray gun generally parallel to the target surface substantially at the desired distance.