Critter Spraygun

| I'm going to try spraying some alkyd exterior siding stain | ("Milkweed") with my new Critter Spraygun tomorrow. Does this | sound like a bad idea to anyone? The directions say to start out | at 30psi and adjust from there. Is this very much one of those | deals where you've simply got to fiddle around until you get it | right? (I think I know the answer.)

Pretty much - but if the stuff you're spaying isn't too thick you won't need to do much fiddling.

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

You should never ask a question unless you know the answer, right? Or is that only in court?

Yes. Fiddle with it. A pressure/pot fed spray gun is the easiest, IMHO. You turn the air off and pull the trigger. You get to see the small stream of fluid you are going to atomize when you add air to the equation. Shooting away from you, the fluid stream should land on the floor about 3-4 ft away from your feet holding the gun at chest-height.

Then when adding air, the stream will get blown apart and should form a very tight pattern about 6-8" tall fan/shape when holding the gun 12" away from the target. The amount of air is adjusted with the regulator, the fan shape with the air control on the gun. The two air outlets on either side of the fluid nozzle, in effect, will pinch the paint-cloud into a vertical shape.

Then you overlap the the patterns as you sweep.

Using a clear fluid (water) and spraying it onto a mirror will teach you quickly what does what.

It also teaches how not to make paint run and how to avoid anemic coverage.

It is tough to explain, Jay...a bit like trying to describe a spiral staircase without using your hands.

HTH

The critter spraygun blows the air over a nozzle to create a venturi effect which sucks the material up the tube. Simple and can be effective.

When I have used mine, there is typically an amount of adjustment needed - either in pressure (you can go higher since the glass jar is not pressurized); nozzle height (frequently adjusted) and material viscosity. The critter works better with materials which are thinned.

I prefer to use the pressurized container type of spray gun these days since I do not have to thin the material as much.

Dave Paine.

LOL...I take it that a 'Critter' is a specific device rather than a more generic spray gun of lower quality. Imagine my surprise.

It's a basic "air brush" that is great for $42.50 .... It will shoot almost any material and given some projects, will do it as well as the big guns.

Here is a picture: