Paint spray guns (air)....

Awl --

Got a few Q's, hoping someone can post a quick "faq" on using an air paint spray gun -- for outside woodwork, like T1-11 fencing, gates, and pressure-treated stockade fencing, etc.

We had an electric/airless Wagner ditty hanging around for quite some time, never used, and yesterday just could not get it to work, not with paint, water, nada. And what a racket it makes! And I could see, from the pita clean up, that even if it did work, it would proly never work again, from clogs, etc. The guys at my lumberyard were no fan of this airless-wagner stuff.

So it turns out I had Husky siphon-feed air spray gun stored away, never used (like

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, closer to the #6500, actual sku #

515-507) so I hooked up one of them bitty pressure regulators (like
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except with a separator), and WaLa, I'm spraying paint!!! Water based.

This husky gun seems to be "high pressure", as opposed to HVLP, but I put a regulator on it anyway, as the box mentioned cfm at 40 psi, so I figgered the operating pressure would be in the area of 40 psi, and my compressor is

80-110 psi. That 40 drops to 20 psi upon spraying, but this range seems to feel right for the gun -- with all 5 mins of my paint spraying experience. :)

So there seems to be basically 3 adjustments: 1. inlet pressure 2. knob controlling trigger "depth" or spray amount and 3. a knob above that for the "fan" or spread of the spray. As well as the "wings" of the nozzle for hor'zl or vert direction to the spray. And viscosity of the paint, which seems to need to be on the thin side. Oh, and of course distance from the gun to the work!!!

Does HVLP have any advantages over non-hvlp? Can a high pressure gun be "converted" to a HVLP gun by simply dialing in lower pressure and perhaps adjusting the above knobs somehow? Would another nozzle be required? I haven't seen replacement nozzles for this spray gun. Are these generic/available?

Seems to lay down nice fine layers, which iiuc is much better for adhesion, as opposed to thick brush layers. Will have to lay down several of these, tho.

Does a gravity fed gun have any advantages over the siphon? Do the more expensive "airless" sprayers have advantages over air, besides not needing a sep. compressor/air tank? I see they use high psi like a power washer, but I don't know if this is necessarily an advantage -- seems like just another thing to break. The air guns seem inherently simple, reliable.

I think this gun is going to work well, just that filling up the quart container is going to be a bit of a pain. Relatively easy to clean. If I added a hose to this gun, could I siphon right from a paint can on the ground or perhaps on a cart?

I hear people knock Husky as a crap HD brand, but I have one of their compressors (26 gal), very quiet (for a compressor), heads and shoulders above Sears compressors. The pressure regulator is a little crude, but other than that, it's been bery bery good to me. Similarly, this husky spray gun does not seem chintzy at all, almost heavy duty.

Appreciate any heads up, as I'm going to be doing some real painting tomorrow, on T1-11, which is difficult to brush or roller.

Reply to
Existential Angst
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Greatly appreciate the heads up.

So it seems you really do need a pressure regulator *at* the gun, OR a dedicated tank with the proper pressure.

You mentioned a pressurized pot.... I've been wracking my brains over this for some time, couldn't remember what it was called, but I actually had one of these, ages ago, from Sears, and man, did it work great!! Hmmm.... here's a HF one:

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just called a NJ HF, my buddy is going to pick it up in an hour!! Bingo, this solves all my problems! You literally can just drop a full can of paint in this (not pour it, just put the whole paint in!), and spray away! With this pressurized pot, it looks like I'll be able to do some outside house painting as well.

As I have now about 7 min of paint spraying experience, I proly shouldn't be editorializing, but from a purely mechanical/intuitive pov, I'm just blown away by how much simpler and more ergonomic this air spraying is over the wagner-type airless. I guess the issue is, most people don't have air compressors, so the airless strategy becomes essentially a default strategy.

BUT, if you price the HF pressurized can, pancake compressor, and gun, it totals $165, not a lot more than the Wagner crap, and in some cases less, and a lot less than other airless systems, with, imo, much greater simplicity (despite the separate components) and much more versatility.

Again, really appreciate the help.

Reply to
Existential Angst

Bless you. I'll keep you posted on my pressurized paint pot. :)

Why would siphon guns have trouble with latex? Isn't it only a matter of viscosity? These guns seem to specifically specify low to medium viscosity. I find that cutting many paints with water helps brushing, and apparently helps spraying.

Oh, my little test run last nite (with latex, flamingo pink... ) did very well. A very thin coat, but apparently excellent coverage, bonding.

But it's good to know that if these are doing well with latex, I can do oil as well. iirc, the airless guns require special nozzle thingies for oil paint.

Reply to
Existential Angst

I used to use a cheap bleeder type gun that came with my compressor for laytex paint, with good results. I would thin the latex paint with a

2 to 1 ratio with hot water. I painted the outside of an old house one night. While I was busy painting, other people were pulling weeds and cutting the grass. It almost caused wrecks the next morning as people stared at what had been an abandond house for over ten years. It was on a busy highway, and an eyesore for over a decade. I knew the people buying it, and offered to paint it, if he bought the paint. The hard part was constantly refilling a small tank with paint, since I didn't have a paint tank.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Modern airless are GREAT for stain/latex. I have 3 different guns, two for latex one for stains. Hoses for different colors and different tis based on material. Graco and Titan are my preferred units. Units that can handle 5 gal are handy. I also have a hopper that attaches to the inlet to allow singles easier.

Reply to
Steve W.

I've gotten to try a real HVLP setup at a woodworking show, this uses a turbine setup like a reverse vacuum cleaner and really big air hoses. The advantage is that there's virtually no overspray and you can almost handle the thing like an airbrush. You had to be careful with the viscosity of the finish, though. The conversion guns are better than the regular spray guns as far as overspray, but still produce a big cloud if you're trying to finish the insides of cabinets and such. Haven't tried latex, i use my conversion guns for car work and woodworking finishes. You can rapidly exceed what a portable compressor can deliver if you're using a regular old-style pressure sprayer.

If I were to do a house, I'd rent one of the high end airless setups that runs out of 5 gallon buckets, about as far from one of the Wagner critters as you can get. They take a lot of cleanup, so not really the thing to haul out for craft work and small jobs.

As far as equippage on the gun, I use a dedicated air hose, just for painting and used for nothing else, a regulator at the gun and a dessicant-type water filter. I also have a 4' whip hose on the gun itself.

Stan

Reply to
Stanley Schaefer

I just finished spraying stain on my shop of which part of it was a new addition which had unprimed T1-11. My neighber has an airless sprayer but we still needed a roller to get an even cover. That plywood is just one giant sponge. I think we got less then 100 sq. ft. per gallon. You may find it helps to have someone behind you with a roller.

Mike M

Reply to
Mike M

It was still good after five years. That was when I left the area.

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

If I had a lot of latex to put on, I would look at one of these for the DIY crowd.

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this video:

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have seen one of these used at a site and they do work.

This is NOT a Wagner POS and the price reflects that.

Reply to
Pat Barber

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