What's a good paint sprayer?

[Verticaltrx]

I use a Graco as well, it's one of the smaller semi-commercial models, got it from Lowes: Shop Graco 0.37-HP Electric Stationary Airless Paint Sprayer at Lowes.com I added the 50' hose and a 3' wand.

I have put almost 100gal of really thick premium outdoor latex paint through it and it is still working great. It pulls right out of a 5gal bucket, and with 50' of hose you can cover a lot of area quick. I did a 30x120' three sided shed with 14' eves in about 4hrs. It does take a while to clean up and it makes a lot of over spray, but for big outdoor projects you can't beat it.

 

[mx842]

I have to Graco sprayers. One is a HVLP unit that I use for spraying oil on cabinets, the other is a much bigger unit that I can put five gallon buckets under it and spray just about anything through it. Very simple and easy to use with nice results. With both sprayers, clean up is a lot of work and usually where I decide if I'll roll it or not. One room and I'm using the roller. On my parents house, I'll spray the entire inside of the house with primer, then paint, and do the same with the paint outside. I should be able to do it all in a day if the primer dries while I'm spraying the outside.

Eddie

I was wondering about just spraying with my regular paint gun that hooks straight to my shop air. I know I would need to get a larger tip and have to deal with the 1 Qt cup but If I could get by with this and not have to spend $500.00+ dollars right now I could live with it. But when looking around It seems you have to have some sort of turbine gismo that does something to the paint in order to make the spray gun shoot latex. If that's the case I may as well go out and buy a Graco 17 or 19 and be done with it.

Is it possible to spray latex with a gravity feed gun hooked up to shop air without buying the turbine gismo?

 

[mx842]

I use a Graco as well, it's one of the smaller semi-commercial models, got it from Lowes: Shop Graco 0.37-HP Electric Stationary Airless Paint Sprayer at Lowes.com I added the 50' hose and a 3' wand.

I have put almost 100gal of really thick premium outdoor latex paint through it and it is still working great. It pulls right out of a 5gal bucket, and with 50' of hose you can cover a lot of area quick. I did a 30x120' three sided shed with 14' eves in about 4hrs. It does take a while to clean up and it makes a lot of over spray, but for big outdoor projects you can't beat it.

I looked at that one and wondered about it. This always happens to me when I'm thinking about buying tools, I look at this model and then think, well for a couple more bucks I can get the 1/2 HP model and it won't have to work as hard and last longer. Then I see the 5/8 HP model and ....wow for just a few more bucks............ Before you know it I'm out the door with the biggest and baddest model they have. Not that, that is a bad thing to do because sometimes the upgraded models do last longer and give less problems over the long run. But just where do you draw the line? LOL

 

[EddieWalker]

I was wondering about just spraying with my regular paint gun that hooks straight to my shop air. I know I would need to get a larger tip and have to deal with the 1 Qt cup but If I could get by with this and not have to spend $500.00+ dollars right now I could live with it. But when looking around It seems you have to have some sort of turbine gismo that does something to the paint in order to make the spray gun shoot latex. If that's the case I may as well go out and buy a Graco 17 or 19 and be done with it.

Is it possible to spray latex with a gravity feed gun hooked up to shop air without buying the turbine gismo?

I don't think you can spray latex through a HVLP type sprayer because you would have to thin is down so much that it wouldn't cover anything. I've never tried, but I can tell you that between the two, the sprayer nozzle on the big latex sprayer is massive compared to what I have on my much smaller sprayer. Also, on the big sprayer, the paint is sent through the hose and there isn't any air used. It's a pump that does all the work and creates the pressure. This is also a big reason why it takes so much longer and it's so messy to clean up after using it. You got to get all that paint out of the hose!!!!

Eddie

 

[timster2]

For touch ups and small jobs that I don't want to dig out the airless sprayer for there is one spray gun that does and outstanding job and is very cheap. The gun is a LVLP yes low volume low pressure gun sold by Harbor freight, Here is a link Household Low Volume, Low Pressure Spray Gun Check out the reviews. The nice part is you can get a way with a small compressor using this gun. Its not something you would want to spray a house with but you could easily use it to spray a door.

 

[mx842]

I don't think you can spray latex through a HVLP type sprayer because you would have to thin is down so much that it wouldn't cover anything. I've never tried, but I can tell you that between the two, the sprayer nozzle on the big latex sprayer is massive compared to what I have on my much smaller sprayer. Also, on the big sprayer, the paint is sent through the hose and there isn't any air used. It's a pump that does all the work and creates the pressure. This is also a big reason why it takes so much longer and it's so messy to clean up after using it. You got to get all that paint out of the hose!!!!

Eddie

Yeah that's what I thought too. I was going to dig out one of my old spray guns and use it for a test run but figured I would have to thin it too much to be effective so I guess I'll just scrap that idea all together and go with a real spray system. How flexible are those spray hoses on the Graco sprayers are they really stiff like some of the cheaper pressure washing hoses? I hate those things, they are a real pain to use cause they always want to curl up like a pigs tail and tangle so easily.

 

[dstig1]

HVLPs will spray latex, but they have to be good ones. You need a good 4+stage turbine to do it, and it does help to thin with Floetrol or the like. Still, pushing latex is tough for most turbine or compressed air sprayers.

 

[J F]

HVLPs will spray latex, but they have to be good ones. You need a good 4+stage turbine to do it, and it does help to thin with Floetrol or the like. Still, pushing latex is tough for most turbine or compressed air sprayers.

Yep. I've got this 4-stage Accuspray unit, and it sprays latex fine. 3M Accuspray 240c Turbo 4 HVLP Spray Gun

I've probably thinned it 5-10% for floetrol or distilled water and sprays fine. I have to say that I hate finishing though, as I don't do it often and a good job takes a good amount of time (mostly in prep work). And I hate cleaning everything out afterwards. Yeah, I just don't have the patience. :laughing:

It always made more sense to me to pay the people that do it on a regular basis when it came to my remodeling projects (for my business).

 

[PRF]

I looked at that one and wondered about it. This always happens to me when I'm thinking about buying tools, I look at this model and then think, well for a couple more bucks I can get the 1/2 HP model and it won't have to work as hard and last longer. Then I see the 5/8 HP model and ....wow for just a few more bucks............ Before you know it I'm out the door with the biggest and baddest model they have. Not that, that is a bad thing to do because sometimes the upgraded models do last longer and give less problems over the long run. But just where do you draw the line? LOL

You must be my long lost twin brother !!!

 

[J F]

:laughing: Yeah, I think a lot of us have the gottahavethebestus disease. It's very expensive to treat. (and leads to a lot of brain-lock)