Air Compressor - Paint Pot

[Stimw]

I painted this 2568 sq ft house just last summer with a Graco 390 sprayer that I found on trash day!
I had to spend 2-3 hours cleaning the sprayer after I found it and there was no hose or gun with it.
Again, it takes longer to move ladders than to paint.
I had a bedroom ready to paint and had extra paint so I ran the hose and gun in a window and sprayed the bedroom the same color as the outside.
I made a 4' cheater from a piece of aluminum sofit that worked great for edging.

 

[riptides]

If you had a project or two to do, the HF unit would probably be fine.

You're talking about miles of fence, that's a big job. I would even not consider a Chinese tool for that kind of job.

I suggest you buy a Graco.

This isn't a buy it and your good to go forever tool, they do require parts to be replaced after spraying a certain amount of material.

Any Sherwin Williams, or other paint store, has parts for a Graco in stock.

Suggestion, noted. The fence lines look to last about five years. Lots of animals rubbing up against them and probably road salt in spots. The front fence line, lots of trees, so lots of dirt. The outbuildings, yeah, forgot about them. LOL.

So the go to, forever comment is understood. Appreciated.

 

[jenkinsph]

Suggestion, noted. The fence lines look to last about five years. Lots of animals rubbing up against them and probably road salt in spots. The front fence line, lots of trees, so lots of dirt. The outbuildings, yeah, forgot about them. LOL.

So the go to, forever comment is understood. Appreciated.

What do you have for a generator to power the airless?

Make sure the genset and airless will work together. When you are painting with an airless it is constantly starting and stopping so the genset sizing is more important than you might think. Mine draws about 15 amps at 120v and works fine off most outlets but it can start and stop every couple of seconds

In my first post when I suggested the airless I should have been more clear about the size. Mine will work with a bucket of paint from 1 gallon to 5 gallons. I have three 50ft. hoses and that works fine for long reach but 90% of the time I run one 50ft hose. Less line to clean. One of these hoses I use only for clear finishes on decks.

 

[Stimw]

I just remembered that about 10 years ago I sprayed the metal roof on an old mobile home with water base Elastomeric roof coating with a cheap Wagner Airless.
I sprayed right out of the 5 gal bucket, no thinning.
They do have multiple uses.
As I pointed out earlier, through cleaning after use is the only way to keep them working properly.

 

[crazyal]

Is this a one time only thing or are you going to be painting lots of fences? Back when I was painting bridges we used gasoline powered paint sprayers. Electric is fine as long as you have an outlet close by but that's not always the case. With gas powered we could simply put it in a trailer with all the paint needed and just move it as needed. We had 100' hoses and would run usually two or three lines off of one paint pump.

 

[ray66v]

Back when I was painting bridges we used gasoline powered paint sprayers.

That's the way to go. But, they are over $3,000

 

[Overtaxed]

Little late to the party, but wanted to chime in, I have a collection of guns, a PP, big compressor and a gas powered compressor. If I needed to paint a fence, I wouldn't even consider any of those tools, I'd buy/rent an airless. Even HVLP, you'll wind up spending so much more on paint using an air setup for any big project that you'd probably recoup the cost of a airless setup in just paint savings.

Air guns are for perfection; if you want to lay down a perfect coat that's worthy of going on car, use an air gun. If you want to spray some super thick material out of an air gun, use a pressure pot. But I doubt either of these apply to you; not sure you want your fence line to have a high gloss finish ready for buffing out to a mirror shine.

 

[riptides]

Little late to the party, but wanted to chime in, I have a collection of guns, a PP, big compressor and a gas powered compressor. If I needed to paint a fence, I wouldn't even consider any of those tools, I'd buy/rent an airless. Even HVLP, you'll wind up spending so much more on paint using an air setup for any big project that you'd probably recoup the cost of a airless setup in just paint savings.

Air guns are for perfection; if you want to lay down a perfect coat that's worthy of going on car, use an air gun. If you want to spray some super thick material out of an air gun, use a pressure pot. But I doubt either of these apply to you; not sure you want your fence line to have a high gloss finish ready for buffing out to a mirror shine.

Never too late.

I have pretty much settled into the Graco airless product line. I'll probably order one in the next few weeks. The deciding factors were ease of use, and cleanup, plus the many noted opinions here on TBN.

Did I mention, outbuildings? And the barn could use a good coat too. I had forgotten about buildings, and that is probably where a lot of paint will go. I was so focused on mobility and what I had, I forgot what was in front of me. LOL

Thanks again, all!

 

[Gunny]

I think you've made the right decision.

It's true that airless takes a considerable amount of thinner to get them cleaned properly, but when I used them, I'd take the nozzle off and clean it with thinner and an old paint brush, then run thinner through the machine until it came out clean, spraying the thinner into a 5 gallon bucket. Let the used thinner sit for a day and after it settles out, strain it into another clean container for the next use.
If you spray latex, then after you've cleaned it good with water, run some thinner through it so your internal parts don't rust up.

I bought mine so many years ago it was a bit less than $200, but it's still being used at least once a year now, no problems other than a few new tips when they wear out