Advice on paint/stain sprayers.

[kenmac]

I purchased a wagner airless sprayer several yrs ago. Only holds a pint ? of paint, but it does very well . It will spray anything you put in it. Latex, oil base, stain, etc, all without thinning .
If you're looking at a small airless, I recommend one of these

 

[sd455dan]

I recently got a sawmill. Got some lumber piling up and projects to do. Building a 15' x 30' open sided carport now. Still working on footings.

The wood for most of these projects will be yellow pine that will obviously be untreated. My plan is to stain them heavily and, well, that just sucks with brush and roller.

So I've been looking at 'airless' (whatever that means) sprayers at the big box stores. I don't know anything about them. It looks like $500 is the ballpark figure from what I'm seeing.

Would appreciate advice on these things and/or if there are better alternatives. I do not have an air compressor of any size. Just a couple of basic pancakes. It will not get daily use but hope to be building a good sized shop in the next few years and the cabin is going to need to be stained again before long too.

Well the no big air compressor killed my inexpensive recommendation: the under 50 buck HF 2 quart pressure pot sprayer. On my second one after 20 years, they will spray any thickness/viscosity of paint and have a very wide pattern if needed, but a compressor is a must.
Amazing amount of sq feet can be covered very quickly.

Airless might be a better solution anyway generally considered to get the paint or stain further into the wood on a single pass So deeper infusion versus a surface coating.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Ive built brand new houses and sprayed the entire thing with a pump up garden sprayer. Log house,10' porch all around, wood walls and ceilings inside, tile floor. 6' off the ground on light poles. Porch was 10' all around house. Garden sprayer worked fine. Put citronella in with stain and sprayed porch rafters, exterior walls. No spiders yet. Put a good even coat on everything, kitchen cabinets and all.

 

[rodneyn]

Well, I tried using a garden sprayer. No go. Stain too thick. Messy and wasteful.

I’m in the business of designing spray equipment. If using water based stain it can be thinned by 25% of denatured alcohol or yes windshield wiper fluid the cheapest brand using alcohol as base. Once viscosity is thinned can be sprayed in suction cup, pressure pot or gravity feed gun. Now you must have stainless steel passages for fluid in applicator. That rules out harbor freight cheap guns. Make sure to screen- filter paint once you have alcohol mixed in. Water base paints have some unwanted solids that affect .030 tip size. Yes you will need more atomizing air suggest HVLP style applicator. Keep in mind the alcohol flashes off in 15-20 minutes. You will need couple coats. However you will have good film build if you wait 5-10 minutes between coats. Make sure to clean applicator after painting is completed. Keep lid on fluid supply to keep paint from flashing. More people are using water base stains. Yes of course there’s nothing better as brushing stain on for deep penetration. However spraying is faster and nobody has spare time anymore to become good Tom Sawyer with a brush.

 

[rodneyn]

I’m in the business of designing spray equipment. If using water based stain it can be thinned by 25% of denatured alcohol or yes windshield wiper fluid the cheapest brand using alcohol as base. Once viscosity is thinned can be sprayed in suction cup, pressure pot or gravity feed gun. Now you must have stainless steel passages for fluid in applicator. That rules out harbor freight cheap guns. Make sure to screen- filter paint once you have alcohol mixed in. Water base paints have some unwanted solids that affect .030 tip size. Yes you will need more atomizing air suggest HVLP style applicator. Keep in mind the alcohol flashes off in 15-20 minutes. You will need couple coats. However you will have good film build if you wait 5-10 minutes between coats. Make sure to clean applicator after painting is completed. Keep lid on fluid supply to keep paint from flashing. More people are using water base stains. Yes of course there’s nothing better as brushing stain on for deep penetration. However spraying is faster and nobody has spare time anymore to become good Tom Sawyer with a brush.

.030” tip would be for finer finish with control. Otherwise use bigger ID tips .045,.062,.093 based on need fluid delivery. Bigger the ID more atomizing air needed if you’re not controlling fluid flow. Typical gravity feed is .045 -. 050”, while suction is .060” and bigger. Pressure is operators choice, just don’t use an aluminum cup with water base paint. Stainless is acceptable.

 

[N80]

Thanks guys. Ended up rolling/brushing the rest.

 

[5030]

Graco here as well but only for big jobs.

 

[dstig1]

Bear in mind if you go airless (and they do work well, other than overspray) the longer the hose the more material will be wasted when you clean up. There may be more volume inside the hose than you realize.

I wasted very little when using mine. I would remove the dip tube from the paint, wipe it down, and put it in a pail of water and start pumping it back into the paint bucket. When the first bit of water comes through or it thins visibly, stop, and redirect into a waste bucket to keep cleaning out. The little squirt of water won't hurt the paint at all (it IS water-based...) and there is no need to waste everything in the line.

 

[jyoutz]

A garden sprayer will apply stain every bit as fast as an airless and twice as easy to clean up afterwards. Airless is the cat's whiskers for large paint jobs but unless you cut pressure down to minimum you'll loose alot of stain to overspray. If you want a paint sprayer for other projects look at HVLP. You loose very little to overspray and HVLP does a great job with fine finishes like cabinets,furniture,tractors,lawn furniture and such. For a job this size I'd suggest similar to this or they have smaller and larger if you prefer.

I did the same for roughcut spruce boards that I installed over my porch ceiling. A $15 pump up sprayer did the job, then I tossed it in the trash when I was done.