Paint Sprayers

[Anonymous Poster]

I think I need a paint sprayer for my barns and decks. Anybody have
experience with these? I don't have a compressor, but I could get one.
However I hear the compressor-based models overspray a lot and all
that I have seen have tiny containers for paint. I'd rather drop an intake
tube straight into the paint bucket. My local Home Depot carries the
Magnum/Graco line, but these are the only ones I've been able to look at.
Their low end model is about $300, but I thought maybe the $400 would
be a wiser choice. They are rated for 125 and 175 gallons per year,
whatever that means. I wouldn't be spraying nearly that much, but
like I said I'm too lazy to use a brush.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I have the $5 or 600 model from Home depot. I think it is a model 7 or something. Anyway very happy with it. It will definitely put some paint up.

 

[MarkV]

Mark, Graco makes a good sprayer that many of the pro painters in our area use.

MarkV

 

[House]

Mark,

My first job was designing Airless Paint sprayers, it's been a while but here's what I can remember.
For painting barns and decks I'm assuming you'll be using stains and latex. An airless sprayer works very well for latex, for thinner fluid you can get away with air-assist type gun (i.e. automotive painting) but for the volume of paint for decks and barns I would go with an airless, Airless sprayers basically force the paint through a small orifice (similar to a pressure washer pushing water through the gun).
Generally, you want to look at what size tip a sprayer can support, this is related to the gallons per minute that the pump can deliver at presure. For latex, you'll want a .017 tip at pressure which means about a 1/3 gpm. Tips are (were?) given a 3-digit number, for example 517 tip is a .017" orifice with a 10" fan when spraying (2x5), measured 1 foot in front of the orifice.
Airless sprayers come in two styles, diaphragm and piston. The diaphragm sprayers use a hydraulic fluid that is pumped to pulse the diaphragm which moves the paint. Piston pumps draw the paint right into the pump and push it out. Because the paint is in contact with the piston, piston pumps wear out and are more costly to repair. However, if a diaphragm breaks you get hydraulic oil in your paint. Most contractors use piston pumps because they wear out slowly and gradually lose perforamnce instead of a sudden blow-out.
Graco was the industry leader when I was working with airless sprayers and made some very nice products with very good service support.
My recommendation would be to buy a Graco Piston pump that can support a .017 tip.
Hope this helps.

 

[TresCrows]

You might want to consider the HVLP turbine sprayers. There is an inexpensive consumer version by CH avaialbe at Home Depot. I have one of their older units and it works great. The HVLP, high volume and low pressure sprayers are of two types--compressor driven such as those by Binks and turbine driven such as the CH unit. For your deck a roller maybe better.
J

 

[ljh2]

I have the 3/4 HP Amspray DSP1900 from Lowes, with a .42 GPM flow rate. It is made by Wagner exclusively for Lowes. The spray gun works well, as does the telescoping roller. It cost around $500 with just the spray gun, plus another $80 or so for the roller attachment.

I previously had another 3/4 HP Wagner similarly equipped which was stolen.

Both units have worked great.

Last units I saw at Home Depot were the Campbell-Hausfield units that looked pretty similar.

My only gripe about these units is cleanup time. If you plan to let the unit set any longer than overnight, plan about an hour of cleanup time into your day.

Larry

 

[fractal]

Yup

Got a campbel hausfield myself. I put off chores till I got enough to justify the cleanup time. Some jobs get critical so I do them with the brush to save cleanup time. I spend 15 minutes more doing the 5 minute job but save 45 minutes on the cleanup.

Don't get me wrong, I like my airless sprayer. It works great doing the side of the house. I burned out a hand held wagner before I bought mine trying to paint a house. But, for a chicken coop? I kinda wish I bought the campbel hausfield before I burned out the wagner. The 15 minute cleanups on the hand held sprayers is a LOT nicer than the 1/2 to 3/4 hr cleanup/lub process on a larger airless that you won't use again for months.