I’m looking for advice about paint guns. I have only used paint guns to date for spraying lacquer paint on auto body work (using an HVLP, compressor driven gun.
What I would like to do is spray latex paint inside on trim, beadboard, walls and ceilings. What’s the best system for this type of work? If I can take advantage of the compressor I already have, that would be a plus, compared to going with an airless system. Also, if the system is flexible enough to do later woodworking (spraying stain, for example) and auto body refinishing, that would be good too.
My alternative is to paint with brushes and rollers, so I can’t really spend a huge amount on a paint gun if I buy one.
Thanks, as usual, for the knowledgeable advice.
Replies
Spraying trim is usually not a problem with latex with the right needle and thining the paint enough. A conversion hvlp added to your compressor will usually work fine if the compressor puts out enough cfm. I use a .72 tip with a turbine and accuspray 10 gun. This setup would be too slow for walls and ceilings so airless would be the way to go for that. You can use airless for trim too with the right tip and enough practise to keep the gun moving because airless puts out a lot of paint. I use a titan 190 and it has always done well. Go to woodweb.com and check out their finishing forum. Mostly cabinet finishers there but a lot og good info. My advice for your situation if you really want to spray trim and walls with the same setup is go airless. Graco makes some lower priced guns that seem to hold up well.
Big subject, Alec.
Recent thread with much info is at http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages?msg=14125.1
You can spray paint with a cheapish "knock-off" gun as well. If latex is the target material with a high pressure gun equipped with a siphon feed cup, you'll be pushing 60 psi to draw an ample supply from the cup at proper viscosity and the addition of some Floetrol to the material based on my experience. If you go for the cheap gun, try to find one that has a pressure feed cup for latex would be my advice. Then you can spray at 30-35 psi (or less) and consume much less air allowing you to spray with "less" compressor to drive it.
What's the best system for this? Wow, that's a whole different question with many varying opinions. Money expenditure increases as you reach for best. Best is not in alignment with new and cheap, as a rule. Airless enters the equation somewhere here for some applications, but not all. If "best" includes how much masking you're going to do to protect the other surfaces in the room or most efficient transfer of material …………….HVLP becomes a consideration………and HVLP turbine system for portability and no compressor required………as does LVLP.
Are you considering or able/willing to rent the equipment for this job instead of owning?
Is $500 too much for HVLP and your wallet? http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00051.asp
The Wagner 2600 works just fine for me including latex and is a highly portable system.
Really big subject you ask about. I just got started. Others will be along I suspect.
Hey AlecS,
I'm confused when you say that you have an HVLP with a compressor. Compressors run cup guns, HVLP (High volume, low pressure) paint sprayers are powered by turbines, and a good one would suit your needs. Which do you have?
skipj
I have never sprayed water based paint. I have sprayed oil base cut about 20%. Maybe ya can spray water base cut some also. The company that makes your gun can tell you more about it.
Edited 10/14/2003 2:15:34 AM ET by Larry's cabnuts
Think that you're mistaken. HVLP can be either cup or turbine.
In the past, I used an HVLP automotive paint gun driven by a regular industrial air compressor (30 hp?). Right now, I have a compressor (10 cfm @ 90 psi) but no paint gun. I found a gun at HD last night that looks like an automotive gun, but claims to spray latex paint. It only holds about a quart of paint though. Can you hook this up with a hose to draw out of a larger container? Or does that run into the question of excess pressure?
Thanks for your answers, I'll check out the other thread that was referenced.
Alec
"Can you hook this up with a hose to draw out of a larger container?"
Almost without a doubt. Pressurized canisters come in all sorts of sizes and the addition of such to a nornmally siphon feed cup gun converts it to pressure feed (from the canister). This will increase the odds of getting satisfying results with a siphon feed cup gun when shooting latex and require less air to get the material into the head. Therefore you can keep the actual spraying pressure substantially lower (just enough to atomize the paint enough for the material in question and the level of quality desired/accepatable). Say for latex house paints, a spraying pressure of 35 psi and a pressure pot pressure of 10-20 psi to feed the material up into the gun head.
Here's something that may be helpful to you.
http://www.state.ga.us/dnr/p2ad/pblcations/paintbas.html
Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
Edited 10/14/2003 10:25:16 AM ET by GOLDHILLER
tom,
You are correct of course. But while the 'HVLP' cup guns which use a conventional compressor dialed down to 30 or 20 PSI certainly meet the low pressure requirement, they hardly meet the high volume requirement that a 2" hose run off of turbines do, by atomizing the paint adequately.
Perhaps this is the problem?
Thanks for pointing out my error.
skipj
Actually, in my experience, an HVLP conversion gun will deliver more material to the surface than a turbine, and with superior atomization and no premature drying problems. The 2" hose requirement is because the turbine operates at such a low pressure, so it needs high volume.
One more thing. My compressor is dialed up to 70 PSI when using my conversion guns with pressure pots. Standard gun uses 40-45 PSI.
The pressure drop is only at the mixing orifice so as to reduce over spray and bounce.
Tom,
Perhaps it's time to revisit the conversion guns. They certainly sound better than when I tried them 5 or 6 years ago.
skipj
You can get standard highpress paint guns in both a cup style and one that uses an external tank.
Likewise you can get a HVLP paint gun in both a cup style and one that uses and external tank.
And while the a HVLP "system" comes with an appropriate gun and a low pressure turbine air supply there are also what are called HVLP conversion guns that run off of conventional high pressure compressors.
How much do you paint, what do you want to spend and how much time do you want to spend cleaning? Some of the cheap siphon sprayers have internal parts that can rust when using water-based paints. They're also slower and sometimes not very precise. HVLP is nice, but more expensive. Good for very fine finishing jobs, like lacquer. Pressurized pump sprayers are great for large areas, like a whole house and roof. The pressurized roller things are very hard to clean and not worth bothering with in my opinion.
You get what you pay for. Anywhere from 30 bucks to thousands. I like the pressure sprayers. No compressor to carry, easy to clean and good volume. 500 bucks and up. Not the best for small jobs since you can lose a quart in priming and cleaning.