What is a good paint sprayer to buy?
Streamline
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I am painting the interior of a 5,000 sf home, starting with priming. Sherwin Williams says Lohe’s SprayTech is no good, and their $650 sprayer is better. Lohe says professionals use theirs all the time and quite happy. I plan on using this for my house only but not sure what to look for in a sprayer. Renting is too expensive over time (I’m slow). I’m willing to pay around $500 for the sprayer, but need advice.
Replies
Streamline,
I have a Titan 440i. Although it's probaby around $750 for one now it is a good value. You could spend half again more and get no better. At a minimum get a sprayer that has a piston, not a diaphram.
http://www.titantool.com/content/subPages/electricAirless/440i.html
- r
Whatever you do, don't get a Wagner. But I think Wagners are to spray paining as drywall screws (piffin screws) are to deck building! In other words, if you have about five square feet to paint and don't want to use a spray can, use a Wagner.
get a graco... this company specializes in pumps.
I've used a Campbell Hausfield airless for about the last 15 years on my rental property. I keep it clean and replace parts periodically and it works great. You can probably even get a rebuilt by calling CH.
I think you can get the same model for quite a bit less than $500.
Graco makes a long line of pro sprayers.
but I am doubting you will get a good sprayer for only five bills. You are better off spending a grand, then selling it used later. You will have a good unit to use that way and be out the same net money
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You are better off spending a grand, then selling it used later.
Or buy it used (ebay) and sell it later for almost as much as you paid for it.
Kathleen
That is the kind of a piece of equipment I would be leery of buying from somebody I didn't know.
One reason they are so expensive to rent is that so many people do not take care of them and clean them promptly or well. A place where I used to rent one had to replace one of his three machines every couple of months due to careless renters.
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I'll disagree
We have two lower end Gracos and one higher end model. The larger pump is used for whole house painting. The two smaller units, bought at HD for around $300 we keep in the shop one is dedicated to laq, the other enamel.
I bought the first smaller one about 6 years ago after our Titan 440 finally shot craps as a throw away for laq in the shop. Figured for the money and abuse it was going to take it would be cheaper to replace it every few years then maintain it long term. Well so far zero problems and still going strong. Bought the second a few years ago so we didn't have to take the larger unit in and out of the shop when we had painted trim. Now our painter has gotten a lot better at clean up and taking care of it then in the past which probably helped.
Those cheap little pumps are not suited IMO for heavy daily use, but for one job? I bet that little $300 Graco HD sells will do just fine for one house. Besides, if it does #### out take it back ;)
Between you and ponytl, I stand corrected on that, and on used ones.
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I'm with you on the used ones.... If I knew more about them, or was willing/had the time to spend the time to learn, I might consider it. I like tearing stuff apart as much as the next guy in an attempt to figure it out and fix it, just don't have much free time lately.
back when I was playing painter for this company we had a Titan 440, not a bad unit but it was never well kept up. I hated that damn thing.
I was really surprised at how long and well those little pumps work.
yeah - not hard to build a strong pump. It is getting everything else to work together than is like herding ants. I am just not the type to have any patience with mechanical stuff that needs love. I can take a house apa5rt and rebuild it, but something like a carbuerator - I lose interest
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While we're talking about sprayers and hoping not to hijack too much
Anyone got any tips or tricks to share about using the sprayers? I'm getting tired of brush & roller and thinking about moving into the world of airless sprayers.
TipsYou can spend a lot of time cleaning and maintaining them - and if you don't, you will have thrown all that money out in the windYou will use approximately twice as much paint to cover with an airless as with a brushThe best job will be to spray it on and back-brush it - or to just brush it on in the first place.Ceilings, walls, and fences make them worthwhile. Siding, trim, and doors end up not looking as good a a well done brush job.oh, and lest I forget - clean it well
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so really, the time saved on one aspect is spent on another. I can buy a lot of rollers & brushes for the sprayer cost and if I ruin a brush or roller, well, it ain't that much to replace them.
thanks
You will spend time masking too.I'm sure it varies and according to what quality you expect.Where we see them used is that prime coat on drywall, which requires a fairly heavy duty sprayer for the higher viscosity body of that kind of paint.But there are no doors or trim or floors to mask at that point. Almost all out ceilings are an off white, so I have my sheet rock guy spray primer on all, then the finish eggshell on the ceilings. Then the painters get to roll and cut the walls which are different colours throughout. I even get customers who can't decide until they see it in place and change wall colours 3-4 times.
I'd hate to see that much masking going on and off and on and off....LOL
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You sure are set in your ways for a young guy. Where did you ever get your bias against spray painting?
They actually build some pretty fine homes out in the midwest, and a whole lotta pro painters there use spray rigs to do just about everything. No backbrushing, either. I guess the cranky yankees haven't embraced the technology yet.
As for masking, it's easy and goes fast.
As for spray rigs, that airless Titan 440i is the darling of the pro crowd. Watch 'em get bid up on eBay.
I prefer compressor-driven HVLP to airless, though. An Accuspray 19C gun with a 2.5g pressure pot on casters. A little slower, hugely more transfer efficiency, and for doing fine work, they cannot be beat.
I can spray your painted woodwork to be smooth as my baby grandson's butt. Can your brushers do that?
"Where did you ever get your bias against spray painting?"I used to do quite a bit with an airless before I moved here.Then I learned to do better. An exterior job here with the same prep work will last longer and look better brushed in than just sprayed on."I can spray your painted woodwork to be smooth as my baby grandson's butt. Can your brushers do that?"you better believe it!
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Check out the local Ben Moore, Sherwin Williams or a yard with a strong paint section and ask them if Titan or Graco reps come through the area. When I was interested in getting a sprayer a Titan rep gave me a great hour long equipment tutorial, another time the Graco rep brought 2 sprayers, set-up them up and showed me how to spray.
I ended up buying a Graco HVLP unit for the type of work I do, about $1,300.
-Norm
Thanks Norm.
I'lls ee what I can get from the local SW re the sprayer reps. It'd be nice to get a 'class' like you mention.
Wagner has a bad rep due to the HO line of cheap ####, but their older pro stuff was/is pretty good.
Picked up a used Wagner 835 B (.28 GPM, 1/2 HP) and it does everything I need in an airless sparyer. Needed dis-assembly and cleaning/re-assembly but for $20 was a deal.
One 5000 sq ft house is not that much.
Just finished painting the interior of a shed/garage with it last month, about 1200 sq ft of paintable surfaces, it took longer to stir the paint and pre-strain it than it did to paint.
One advice on Wagners, the intake screen is too coarse for some tips (occasional clog) so I pull an old nylon sock over the intake with an intake screen 4X bigger than stock, just fits into a 5 gal bucket.
Of course, my paint is all older paint somebody else threw away, probably no problem with new paint with stock screen sizes.
I have a fleet of sprayers... and most often go for the Titan 440 .. simple small and will spray all day.... once painted the outside brick of a 30,000sf shopping center in one nite with one...
I got all of mine used (must have 7 of em) bought em all from pawn shops... I have several big gracos also for when i want to run more than one gun... have a honda powered 440 that doubles as a parking lot striper.... I've never paid more than $350 for one... the titain is pretty simple... i've picked em up for $50 not working and with just take'n em apart and cleaning i've gotten every one of them working...
i've painted my dump trucks and trailer with them with a fine tip and industrial enamel... i keep seperate line sets for enamel and for water based paints... for tight areas they even make a pretty good pressure washer ...ie: used one to clean hvac coils in a ceiling worked like a charm... didn't put out more water than the existing condensate drain could handle...
pretty sold on any of the 440 line... there is one that is electronic... i have one of those..never been into it... but the standard 440 is pretty simple...
p
graco if there's a pittsburgh paint warehouse around you, they have good prices trick w the sprayers is to match the unit to the job and your expertise guys buy oversize units that can apply faster and heavier than their skill level allows them to keep up with have someone good help u w consistent spray pattern
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