Painting - Recommendations on paint sprayer

I am thinking of buying a paint sprayer and need a recommendation on what to look for. It will be used not very often. When I do use it I will most likely be spraying cabinets or furniture. Alhtough I will spray mostly oil or water based paint, I would like to have the option of spraying clear verathane on furniture as well. I am a not a professional (obviously) so it should be as idiot-proof as possible, easy to clean, and resonably priced. I own a small Rigid compressor that I could use for it.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks

Look at an HVLP sprayer. Different tech than compressor driven, but much more user friendly. Wagner makes an excellent line. Dont be confused with the Wagner consumer line that you get in a big box.

HVLP is a serious painting tool, that will give you the power and spray that you are needing for the professional finish.

Talk to a manager or spray rep at a local SW store, or any other professional paint store.

Good luck!

PS some stores have a rental policy, so you can "try" before you buy. Some of these systems can push $1000. Lower rung systems are in the mid $500.

You didn't indicate a budget constraint.

There are also cup guns that run off of an air compressor but check the cfm first - your small comp may not be big enough to adequetely power a spray gun.

There are also cup guns that run off of an air compressor but check the cfm first - your small comp may not be big enough to adequetely power a spray gun.

Wagner (again PROFESSIONAL side, not the retail crap) makes an excellent Hybrid gun. It runs off a compressor, but produces a finish similar to that of an HVLP. The gun is different than a standard "cup" gun, and has different needle sets and spray heads for latex applications. You do need plently of compressor to atomize latex. I think the gun goes for about $250.

I can speak from experience here, spend the dough or go with a pro. You'll be glad you did.

I sell spraytech and graco, both of these brands have guns that run right off of a compresure but you need at a minnimun of 11cfm. and the reqs go up from there. if you are going to by a cup gun system, get one with a turbin. they cost more but the turbin supplies a constant cfm that the gun requires. further, they ussually have a variety of needle/nozzel sets available for all types of finishing. it sounds like you will need at least 2 needle/nozzle sets. one for paint and one for varethane. (they do requre differnet sizes).


If you go with graco, look into thier PPS system. It provides very fast, easy clean up.

one other tip: get a viscosity cup and learn how to use it with your gun. you would not believe that amount of calls I get that can be fixed by adjusting the viscosty of the product.

In my experience the Graco HVLP systems were always a step below the Wagner (Spraytech). The opposite was true of Graco airless, that I always felt was far better.

The Spraytech guns were easier to clean, and the needle sets were less expensive.

Your milage may vary.

Over at the Tools and Power Machinery forum there's a sticky on compressors. It's worth reading. Because compressor manufacturers commonly exagerate you'll want a compressor with twice the cfm requirement of your paint gun.

The Wagner conversion gun is an HVLP that runs off a compressor. It's a nice piece and easy to use. I bought mine from Gleempaint.com for about $129.95 and the extra needle nozzle kit for latex was about $40. The standard needle and nozzle are fine for water base clear and water base lacquers like Targets USL. The latex could be sprayed through the standard kit but you'd have to thin about 20% and be careful about runs. I don't spray solvent based material so I can't comment on those.

In my experience the Graco HVLP systems were always a step below the Wagner (Spraytech). The opposite was true of Graco airless, that I always felt was far better.


I agree. But the graco PPS makes makes the graco easier to clean. it is a plastic cup system with liners. when you are done, you throw tha liners away.

But your right, the Spraytech systems do seem to have nicer guns.

I agree. But the graco PPS makes makes the graco easier to clean. it is a plastic cup system with liners. when you are done, you throw tha liners away.

But your right, the Spraytech systems do seem to have nicer guns.

Its been a while, but I remeber several of my Lacquer shop guys used some sort of liners in their cup guns. I can't remeber who the vendor was though. Almost all of them used pot liners though. A cup isn't to bad, but cleaning out a 2.5 gal pot is a real hassle.

deffinitly get a pot liner if you are using a pressure pot. Clean up is sooo much easier.

With all this talk of sprayers, why not just go with an airless. you can get a good piston airless for under $1000 and it will spray everything just fine. yes there is overspray, but with proper pressure control and a the right tip it is not as bad as some cheap HVLP guns I have seen. Further, some of those HVLP are not a traditional HVLP rather they are Air Spray guns with HVLP stuck on them. means por transfer efficiency.

some of those HVLP are not a traditional HVLP rather they are Air Spray guns with HVLP stuck on them.

I bought a harbor freight HVLP - air powered gun about 12-15 yrs ago for just under $100 and a second one a few yrs later for $75. While they are no close match for a true HVLP mine have significantly less overspray than a typical cup gun. I still have one of them operational and have used them to spray a wide variety of solvent based materials - stains, varnish, enamel and auto paints - all with good resuts.

HVLP and Cup guns are not the same beast. HVLP relies on a large VOLUME of air, and LOW pressure. Cup guns rely on much less volume, and HIGH pressure (60-80psi) HVLP runs about 12-15 Lbs of pressure.

The results are quite different, as the HVLP has a much higher transfer rate (if I remember correctly its above 80%) Cup guns off compressors are much lower, again if memory serves its between 50-60%. So the HVLP is a slower system, but gets much more of the coating on the surface. Cup (compressor) systems are quicker, but you sacrifice efficiency and consquently use more product.

Airless would be the complete opposite of HVLP and has the lowest transfer rate, but the highest speed. With a Graco Fine Finish tip, you can get acceptable finishes, but you waste more than 60% of the product. You need to determine if the the increased rate of production covers the increase rate of product usage.

If labor is your main expense, then airless may be preferrable. If you are a small job shop and use a couple of gallons per job, the HVLP would be more in line with cost/benefit anaylsis.

I disagree. I sell a HVLP gun that can be hooked to a compressure that has a cup on it. It is truelly a HVLP. However, you need 17CFM at 12psi. I have yet to find a compresure that can do that.

As for Transfer Efficancy it is dependant on the sprayer. An airless with the pressure down around 1500psi has quite good transfer effiency upwards of 60%. I have also sprayed HVLP guns that have 30% efficnecy. Further, the technololgy is constantly changeing and I have heard but not seen LVLP and LVHP.