<font color="blue">I was looking at some of the equipment some local housepainters were using - fairly simple, but they still had to thin the paint. However, they were able to put a good coat on the surface on every pass, and they moved along pretty quickly.</font color>
They were thinning because they wanted to use less paint.(more profit) The painters that painted the new public building my dad works in thinned the paint substantially, and it looks great, but it's very thin coverage. Bet they saved some money though. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]
Any airless system will spray unthinned paint. Sherwin Williams doesn't recomend thinning more than 10%. I'm not sure how they arrived at that number, but I usually shoot it straight unless its a repaint of the same color. Then I thin the 10%.
After painting summers and vacations as an undergrad I was reluctant to try anything other than what I'd used "professionally."
I was at Sears and the tool department manager convinced me to try a Wagner power roller by offering me half off a display model and a guaranteed return if I didn't like it. Even at that I was reluctant but agreed.
After solving a problem which was directly attributable to my tendency to assemble things from pictures rather than reading the directions, it worked like a dream. I'm able to paint the entire interior (walls & ceilings) of a 1400 sqft. 3 BR, 2 BA rental with LR & FR in a long (10 hour) Saturday. Of course, I don't need to mess with a ladder, which helps. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
That power roller is worth taking a look at, Gary, but I will need to do a lot of painting inside cabinets and between joists, so I'm thinking that I would still really need the spray rig.
I found one that Northern sells - it's a 2 qt container with 5 ft hoses to the spray head so you're not swinging the paint filled container everywhere. Item #15897 - runs about $79 and it may be worth a try.
Thanks also for the info on thinning - my preference is to either not thin or just keep it at a minimum - guess some trial and error will solve this.
Bit late for a reply, but I'm doing exactly this kind of thing right now...
One of my jobs was painting, mostly oil onto structural metal and some limited automotive work. I've also painted more things than I would have ever liked to [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] with pretty much every tool available.
I've used the Wagner airless sprayers. IMHO, the small ones are completely worthless. The larger airless units are pretty good, although they don't give a very fine finish. The big thing to remember with spraying is that no matter what kind you use (HVLP, airless, etc.) you'll get a ton of overspray. For outdoor work this is fine, but indoors...better get plenty of plastic drop cloths.
Oh, one note...
I just painted nearly ten gallons of interior latex in my living room, hallway, and dining room. I got the Wagner power roller to do it and it really is nice. It is heavy - especially for ceiling work - but I still think it is better than having to deal with a paint pan (I've got tall ceilings). For walls it is fantastic - I can paint really darn fast with it. You do have to get the hang of it, though. BTW, this is *not* the "Paint Stick". It has a pump that feeds paint through a special roller cover.
I've found, though, that for stuff that I can take outside that a plain old sprayer (not HVLP) hooked up to my compressor does a pretty good job with latex. I try not to thin it too much - in fact, the paint I'm spraying now recommends only 1/4 quart per gallon, which is something like 10% (but I'm really bad at converting numbers, so please don't flame me too much if I'm wrong about the % [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ).
Spraying at low pressure seems to be the key. Anything above 30 PSI results in serious orange peel, although I've been really surprised with how well it levels out. You also will find that you can fire off a huge amount of paint in a really quick time if you get the pressure too high.
In fact, being used to spraying oil paint, I am quite surprised at how nicely the latex goes on. I'm doing furniture painting and it is looking pretty good. I'm even using a cheapo tank sprayer and that holds enough to keep me going for a while. In fact, I'll bet it is basically the same one you're looking at from Northern (although mine came from Harbor Freight). I sprayed most of my daughter's room with it and it worked great. It does quite well for doors, especially.
But make sure you strain your paint. The durn thing does like to clog.
OK, 'nuff on the ancient thread. I just couldn't help but reply since I've been painting like a crazy guy. I did a futon frame today and then took a couple of doors off to paint tomorrow. Sorry, folks, for the rambling...Chris
Chris - thanks.
A little update - I found out before buying that setup from Northern that I mentioned that it takes quite a few cfm to keep the cup pressurized. More than my current small compressor could supply. The solution was similar to what you noted - a basic $14 Harbor Freight paint gun. Works great for latex paint (had to thin it a bit) and was fine with my small compressor.
Maybe a little late but I bought an airless sprayer from Harbor freight, think it was around $200. Had the 50 foot hose. Has paid for itself many times over. No thinning required, puts out .45 gal per minute at max output though you usually adjust it a little lower. This is the kind you put the fill tube directly into the paint can or 5 gal container. Took me about 8 hours to pain our indoor arena (50 x 90 x 16feet high). Spent more time moving the ladder. I've painted my house twice, arena once, and detached garage once. Quote from a contractor for the arena was $4000. Cost me less than $1000 in materials and that was priming first then top coating. These are the way to go for volume spraying, just no comparison to using a compressor and paint gun (I have both)
Yeah, you usually do have to thin the latex in a spray gun. I was also just reminded the hard way that you don't want to fire too much pressure through it, either, instead of thinning. I shot about 1/4 gallon in about three minutes the other day because I was (stupidly) thinking that I could add pressure instead of thinning. Duh. Plus it turned out looking terrible...
I'm looking at spray guns to use with my compressor. What are the pro's and con's of using a gravity feed vs a siphon feed? I'm a novice on spray painting and looking for a good general purpose spray gun to paint cabinets, molding, etc.
I don't think there's much difference between a gravity feed and siphon. I just bought a siphon feed and the manual puts both of them in the same catagory. The nice thing about the siphon feed, is it has a 1 qt. reservoir.
So far, I've painted some implements and a dresser (both using oil based enamels). Make sure you have the following items (for either type):
Moisture separator and dessicator for the air from the compressor, regulator (if the paint gun doesn't have it), paper strainers to remove lumps when you fill the gun (can be had from Lowe's or HD), viscosity stick, reservoir liners.
I've only sprayed oil based paints so far (I've never liked latex for longevity). You must thin the paint (use viscosity stick to gauge) to get a smooth finish. In fact, if you thin it properly, it will seem a lot more watery then you'd imagine. The primers might be thin enough to level out, but the top coat isn't and requires thinning.
The can of paint will usually have a maximum thinning guideline (such as 8 oz/ gal) and what to thin it with. Thin the paint and then do some test sprays before you go for the money shot. The viscosity stick will help you thin consistently for every batch once you have the formula figured out.
The reservoir liners are a must to help with clean up. After you're done spraying, just pull out the liner and throw away. Fill the reservoir with solvent and spray through the gun to clean the passages. Wipe the exterior of the gun with a solvent soaked rag and you're done.
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