Scott - on cleaning. My gun is typically a mess from overspray. I have even held it with my hand and the gun in a large plastic freezer bag and cut out the corner for the tip to make cleaning the gun easier.
Curious if you had that experience with your old Graco, and if this one does a better job of reducing overspray back on the gun.
I first rented them from Home Depot and ended up buying one. But the guy at Home Depot always complained that cleaning them up was a pain and I found the same thing on my rented and owned one.
Thanks!
Hey Neil
A lot of that (how messy the gun gets) has to do with technique. The amount of overspray that we create is often a reflection of our trigger engagement habits. Think of every pass you do as having an entry and exit. In other words, on the "turnarounds" (the in between moves of each pass), coming off the trigger right at the end of each pass instead of staying engaged during the turnaround radically reduces overspray. That is just one example. We also recommend taking a quick moment during the spray session to put a wet tooth brush and rag treatment on the gun. It is easier to clean before it cakes up.
That said, there is always cleaning to do. On larger pump based machines, cleaning the pump takes much more time than cleaning the gun. Gun cleaning is pretty quick and easy. On a 395 sized pump with a g40 gun, it is about 20 minutes including pulling all 3 filters and the inlet tube and ball valve assembly.
We have to keep in mind how much time spraying saves us over brushing or other methods. I will gladly put 20-30 minutes into cleaning because I am getting better results in my finish so much faster.
Cleaning the handheld sprayers takes about 10 minutes typically.
Here's a time lapse of a full on cleaning of a 395:
