Airless paint gun?

[JonSchuck]

I hate painting with a brush but enjoy spray painting.  The few things I have made I painted with an Apollo HVLP gun.  They looked OK to my untrained eye.  Now I hear people talking about airless sprayers.  Can they be used on cabinets?  I thought they were for big projects like walls and fences.  I have one called Graco Magnum XR9.  Can I use this?  The book says I have a .015 in (.38mm) tip.  Would I need a smaller one?  Since the housing crash, my Home Depot is now only stocking one model of Graco and no tips or parts for them so I would have to figure out how to get a different tip.  Maybe they would order one for me.

Another dumb question.  I have been using oak and painting with Minwax Polycrylic clear gloss mainly becaue of the water base for clean up, it's easy to find and I don't know the difference.  Should I be using something different?

Thanks if advance for answering questions from dullards like me.  I don't know any woodworkers and never took shop in school so I am trying to learn from books and videos (and of course, the FOG).  A special thanks to the guys making videos.  Paul M, Peter P, Bryce, Honeydo, etc.  You guys are rock stars.  Also thanks to Rick C for turning terrible owners manuals into excellent ones.

Jon

 

[AlexThePalex]

I wouldn't dream of using that Graco Magnum unit on cabinets or furniture. It is indeed for bigger projects. It is not just about the nozzle size, but also about the amount of paint that it puts out. And the amount of paint you need to put in it to make it work. I have used such airless units for cabinets, but only when I did like 50 at a time (we had a furniture factory next door). For small projects it will be very uneconomical.   

Why would you want to move away from your HVLP gun? It should do the job. Lots of pro's get good results with them.

But I myself will always prefer compressor powered spray guns for small projects like furniture.

 

[JonSchuck]

Thanks for the quick reply Alex.  The few times I have used that airless sprayer I enjoyed it.  It seemed easier to use.  The clean up does take a while.

 

[mastercabman]

What type of paint are you using?
I think you will be better off with your HVLP. Those rigs (airless) are for biger jobs like walls/ceillings.
Your HVLP should be fine with just about any finishes.But be careful with latex,most people have to thin it pretty good for the gun to spray it.
There are 4-5 stage turbine now that has more power but i think you will still need to thin latex to get a good finish.
Then you have AAA(air assisted airless)machine.It's like a hybrid sprayer that allowed you to spray airless and air assisted for finer finish.
But it is pricey.It is for pro that need to use the machine a lot.

As for clear finish,the minwax is ok.If you want to stay with WB you could try General finish.You can get it at stores like Woodcraft.

 

[JonSchuck]

Thanks mastercabman.  Minwax was all I used.  Was I supposed to use something else with it?

 

[Michael Kellough]

Airless can be very good for acrylic paint.

I bought a Graco Truecoat airless sprayer (corded) to test while I was painting a large cabinet project that I'd been spraying with an HVLP/pressure pot system. It had been a pain adjusting the thinning and temperature of the paint to get a spray-able viscosity and I'd never been satisfied with the surface of the dry paint. I sanded off about a third of what I put on. Airless is supposed to be able to spray acrylic straight form the can so to speak and I thought unadulterated paint should result in a better surface.

I tried the airless on some long sticks of trim and the result was perfect, better than I'd gotten with the HVLP. From that I learned that I'd been applying too little material with the HVLP and it wasn't able to flow out.

The problem with airless is that the fan pattern stops abruptly and you can get visible lap marks. With Air Assisted Airless the fan pattern is feathered so that isn't a problem.

On my project I went ahead and sprayed the "countertop" (2x15 feet) with the Graco using a wide fan pattern tip held farther away than usual and I enhanced the ability of the paint to flow out with Floetrol. Worked great!

Everything I painted with the Graco was horizontal and most everything I painted with the HVLP was vertical. That probably was a factor in my putting on too little paint with the HVLP and getting plenty on with the airless.

 

[Laminator]

I have a couple of airless rigs  1/2 gpm Binks and a 1 gpm Graco and many types and sizes of tips.  I used to spray lacquer with a .010ff (fine finish) tip and as long as you were practiced it worked very well for larger jobs.

If you have a sufficient air source a pressure fed conventional rig is much easier to use and can produce flawless results with a lot less effort on the users part.  I have a couple of 2 gallon pots and a 1 quart pressure fed cup gun.  The cup gun is the one I use the most these days since I am no longer in the paint business.  This gun will spray virtually any coating and gives you the ability to texture to boot.

A conventional syphon fed cup gun will work with most clear finishes or otherwise thin material. Latex will be a slow go with this rig.

Cabinetry can be painted with an airless if you are an accomplished spray man. Although It is hard to get a flawless job, you can do very well with one.

Can't speak for HVLP at all as this was the new kid on the block when I exited the paint business.  I was looking hard at AAA and electrostatic(can you say expensive!) before another business came to light.

 

[3PedalMINI]

I did some cabinets and had to paint quite a few doors in my home. I tried HVLP and just wasn't satisfied with the results i was getting with it, frustrated with thinning the paint (sherwin williams pro-classic) i ended up having to strip all of my doors with the amount i was laying on trying to achieve the results i was after. I went to home depot and picked up the graco x5 and a fine finish tip. Hooked it all up, and laid down a coat. I was blown away with the results, after the second coat i had a flawless finish that looked almost too "perfect".  [tongue]

It eats alot of paint though, be prepaired to blow through a gallon in no time and assume that 25% of it will be wasted. I actually dont find cleanup that bad with it, can be completely broken down cleaned and stored in a matter of 15 minutes. I would definitely recommend it!!

You can find graco tips online all over the place including amazon!