Paint Sprayer Recommendations

Tool Talk
#1

I came to the forum quite some time ago for advice on an HVLP paint system and received great advice a number of members. I ended up with a Fuji system that has performed flawlessly through several kitchen upgrades and many more furniture refinishing projects.
Now I return for advice on an interior sprayer system. Between my daughters home, my new home, a new workshop and of course, my other daughters home, I will be doing a considerable amount of interior painting in the future. I’m actually a guy that loves to paint walls and even trim work, but each of these homes is at or near 20 years old so have multiple rooms to paint. So my desire is to go with a sprayer and likely an airless system for the interior work. If it can also be used on exteriors that would be a plus.
I’ll begin by saying that while my desire would be HVLP, it doesn’t seem that anyone recommends an HVLP system for large projects such as multiple rooms. If there are other opinions on that I’d love to hear them.
I’ve been looking at both Graco and Titan spraying systems since they seem to be the preference of the Sherwin-Williams contractor locations I frequent. But I’m open to any brand name at this point. Aside from that, my preferences are:
The least overspray possible,
The ability to work out the paint can rather than premix and filtering of the paint,
Easy cleanup,
Easily change tips for different paints (enamel, acrylic…etc),
Electric (not gas),

Thanks everyone.
Gary

#2

If you’re looking for the least amount of overspray, airless is the wrong answer. From your description, it is exactly the wrong way to go. I have sprayed numerous homes inside and out and can tell you that it is best suited for new construction. I would spray primer and first finish before the trim and floors were installed, then cut and roll the final finish coat. Keep in mind the entire house was a single color. I did use an HVLP for all the doors and trim work before cut and roll of the second finish coat. Even on exterior applications, it was only an efficient means to get paint on the building. Every drop was then brushed. With this method there are no buckets to haul up ladders, there are less drips and the tendency to dry brush is virtually eliminated.

Your best bet is the tried and true cut and roll with brush and roller. If each of your daughters’ homes are to be painted a single color there may be an advantage to an airless sprayer outfitted with a roller set up. One of the many advantages being that you could leave it set up for the several days it would take you paint a house.

Keep in mind that preparation is the key to a good paint job. At a minimum there is a day of prep for every day of painting. The older the home the heavier the ratio is toward prep.

#3

I remember one of those infomercials once. A paint roller that held the paint in the handle, and as you went along, you gently pushed the handle to produce accurate, constant flow of paint to the roller, reducing both the amount of paint wasted (you could even inject the remainder back into the can once you finished, if you hadn’t used it all) as well as the number of coats needed to fill in the colour. (Constant reload rate meant the roller was always covered with fresh paint, end to end, as long as you pressed the plunger.)

Why do we have to choose technologies, when this particular, I admit gimmicky, invention was created? Why can’t we just get an air-powered version of this roller, that gently pushed the paint via a large expanding diaphragm, and used the lower end of the air compressor’s power? Say, 10-50 PSI, rather than 100 PSI or more? Have these rollers working in concert with the sprayers you’re talking about?

Spray on the primer, wait an hour, tape off the wall sockets, base boards, and crown molding, then crank the compressor down, attach the air powered roller with the paint in it, and roll out whatever colour you need, on whatever wall you need, because an air compressor can have multiple hoses split off the regulator, so you could easily be doing any number of walls simultaneously with multiple painters, using multiple rollers, and even people specialized on the detailed work around window edges and where molding and surfaces meet?

Honestly, it seems logical to me. Yeah, there are tried, tested, and true methods that work great… I’m just saying… Why hasn’t that old gimmick roller been adapted to use compressed air? Why are we still taking so long to waste good people’s work time? Just imagine a construction company building an entire subdivision… They finish off ten houses in a single day (As in, they all got done that day, not that they built them from scratch in one day.) and all that’s left is to base coat them all, perhaps ones have already been bought, and the customers already picked colours… I dunno… Point is… All 10 houses could be painted, set, and ready to move-in in a day, maybe 2 tops, prep, cleanup, and all. And the crews aren’t wasting their time, they’re moving on to more houses. Peak Efficiency is good for both Business, AND the Employees that work there! Less time doing fiddly things, more time for doing more work!

You’re probably looking at me like I’m crazy… I’m sorry… I’ll shut up now…

#4

An airless rig is going to be messy if you’re trying to limit over spray, but, several manufacturers do sell a paint roller attachment for their airless rigs. I’m not sure how well they work though, but it’s something may save a lot of time and eliminate overspray issues. Get one with a 25ft hose that can accept 1 gal and 5 gal cans, you might find yourself using both depending on the size of the areas you are painting. The shorter hose will swallow less paint but you will have to move the machine and paint bucket more. Graco is one brand that comes to mind. As you spend more you get a pump with higher output (fast) and a better quality pump or even field serviceable. For your uses, I wouldn’t upgrade to get either of those features, I would stick with the two criteria above.

Disclaimer: I haven’t used an airless rig, I did a fair bit of research but ultimately decided my uses were better served with a handheld device but I did buy a graco entry level airless rig with the roller accessory for a friend who intended to paint his entire house. He hasn’t used it yet.

#5

I’m a full time professional painter and its common for me to use an airless sprayer to prime new drywall and paint walls, ceiling and trim.

Before you think about spraying interiors, you have to be ready to spend a lot of time masking everything you don’t want paint or over spray on. Personally, I don’t spray interiors unless all the furniture has been removed and I’m painting most or all of the interior. In many instances the floors and carpet haven’t even been installed yet. Otherwise it’s faster to brush and roll, especially because every coat I spray (other than trim) also gets back rolled with an 18” roller.

I’d recommend a Graco 395 or Tritech T5 sprayer. Although I have a Titan 640, I’d buy a Graco or Tritech if I could go back in time, because I think they’re engineered much better.

As for tips I’d start with a 517 or 515 for walls and ceilings. For trim work I really like using 310.

#6

I haven’t used a sprayer for the interior, but I recently tried “Goof Off for Paint” (not regular Goof Off) on the floors. There was a fair amount of old paint, 20+years old, on the hardwood floors and this worked really well without too much scrubbing. It was there when I bought the house, and came off pretty easily. Of course, doing a test in an unobtrusive area like a closet is essential, floor finishes differ.

#7

I cannot thank this forum enough for the great advice. After hearing the real world experience of others, I decided to forego the purchase. The good news is that unlike most, I enjoy painting. So I finished three of the jobs in less than a week. I learned long ago that nothing beats good paint, good rollers and a great trim brush and I put all to use for a satisfying finish costing far less than the airless sprayer which I may have never used again. Thank everyone for their advice.
Gary

#15

I have a Wagner 930 HVLP and really like it. Turbine is separate from gun. Just stained a deck a few weeks ago. Puts me at 2-3 times as fast as by hand. Takes a while to get the settings perfect but I love it. You should do your own research on https://indoоr2outdoor.com/best-paint-sprayers-for-cabinets/ to decide on which sprayer to go

#17

Hey Fade,

Honestly man we have a greco 9.5 HVLP that we used to use all the time, but now with the airless fine finish tips by titan, or the fine finish low pressure tips by graco you can use an airless sprayer for basically everything.

We use our titan 440 impact sprayers for everything these days. here it is on amazon. https://amzn.to/3jTyVhB

#18

we use it for cabinet painting as well

#20

Figured I’d post an update on this. I’m not deep into looking at an airless widget. Thinking Graco magnum X5 for limited use. Uses their same tips as the pro machines that cost alot more other than the biggest sizes. and I’m OK with limiting my size for the amount I’ll be doing.

anyway I see a number of instances where they do work well for trim and cabinets and reduction of overspray. so I think I’m going to try it. if I do I’ll post up or start a new thread.