Airless Sprayer Basics

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Airless Basics - Getting Ready to Spray

Straining and filtering

Straining

To avoid tip clogging you must strain paint before spraying. Most, if not all sprayers come with an inlet strainer (sometimes referred to as a "rock catcher") attached to the bottom of the suction tube. In addition to the inlet strainer, you need to filter the paint with a nylon mesh strainer before using it in the sprayer.

Filtering

For drywall painting you will almost always be using a latex paint. With latex paint I use a 60 mesh machine manifold filter and a 100 mesh gun filter. If your spray gun does not allow for a filter then you will have to make due, but the gun filter will cut down on tip clogging.

If you strain your paint and filter your paint you will eliminate almost all tip clogging. I use reversible tips (as do almost all contractors) for the occasional tip clog that might occur even after staining and filtering.

Spray Tips

With latex paint I use a .517 - .521 tip. I usually spray at around 2000 psi. pressure.

Spray Tip Decoding: the "5" in the .517 stands for the fan width of the spray pattern when sprayed from a distance of 12" away. To add confusion the "5" is multiplied by 2 to arrive at the correct fan width. So a .517 tip has a fan width of 10" when sprayed at a distance of 12" from the surface.

The "17" stands for the orifice size in thousandths of an inch. So the .517 tip has an orifice (opening) of 17 thousandths of an inch.

General Rules: With latex wall paints an orifice size of .17 - .21 (such as a .521 tip) is commonly used. With oil paints the orifice should be around .15 (such as a .415 tip). With stains and thin materials including some enamels the orifice should be around .11 - .15 (such as a 413 tip).

Tip Variations: Reversible tips are the most common types of tips used. Reversible tips are self un-clogging when they are turned and triggered to eliminate the clogging particle, whereupon the tip is then re-turned back and spraying commences again. Other types of tips are the fine finish tips which contain a type of pre-orifice to help break up the paint into a finer particle size. There are adjustable tips in which you can by a turn of a knob, vary the width of the spray pattern, for the purpose of controlling overspray or spray output. Another tip type is the flat tip. Flat tips are sold presumably for cost considerations - they are the least expensive of the spray tips. I never use the flat tips. If you get a clog with a flat tip, you will have to pull the tip guard and tip off the gun to clean it out which is a big inconvenience.

Tip Guards

These are produced by the airless spray manufacturers for the purpose of keeping the airless spray operator's hands away from the spray tip, to reduce the risk of spray injection. Always use the tip guard when spraying with an airless sprayer.

Other Safety Operation Devices

The Trigger Guard: located on the spray gun, used to prevent accidental gun triggering with the goal of reducing the risk of injection injuries.

Pressure Relief Valve: sometimes referred to as the "dump" valve. This valve is located on the sprayer itself and it releases the pressure from the machine and "dumps" excess paint under pressure back down into the paint bucket. Always release the pressure before disassembling the spray gun, or to work on the sprayer (to clean out a filter etc...) or when the sprayer is not actively in use (such as during lunch breaks etc...).

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Airless Spraying Basics

Note: if you are new to airless spraying click here to learn about the dangers of injection injuries caused by airless sprayers and read your manufacturer's equipment cautions.