Paint is applied by spray application for a number of reasons: it can be faster than rolling and brushing, it is usually smoother (no brush marks) and more professional looking. Sometimes spray application is the only way you can apply certain paints (most lacquers and aerosol spray paints). Let's look at the different types of sprayers used for house painting, some are better for one project, others are better for other jobs.
Conventional Compressor Spray Guns
Compressed air spray guns are normally not used for house painting. The high pressure compressed air creates too much overspray and drift for house painting. These sprayers work best in a spray booth which will capture and contain the excessive overspray that they create. The only "air" sprayers used in house painting are HVLP sprayers.
The different paint spraying systems used for house painting - what works best.
HVLP - Air Spray
A High Volume (of air) at Low Pressure -sprayer, called a HVLP sprayer, uses low pressure air to break up the paint into tiny particles - called atomization. The HVLP sprayer is used mostly for enamels and clear coats in the house painting trade.
HVLP offers a finely atomized finish with thinner viscosity materials. You can spray most clears and many oil enamels with little or no thinning with an HVLP unit. You will not have the same kind of results with latex paints. Latex paints are thick and have larger particles which are a bit difficult for the HVLP to atomize. Of the latex paints, you will have the best results with primers and thinned latex enamels. Clear coats of all types (oil, shellac, lacquer and even waterbased) spray very nicely with the HVLP - especially the solvent type clear coats.
The HVLP offers a lot of control over the spray pattern which helps in achieving a good finish and minimizing overspray. You can spray a narrow fan or circular pattern from a couple of inches width, to six or eight inches in width. You can cut the air volume back for thinner materials to minimize "bounce back" overspray, or let it go wide open for heavier materials.
The electric cup gun
This sprayer will spray latex paints as well as oil based paints, clears and stains. The more powerful the sprayer, the better it will spray heavier materials like latex paint. The atomization of the electric cup gun is not as fine as the HVLP or the airless rig, but it is far cheaper than the airless rig, and is as mobile as the HVLP. Clean up is quick with this sprayer, usually taking only 15 minutes or so.
The airless rig
The full size airless spray rig uses high pressure hose to transport the paint from a pump (either a diaphragm or piston pump) to the spray gun. Airless spray rigs are powerful, high production applicators, which have no problem atomizing standard latex paints. The spray pattern is better than that of the electric cup gun, but not a fine as the HVLP. There are special fine finish tips which use a pre-orifice or double orifice to break up the paint better, these will produce a finer finish similar to the HVLP.
Aerosol spray can
The convenience of the aerosol spray can, makes them useful for small projects. The spray is very fine and smooth, and the paints packaged in the cans are usually high quality acrylic enamels or similar finishes. The downside to the aerosol is that they can get very expensive if you have to do a lot of painting. Aerosol spray-cans will list the recoat time on the label, this must be closely observed.
Don’t wait too long or recoat too soon, with this finishes. Generally, the aerosol paints are gloss finishes, that look superb when properly applied. The catch is that they are a little bit more difficult to apply than a latex or oil based enamel. One of the biggest problems is dry spray which causes streaking, grittiness or a halo effect.
If you put on full wet coats with a 50% overlap, and work in a brisk manner, you should get a decent job with the aerosol can.
Airless Spray
An airless sprayer doesn’t use air at all, to atomize the paint. The airless. forces the paint through a small opening (orifice) in the spray tip, and in doing so, breaks the paint up into very fine particles.
There are two types of airless sprayers:
1) The airless rig and
2) The electric cup gun sprayers (Wagner Power Painters).
Paint Sprayers
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Diaphragm and Piston Pumps
As a general rule the piston pump will handle heavier viscosity material and withstand the grind of day to day spraying better than the diaphragm. This is why professional painters usually use the piston pump sprayers.
The diaphragm pumps work well for most standard paints, and are perfect for lighter duty that most DIY'ers need in a sprayer.
