What kind of sprayer?

[Scott Holmes]

Spraying will not give you a better finish; only faster. Could be a huge mess very quickly. Thin your paint a bit and use a foam roller. $10 @ HD or Lowes. Another option is to rent an airless sprayer.

HVLP are much slower than airless; most don't spray paint very well.

[John TenEyck]

I've never been able to replicate the quality of a sprayed paint finish by any hand applied method. For thicker paints an airless works really well, and you can get a mid level Grayco for around $300. For thin paints even a cheap HVLP conversion gun will do a fine job. By cheap, I mean less than $50.

John

[Troy Turner]

I bought this one after trying to figure out the whole gun/compressor thing. http://www.rockler.com/hvlp-spray-sy...eplacement-cup Wished I woulda bought it sooner. I don't spray for a living so I didn't reckon I needed a big system. I've sprayed latex paints and oil and water finishes through it with no problem. Just had to get the thinning down, but like everything else, it has a learning curve. Clean up is a snap if you get the extra cup.

[Curt Harms]

A question I haven't seen asked .... do you have an air compressor? What size? Portable? Compressors large enough to spray well may not be. Turbine spray units cost more but they're easily portable, does that matter?

[Greg Urwiller]

I answered to some posts earlier but I don't see it anywhere so I'll try again. Since I'm new at this, I don't have any budget, just want to try a reasonably priced unit that will give me a chance to decide if this (painting) is for me. I've got a Coleman, 6.5hp(claimed), 60gal compressor. Not portable, but I've plenty of hose to reach to an area I'd partition off for painting. I did look at the Rockler link and unless someone warns me against it, I might give that one a try. It's on sale and I've got a gift card so will end up being fairly inexpensive. I've got a couple of projects to build for my daughter, and since she's not the QSWO type, they'll be poplar or maple and painted in a contempory color. Four oak pantry doors to paint, and 3 steel exterior doors should be redone also. Since the doors are all panel type, I thought I might have better luck spraying than trying to brush. Spraying may not turn out to be my thing, but I can guarantee you that brushing is definitely NOT!

[Troy Turner]

Looks like it comes with the replacement cup too. BONUS. I like to keep mine full with water so when I'm between coats or mixing up another batch, I run the water to clean the gun for a few seconds. That way it doesn't clog. Just experiment with the right consistency and write down how much paint/water (or what have you), so you can get consistent results. I always have the best luck with I turn the nozzle to spray a "circle" pattern vs. a fan pattern. You can't adjust the air flow, but there's a dial on the back to adjust material flow.

[Curt Harms]

Greg, it looks like you've got plenty of air for most HVLP guns. I have a Porter Cable HVLP guns which works well but I mostly use the Earlex. One benefit of conversion guns over turbine HVLP for me - less air to stir up any dust or blow dropcloths, newspapers etc. etc. I don't have personal experience but have seen lots of positive reviews on Harbor Freight HVLP guns. Not SATA or Accuspray but plenty functional.

[andy photenas]

if you have a compressor or a friend with one you can check the stats of it and look up hvlp guns on amazon. If the compressor is strong enough to run the guns and most decent jobsite compressors are, then you can buy a gun called a gravity feed I only spray pre cat laqure with mine but it has a bigger tip for paints and other viscus liquids u might spray. the gun cost like $40 with 2 tips and so far has be super easy to run. I used to work for a hi end house painting company and we used airless this is much finer then those guns but puts on way less at one time.
Tool Force A-C1 50 PSI 2-in-1 HVLP Spray Gun for the money this is one solid item its so simple and easy to clean because the cup is less then 1" from the spray tip. this means u dont need to clean out long hoses or really a lot of the gun just one small area that is easy to get too and with latex the paint drying in the gun as you use it is a problem.
I wish i had more time with paints to help more but if anyone else knows more of this kind of sprayer pls add.
also you would be shocked at how good some spray paints out of the can are if the project is small.

[Tom M King]

I have one of each of everything mentioned on this thread, and other stuff too. For such a small job, and limited budget, you will be better off doing the prep work and paying a pro to come spray them for you. I use rotisseries for doors, so you can go ahead and do the whole thing. There is no cheap way to buy spray equipment to do a good job with thick paint. I have the 100 buck Wagner HVLP sprayer, and the only thing we use it for is thinned down oil based primer. I like it for that because we don't have to spend a lot of time worrying about cleaning it up, and don't want to run it through the better guns, because I would feel like we would need to tear one all the way down to clean it.

The battery powered Graco does a good job, but if you don't use one much, the batteries won't last much more than a year, and 100 bucks each.

If you want to set up for good spraying long term, get a 1050VR. Otherwise, pay someone else to do the spraying with good equipment and experience.

[Rich Engelhardt]

For "just trying it out" - you really can't beat the Harbor Freight 20 oz gravity feed HVLP gun.
They go on sale for about $11 from time to time. Around $15 on sale is more like it though.

It's good for spraying just about any clear WB.

[Lee Mims]

I've owned and tried just about every system mentioned here. He's my thoughts:

Thinned Paints and Oil Based Stains / Clears:
HVLP is the way to go. I have an oil-less compressor 33 gal husky, it's ok...it keeps up fairly well, and since it doesn't use Oil it doesn't inject oil in the lines. Still have to deal with condensation.

Thick / Latex Paints:
Airless

Here's my breakdown of what I have:
Wagner Flexio 5700 - Hate it. Sprays only water thin items semi-consistently.
Graco Nova 395 Airless - Eats paint for lunch. Amazing. Lots of paint tied up in this process, only good for large jobs (painting sheds, house, entire rooms, and ceilings). Sprays anything unthinned as you'd expect. (515 tip normally used).
Grace TrueShot Plus II - My go-to Latex gun. Easy to work, will spray vertical (ceilings), and just about any angle. 15 - 20 minute cleanup. Sprays anything UNTHINNED. Tried everything...it's great. It's kinda heavy after a while, I have the corded version. (Favorite tip for finish work = 311 FF)
HVLP from Harbor Freight - Ok, decent results on thin materials. (1.8mm and 1.4mm tip tried...1.4 works best except for really thick stuff).
HVLP from Amazon, random brand, about $50 - Pretty good, even sprayed latex which was pretty thin, but gave a nice coat. 1.4mm tip.

Brush = Brush Marks
Foam Roller = Roller dimples. I then sand gently with 360 or 400 grit and it comes out pretty good, but not as good as my Trueshot, not even close.

I read a great article about how VOC (Volatile Organic Chemicals) and the change from Oil base to Water base changed the painting world, and will give you this brief summary.

Old Rules:
Never Paint on humid days.
Never Paint on rainy days.
Use an expensive real hair brush.

Here's the catch though, they all apply to oil-based finishes.

Things which are important for latex:
Paint on humid / rainy days.
Use Floetrol if you need to retard the dry times.
Use synthetic brushes.

Why paint on rainy days? Well oil based took FOREVER to dry, and humidity just made things worse. Latex drys too fast, giving it no time to level and remove the brush strokes / roller dimples. Adding some Floetrol will help, but also humidity will increase the time it takes to dry as well, giving you more oil-like properties (the smoothing / leveling effect).

Make sure to keep dust and things away during the dry time.

Since following these rules, getting the right equipment, and doing some research, my projects are starting to look professional.

**BTW, I wish the TrueCoat would have less overspray, but such is the nature of 2000PSI airless. It's better, and you can control it with the pressure dial, but it's still loads of overspray. Wear a respirator!**