Suggestions for Air Assisted Airless, or other methods for spraying latex paint

[Alan Lightstone]

I hate working with paint, but with a new grandchild, I've been building a bunch of furniture that will need to be painted kids colors with latex.

I was not happy with the finish I got when spraying latex with my Fuji gun and HVLP system, despite lots of good advice here, and my best effort.

So, probably going to go down the path of purchasing a different method of spraying latex.

What are some good recommendations for Air Assisted Airless guns, or what's the best route?

I'm of the buy once, cry once camp now, so not looking for the cheapest thing out there, but something that with a little practice I can master and get excellent finishes easily, with not excessive cleanup using latex paint.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I plan to get a Graco Ultra Hand Held.

[Jeff Roltgen]

I've known a few who jumped in and bought Kremlin AAA systems, which once were considered the absolute best. CA Technologies has come on the scene more recently as a strong contender as well. A friend, who is a highly regarded professional painter, dropped it and went back to his HVLP or simple airless for doors/trim work. He just found, in light of the high investment and excessive cleaning time, especially with color changes involved, it was simply unjustified, and decided to keep it simple.
Most pros I know of, including myself, utilize simply an airless for paints, un-thinned, if a gallon or more will be consumed per session in the spray booth.

Paint selection makes the biggest difference in the final results.

My friend uses HVLP with turbine for short orders requiring paint. I do too much furniture, so I've dumped the turbine system over a decade ago, as the garden hose is just too awkward for me, considering tight spaces spraying chairs/case goods. Best for those jobs it the airless gun, with a single hose and no cup on board to get in the way, but again, I don't pick it up unless I'm blowing through 2 or more gallons of paint on a given job.
My go-to, compressed air gun for paint is from Homestead Finishes, AM6008. Sounds a little weird, but it is an LVLP (low volume, low pressure). This translates to lower air consumption, and the lower pressure means the paint is atomizing and laying down without excessive bounce-back that a conventional gun seems to generate. The pressurized cup, recently replaced with 3M PPS system, makes all the difference you need for pushing that un-thinned paint through that gun so you can get some volume of material flowing through that air cap where it can get properly atomized. Shoot some SW Emerald or Benjamin Moore Advance through it, and you'll get very close to a lacquer-smooth finish that you never thought you could accomplish with paint.

jeff

[Jim Becker]

For little projects, one of the better hand-helds like Maurice mentions would likely be a good fit for spraying the paint and keeping cleanup to a minimum. A big airless is more for really big jobs (like whole houses) and the cleanup is a lot more challenging and more wasteful, too.

[Kevin Jenness]

AAA is great for production work, high output with low overspray and good fan control. The drawbacks are cost and unavoidable extra cleaning time and solvent use due to the hoses used. It's common to have one material hose for colors and one for clear finishes. Kremlin, Graco and CAT are widely used brands.

If you have a decent compressor the gun Jeff suggested or something similar with the PPS setup will work well and is easy to clean.

[John TenEyck]

I can't remember what product you were trying to spray, Alan, but have you tried SW's Emerald Urethane or BM's Advance, as Jeff said? I've sprayed both through the HVLP version of the AM-6008 conversion gun with excellent results, although I thin them about 10%. (What needle are you using Jeff to spray them w/o thinning?) Those products should spray equally well through a 3 or more stage turbine gun with the right N/N set.

Your other option is to forgo paint and use pigmented lacquer which has a much lower viscosity. EM-6000 from TC should spray great through a turbine and can be ordered in any of BM's colors.

Unless you are spraying gallons of product, your turbine gun is likely better suited for furniture and cabinet jobs than an airless gun.

John

[Jim Becker]

SW ProClassic also sprays beautifully with the PPS pressurized cup system as long as light colors are appropriate. But yea, EM6500 tinted is my own go-to for "paint" projects on furniture and cabinetry. Those can also be sprayed with a hand-held airless, of course, but that may not be needed with proper gun setup.

[Alan Lightstone]

I can't remember what product you were trying to spray, Alan, but have you tried SW's Emerald Urethane or BM's Advance, as Jeff said? I've sprayed both through the HVLP version of the AM-6008 conversion gun with excellent results, although I thin them about 10%. (What needle are you using Jeff to spray them w/o thinning?) Those products should spray equally well through a 3 or more stage turbine gun with the right N/N set.

Your other option is to forgo paint and use pigmented lacquer which has a much lower viscosity. EM-6000 from TC should spray great through a turbine and can be ordered in any of BM's colors.

Unless you are spraying gallons of product, your turbine gun is likely better suited for furniture and cabinet jobs than an airless gun.

John

Starting from scratch on this project (and future ones), so my paint choice is fairly wide open. I can certainly easily (I think) get SW Emerald Urethane. Hoping not to have to thin the paint (which I find annoying, but seems likely).

If sticking with my present Fuji HVLP system (T70 spray gun (although I think I'll dedicate my older Fuji gun which also has PPS for this) and their 4-stage Q4 Platinum turbine), would going up to a 2.0 air cap help?

Roger Phelps recommends using a 1.3mm air cap for fine finishes for latex on cabinets. I can't imagine that working unless massively thinned paint (which will create many more issues). He recommends thinning the latex 20% then also adding Floetrol, which is what I attempted before, but not with a 1.3mm air cap (I used 1.8)

The pigmented lacquer is an interesting idea, as I can easily spray lacquer with my present setup.

[Tom M King]

Since they came out with the Fine Finish Low Pressure tips (were developed to start with for Air Assisted Airless) that work with a regular airless rig that has the right tip adapter for them to fit in, AAA is completely unneeded for paint. In the middle of spraying garage doors right now. See Bad Job Coming thread that includes a link to a video.

No thinning needed with airless. I really dislike having to bother to thin, except for some automotive coatings that require it, and spraying gelcoat that needs to be thinned with styrene to get it to flow out.

[Jeff Roltgen]

John, I use the 1.5 tip/needle set for paints.

No thinning needed with airless

Which is why I love the AM6008 setup, as thinning is not necessary, except on the rarest occasion.
Recently started using Diamond Vogel's Acquinity water based clear, and it is heavy enough that I get better performance with the pressurized cup of the AM6008 vs. my standard gravity-feed gun, so even though you're focused on paint at this time, the gun will prove handy for other heavy-bodied formulas.

[Scott Holmes]

AAA are the cat's meow... pia to clean dream to use.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks Jeff. My results with the 1.5 mm N on the AM-6008 HVLP are good to great with Advance, and OK to good with Emerald Urethane straight from the can. If I thin them 10% they both spray and flow out great, like they came from a factory.

John

[John TenEyck]

Starting from scratch on this project (and future ones), so my paint choice is fairly wide open. I can certainly easily (I think) get SW Emerald Urethane. Hoping not to have to thin the paint (which I find annoying, but seems likely).

If sticking with my present Fuji HVLP system (T70 spray gun (although I think I'll dedicate my older Fuji gun which also has PPS for this) and their 4-stage Q4 Platinum turbine), would going up to a 2.0 air cap help?

Roger Phelps recommends using a 1.3mm air cap for fine finishes for latex on cabinets. I can't imagine that working unless massively thinned paint (which will create many more issues). He recommends thinning the latex 20% then also adding Floetrol, which is what I attempted before, but not with a 1.3mm air cap (I used 1.8)

The pigmented lacquer is an interesting idea, as I can easily spray lacquer with my present setup.

\

A 4 stage turbine should spray Emerald Urethane and Advance fine with a 1.8 - 2.0 mm N/N set. Thinning is always the means of last resort, but sometimes there is no better option. However, I would not thin more than 10% unless you have no other option, and at this point you have plenty.

I don't remember what product your were trying to spray, but some products refuse to spray well no matter what. Emerald house paint, for example, is awful. Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, on the other hand, is wonderful. Try one of the products recommended here with your turbine unit and your 1.8 mm N/N set. I think you'll be pleased.

John

[Alan Lightstone]

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A 4 stage turbine should spray Emerald Urethane and Advance fine with a 1.8 - 2.0 mm N/N set. Thinning is always the means of last resort, but sometimes there is no better option. However, I would not thin more than 10% unless you have no other option, and at this point you have plenty.

I don't remember what product your were trying to spray, but some products refuse to spray well no matter what. Emerald house paint, for example, is awful. Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, on the other hand, is wonderful. Try one of the products recommended here with your turbine unit and your 1.8 mm N/N set. I think you'll be pleased.

John

Sherwin-Williams Exterior Super Paint Acrylic Latex on the last project.

I'll give the Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel a go with the 1.8mm N/N set. Do you spray it unthinned, or 10%?

[John TenEyck]

Sherwin-Williams Exterior Super Paint Acrylic Latex on the last project.

I'll give the Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel a go with the 1.8mm N/N set. Do you spray it unthinned, or 10%?

The largest needle I have is 1.5 mm so I thin it 10%, but Jeff reported good results with the same needle unthinned. With a 1.8 mm needle I would start with it straight from the can. Shoot a test panel. Thin if needed, starting at maybe 5%. Good luck.

John