Airless for lacquer advise

[Bobby Hatfield]

Needed airless sprayer for a couple house painting jobs and also spraying clear lacquer on latest cabinet job.
Cabinet job first for contamination elimination but had a problem, I read instructions first.
They state "use water or mineral spirits only" for cleaning.
I know it will take lacquer thinner to clean lacquer out of sprayer.
Have found lots of instructions how to do the job online, "safe".
Lots of experience with lacquer and siphon guns but none with airless and the pressure they work at, and the lacquer thinner flash point unknown area.
Any advise from anyone here with experience with lacquer and airless ?
Thanks

Bobby

[Jim Becker]

Bobby, based on that text from your manual, I'd be concerned that there potentially may be components that might not stand up to the power of the lacquer thinner...which is nasty stuff. Further, airless are quite often designed primarily for spraying thicker waterborne paints (such as house paint), or oil based stains/paints if one is inclined to use them. They are not the best tool for the thinner finishes like lacquer, shellac, thinner consistency acrylics such as the waterborne clear coats that many of us use. If you got the go-ahead from the tool manufacturer around the solvent, I'd still urge you to very carefully test the results on something "less important" than you latest cabinet job!

[Mike Christle]

I’ve used airless spray rigs for spraying lacquer, conversion varnish, and just about everything else under the sun for more years than I care to remember. When you’re cleaning up with lacquer thinner, soak the tip while you’re cleaning out the gun. Keep the pressure as low as possible, then very gradually turn it up, but do not max it out. An airless will deliver a huge amount of material in a very short time, and the stream coming out the end of the gun is probably going to be more than what you are used to. I generally do a first rinse, depressurize the unit, pull and clean the manifold and gun filters, then do a second rinse with clean solvent. At this point, I also reinstall the tip, turn the pressure up, and pull the trigger for about 10 seconds to clean it out. Once cleaned out, the rig gets depressurized. If the unit is going to be sitting unused for a period of time, I’ll run either paint thinner or Graco Pump Armor through the pump and lines.

As far as other advice, just keep your hand moving while the trigger on the gun is being pulled. An airless will move a lot of material in a very short time. Some practice on scrap material would be a good idea if you have never used one before.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The make and model of the airless would go a long way towards saying whether or not lacquer thinner will harm any of the components.

[Bobby Hatfield]

Thanks guys, I researched this very carefully, found out the cleaning is with low pressure, actually no pressure except for the pump lifting the thinner out of the bucket with all lines open, so felt much better about using lacquer, lots of contractors using same thing or similar. I have used an old style syphon gun and sprayed hundreds of gallons of lacquer and varnish and latex outside paint in an older airless but no lacquer. This morning I sprayed lacquer sanding sealer on upper cabinets and 84 doors, drawer fronts and shelves. Made a dent in the lower cabinets this afternoon. All I like is lots of sanding of the sprayed parts and then the clear coat. I love my new Graco Nova 395.