Air or airless?

[bravheart]

Got a bit of shed painting to do, already have a compressor and a small hand held pot.
Looking for a bigger pot https://spaldings.co.uk/products?Search=04701 what's the advantages/disadvantages of an airless system in comparison to above

 

[Blackleg]

Airless would be much faster, mine will empty a 20 litre tin in 10 minutes with the right nozzle
You've only got to stop to refill every 20 litres
Don't have to thin the paint - thicker coat/less prone to sagging
Less paint in the air - overspray on things that shouldn't be painted
Haven't got to worry about keeping a pot upright as you climb a ladder
Blockages instantly cleared by twisting the nozzle

Disadvantages -
Mine will empty a 20 litre tin in 10 minutes at £80/tin, I've put it on too thick sometimes and used too many tins on jobs
Good ones aren't cheap, don't know if cheap ones are any good
They take more cleaning

 

[Jetemp]

@Blackleg what would be a good airless paint sprayer too use for repainting commercial trailers and ag equipment?

tia

 

[Blackleg]

Don't know I'm afraid, I only bought a second hand one to do beams and sheds so not qualified to offer advice.

 

[bravheart]

Airless would be much faster, mine will empty a 20 litre tin in 10 minutes with the right nozzle
You've only got to stop to refill every 20 litres
Don't have to thin the paint - thicker coat/less prone to sagging
Less paint in the air - overspray on things that shouldn't be painted
Haven't got to worry about keeping a pot upright as you climb a ladder
Blockages instantly cleared by twisting the nozzle

Disadvantages -
Mine will empty a 20 litre tin in 10 minutes at £80/tin, I've put it on too thick sometimes and used too many tins on jobs
Good ones aren't cheap, don't know if cheap ones are any good
They take more cleaning

Thanks for that @Blackleg , can they spray all paints or just water based have heard some don’t like thinners.
What model do you use, does it have a pot or draw straight out the tin and with what length of hose?

 

[Jetemp]

@Blackleg slightky different question then! What do you think of the airless sprayer you have what make model is it?

 

[Blackleg]

@bravheart @Jetemp I'll certainly answer as best I can.

I've never got on with painting and usually used a roller for the stuff I do, got talking to a friend who lent me his airless sprayer to try.
It was made by Wagner and an ex hire machine that was properly knocked about and never looked after but it wouldn't stop working, I saw the light and found one on ebay which cost me £1200, It's a Wagner ps30. I spent another £400 on a new gun, hoses and tips.
It's a brilliant bit of kit, I put it on and old BandQ trolley so I can wheel it in the van and around site with a paint tin underneath it and just keep topping it up.
Everything recently has been "Juniper Green" so it's had paint in the lines for about 3 months with no bother, it's single pack paint so doesn't go off in the machine, if I haven't used it for a couple of weeks I'll put a splash of thinners in the bottom of the tin and give it a stir.
At the moment I've got a couple of 15 metre hoses on it which is a good length for doing sheds, the hose nearest the gun is showing signs of age so I'll either change it soon or just take it off - I imagine it would get messy if it burst with the machine switched on.
Below a photo of it after I bought it (with only one hose) and a couple of sheds that I painted.
There were 2 sheds, a 40' container and a bit of a fence which took a day to wash off and a day to paint. Off the top of my head I think I used 5 tins of paint.

 

[Hilly]

Airless Wagner but ££ you won’t beat them .

 

[Blackleg]

When I was looking to buy I spoke to a few people who offered advice...

A shed builder said the old Graco Kings are brilliant (and the newer ones aren't), they're air powered airless and supposedly bombproof but watch out for the ratio of the machine - higher ratio = thicker paint, lower ratio might only be good for varnish etc.

Wagner or Graco are good but some machines are at the budget end and may only be suitable for interior thin water based paint (there's usually a good selection of them on ebay with a hopper to pour paint in).

I looked at a hand held battery operated Graco airless for doing small jobs and touch up work, the Graco literature was impressive. Spoke to a man that deals in them who said he wouldn't sell me one because they're rubbish and he was going to stop stocking them.

Tritech are supposed to be top quality, I was told they don't use rubber seals on the piston but rely on a very high tolerance between piston/cylinder = all steel parts/maintenance free

Paint Sprayers - TriTech Airless

Like I said I don't know much about painting, just passing on advice given to me

 

[tinman]

@Blackleg
i take it there is a big difference in the quality of the paint you can buy?
i bought a kremlin air spraying unit at an auction 12 mths ago but never used it, it needs an air supply to run it so not airless.
it ill either be used or be a stepping stone to an airless one but altho ive never went looking about paint i assumed there is everything from good to pure rubbish out there, am i right in thinking that?

 

[Blackleg]

Think you're right, some zinc primer tins are hard to lift because of the amount of zinc in them so I imagine they're good quality.
Spoke to a lad at a shed builder years ago who told the rep he wasn't impressed with their paint because it didn't cover and rusted through in no time. The rep replied they made the paint to the shed builders specification - cheap with not much paint solids in it

Again I don't know much about the stuff, just compare prices which vary greatly. High end paint costs an arm and a leg, cheap stuff might not do the job and in between is the right stuff for the job at the right price it's a bit of a minefield.

I currently use Elmbridge's Marathon Prime Finish https://www.elmbridgesuppliesuk.com/products/marathon-prime-finish/ which does a good job on sheds and is quite a bit cheaper than the Jotun equivalent. All was well until I got down to my last three tins the other day which upon opening turned out to be bright yellow instead of dark green! It wasn't the end of the world as the job could wait but could've been an issue if I'd had machinery on hire and a small weather window.

@MD @Minshall Buildings would know about buying the right paint at the right money although his probably comes in IBC's?

@tinman some airless use air as the power supply (like the Graco Kings) so it might be an airless machine with all the benefits, post a pic if you get a chance

 

[tinman]

@Blackleg
Many thanks for the info, prety much what i as thinking myself.
i use jotun paint here an find it excellent but i never bought much more than the 2.5ltr tins of it.
not a great picture but its the only one i found, cant remember the model number without looking but i remember at the time looking the price of it new and it was about £3,500.
it didn't come with a gun but ive since picked up a graco one, 2 pipes to the gun, air and paint.
i only ever connected the air to it once and it run ok but ive never put pant through it, came from a working environment that just sold up all the kit.
I could be wrong but i think its a 17A, id have to look to be sure.

 

[Blackleg]

Photos of 17a's look very similar

 

[tinman]

it id be a fine machine id imagine just youd need a compressor with you when you would go to paint, bit of a pita imo.
still, im not heavily invested in is so worst case scenario as i said its a stepping stone to a new airless unit.
i really should get my finger out but i never seem to have the time to be doing the jobs id like to be at...

 

[KennyO]

@bravheart did you ever buy an airless sprayer. We have a trailer to paint and wondering if I should invest. However would need to be less than £500.

 

[bravheart]

@bravheart did you ever buy an airless sprayer. We have a trailer to paint and wondering if I should invest. However would need to be less than £500.

Yes bought a cheap chinesium with extra hose and lance. Was sub £500 all in delivered at the time also a pallet of paint but apart from a trial run for various reasons not sprayer related never got a proper go with it.

 

[Munkul]

Airless paint sprayer

i got wagner 90 power painter. bought it on facebook for £500. only a few months old. i clean it out with water first then just put a bit of thinners through it after. if your going to buy one make sure it has a piston pump and not a diaphram pump as they dont like oil bassed paints im told...

thefarmingforum.co.uk

I went with the cheap, DIY grade Wagner. It works great, I have to say. I've put 20l red oxide through it and 20l alkyd gloss last night. It's a huge, huge step up from 600ml gravity air spray guns I was using, and I wouldn't go to a pressure pot setup after experiencing airless. Absolute game changer, once primed up on a 20l tub of paint you can put down paint as fast as you can move, without stopping until it's all gone!
I'm using xylene as thinner and cleaning solvent.
You can tell its a DIY pump setup. It's a piston pump though, and does cope with the paint OK. I thinned the gloss paint slightly and it sprayed as nice if not nicer than I could ever get with the gravity gun, but a heck of a lot faster!!
If the 350m packs in, I'll seriously be looking at something with a better pump. The spray gun and hose that come with the 350m are perfectly fine, really quality bit of kit IMO, it's just the pump that leaves me wanting. At least you can get spares for them easily.
I'm glad i didn't buy it for the brand new price, I think the Graco GX 21 would be a better choice, the pump looks a lot more robust and has more power.
Or, of course, step up to a bigger pump unit altogether.