Who decided to ruin a spray paint can?

[Scott Shepherd]

I picked up a can of Valspar paint out of our cabinet the other day and it had a "fancy" nozzle on it. It's probably a year old or so. As I sprayed the job I was working on, it sputtered and dripped paint all over my finger tip and onto my work. What a mess.

I ran out in the middle of the job, went and bought a new can. Now that same paint has some bulky thing on the top that you have to turn to "unlock" so it'll spray.

This is a brand new can of paint. Right from the go, when rotated to the "spray" position, the opening it sprays through isn't large enough for the fan of paint. So it starts building up paint and dripping and splattering paint all over the place.

What a dag gone mess. For the life of me, I'll never understand how a company that's in the spray paint business can ever bring junk like this to market. It's a totally useless product that DESTROYS the ability to use their product effectively.

What happened to the standard spray top that worked for 50 years? So we stopping putting a tip that worked for 50 years on our cans and instead, we have installed an inferior product that causes our product to do a horrible job??????

VERY FRUSTRATING.

Anyone else experience these "new" spray nozzles?

[Phil Thien]

Oh boy, new and improved? I don't use a lot of rattle cans, is this something that is being required on a national level. That is, next time I buy a rattle can, am I going to find only the new type to which you're referring?

[Sam Murdoch]

Worth an e-mail to Valspar. Tell them about the thread on SawMill Creek describing their troublesome spray nozzle.

[Jim Underwood]

This reminds me of another container problem I have... Ever use "Softscrub"? It used to come in a bottle with a flip top, and the whole cap and the little orifice was made of solid plastic. Fixed diameter and you squeeze the bottle and enough product came out. Worked fine.

Then they decided to "improve" it...

They put some kind of rubber insert in there, and then you couldn't get the product to come out until you really put the muscle into it.. and then it came out in big globs all over the place...

I finally got pissed off enough to fire off an email to their "comments are welcome" account and told 'em what a piece of crap it was, and it wasted product and my money, and that I was going out to my shop right after to drill the dang thing out...

They never did reply, but not too long after that they went back to the old cap. And that's the way it's been for the past coupla years...

[Jason Roehl]

I'm partial to this style of spray can tip--when I first saw (and used) these almost 15 years ago, I thought they were a huge improvement over the typical aerosol nozzle that only made a round spray pattern (terrible for larger, flat surfaces):

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=648&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=8mSWTDXBcU4hpM:&imgrefurl=http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/41924-what-do-these-rims-2.html&docid=DxuKGZbhTEleqM&imgurl=http://www.vac-u-boat.com/images/PaintTipsPix/PaintFusionFanNozzle.jpg&w=640&h=480&ei=S_K4T6OpAZKC8QTmz7TSCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=409&vpy=143&dur=2990&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=179&ty=125&sig=105630447665767703316&page=4&tbnh=144&tbnw=204&start=66&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:66,i:269

[David G Baker]

When I have a problem with a product I try my best to find a phone number so I can communicate with a real human. If that fails I then go the E-mail route. It has been some time since I purchased paint in a spray can so I can't comment on that but thanks for the warning so I can avoid the problem you had.

[glenn bradley]

Yes, unfortunately a recent study found that 98% of all bi-peds in this country cannot identify Shinola. One of the many, many, many areas that were discovered to be fundamentally lacking in the observed subjects was the rattle can operations instinct. In order to correct for this behavior (the subject would point the spray can at their face to make sure paint was coming out), the modified nozzle safety device was mandated. Fortunately, the gene associated with figuring out how to work the nozzle is only present in subjects that have the rattle can operations instinct ingrained; problem solved. This wondrous salvation for the greater population of our continent (along with warnings that coffee is hot, knives are sharp and plastic bags make lousy Halloween masks) is hailed as an assurance of "Darwin-us interrupt-us". Rejoice in the fact that in the very near future only .03% of the population will be able to find the business end of a screwdriver and will be available to explain what plumb bobs are to the remaining 99.97% :D

[Brian Elfert]

I had the same problem with Softscrub as Jim had. Very difficult to get out of the bottle with the little rubber piece they put in there. I don't use a whole lot of Softscrub so I might still have that bottle.

I never use spray paint so wasn't aware of any changes.

[Ron Natalie]

232578
I can! I can!

[Greg Peterson]

Just sayin', the hot coffee case is often misunderstood. Based on the way this case was reported, it is understandable though.

[Myk Rian]

Just sayin', the hot coffee case is often misunderstood. Based on the way this case was reported, it is understandable though.
I believe she lost on appeal, or at least the award was reduced.

I use a can trigger whenever I use spray paint, if it fits the can.

[Scott Shepherd]

I believe she lost on appeal, or at least the award was reduced.

I use a can trigger whenever I use spray paint, if it fits the can.

You won't with these. Here's this brilliant piece of engineering that won't spray paint worth a hoot.....

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bpMjcSwfScc/Tp1EB7BZizI/AAAAAAAAOXQ/Gwa_TNCE4j0/s1600/Valspar_SprCn_TopClseUp.jpg

Yo have to rotate the outer "top" until the hole in the top lines up with the nozzle. So you're spraying through the opening, which, of course, catches paint. Not to mention it's one of those big nozzles that doesn't work a fraction as well as the one Jason posted.

[Greg Peterson]

The jury awarded the plaintiff $2.7 million in punitive damages. The judge reduced that to $480k. The parties ultimately settled out of court.

Regardless, the Hot Coffee canard just will not go away.

I have not seen this spray can trigger style. Looks pretty aerodynamic.

[Rick Potter]

I also remember what shinola is. It's that brown stuff on my dress shoes.:eek:

Rick Potter

[ray hampton]

why not remove the fancy cap

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

We used to do a lot of art using spray cans (among other things) as kids (maybe not some people's idea of art, but not graffiti by any means - this was all on salvaged MDF and what not, and not property, ours or anyone elses) and one thing we found was for different spray patterns, we would take the tips from different cans and put them on the stuff we bought from the hardware store. Not everything fits on every can, but it's helpful at times. I've been saving the blue-ish tips that have the little twisty that lets you change the angle of the fan spray pattern. (Like in Jason's link - actually spraying a fan shaped pattern makes them useful) Soak them in some mild solvent to clean them out, and I can pop them on the cheap cans of spray paint to get a useable spray. Be careful when popping them on; you can accidently trigger the can when doing so.

Soaking the tip to clear it is helpful in general - sometimes you get a little more out of the can that way over turning it upside down to spray just propellant out and clear the tip. I've had tips come from the store pretty much clogged too - I don't know if someone tested the can and didn't clean it or what, but it's annoying.

[Van Huskey]

I came in to say basically what Joshua did, save the good ones, use 'em on the cheap cans. I also love the one Jason linked to, they spray well and don't cause too much finger fatigue.

[curtis rosche]

i havent seena can with that style spray yet. ive always used rustoleum or krylon though from the cheapest place i can find