Considering An Airless Sprayer

[Ken Krawford]

The projects I am building recently have all ended up being painted. I have a turbine based HVLP sprayer but I'm not crazy about how well it sprays paint. I'm considering a Graco Magnum X7 airless sprayer. I've found one for $200 that is fairly new, has been well cared for and in great condition.
Before I pull the trigger, I'd love to hear any feedback (good or bad) concerning my choice.
Thanks in advance.
Ken

[Rich Engelhardt]

Well...since it's been two days and no one chimed in, I stick in my $0.02.

Airless sprayers hold a lot of paint in the pump and hose and they put out a lot of material in a very short time.
The former doesn't matter when you're putting on several gallons,,,,for something small, like an end table, it can double your material costs since the pump and hose hold as much material as you'll apply.
The latter makes them great for production work,,,not so great for fine finishing.

Graco makes a great airless - however - an airless fact of life is that the pumps and packings need rebuilt/replaced.
How the unit was cleaned and prepped for storage makes a big difference in how soon the throat packings need replaced.
If the owner sprayed some latex, then flushed it with water and put it away without running mineral spirits, kerosene or diesel fuel through it, the packings may need replaced no matter how old the unit is or how much/little it's been used.
I had to check to be sure that Graco still uses leather packings on the X series and it appears they do.
The water in the latex and the water used to flush the latex makes the leather packing swell up. When they swell, they wear a lot faster.
If they are allowed to dry out after being saturated with water, they get brittle and crack.
Either way, the packings will leak.

If you had a large project lined up, like a lot of wood fence or a barn or big block wall, then the $200 price would be reasonable - even if you did have to throw ~ $50.00 for a rebuild kit at it right away.
If all you have is some small jobs, it might not be a wise investment.

[Jefferey Scott]

Ken,

I'll second Rich's advise. I have a Graco X5 sprayer that I just painted my house with. It is a good tool for that application. For woodworking projects, especially smaller ones, it's too much sprayer. It puts out A LOT of paint and you have to be really fast with the gun or you risk runs and sags. Give Jeff Jewitt at Homestead finishing a call and see what he recommends. I bought my HVLP gun from him and he's a great source of information on finishes.

[Ken Krawford]

Thanks for the replies. I'm taking the seller at his word - he claims to have only used it once for spraying latex paint. After cleaning, he then flushed the system with something ?? meant for long term storage.
Maybe I'll stick with my HVLP system for now.
Thanks again for the input.

[Rich Engelhardt]

. After cleaning, he then flushed the system with something ?? meant for long term storage.Probably the stuff Graco makes. I saw some of it yesterday in Lowes. Which would be a good thing...
Sooner or later it will need new packings and a rebuild though.

Bottom line here is that half price for (what could very well be) a like new Graco airless is a very good deal - - if you buy it for the "right" reasons.
I'd buy it myself if I checked it over and it looked like it was everything the seller claimed in a heartbeat.
I have more than a few uses for a production type machine though. Not many,,but,,,,,the 300 some odd linear feet of cedar fence that needs stained again is reason enough.
I bought a Wagner Paint Crew for $199.00 to do the fence last time & figured the cost of the sprayer into the cost of doing the fence.
Wagner sprayers, unlike Graco,,,,are very consumable products...(read that as use it once then toss it - if it works a second time, count yourself lucky)

I don't want you to get the impression that it's all negative.
Airless sprayers are great tools. They are a production piece of equipment though that's not really geared towards small fine finishing work.
60 louvered shutters - absolutely.
6 louvered shutters - probably not..

[Matt Meiser]

What HVLP system are you using?

[Ken Krawford]

What HVLP system are you using?
Matt, I've got a Graco 4900 turbine HVLP system. It's probably 8-10 years old.

[Matt Meiser]

Well, that turbine certainly looks capable. What are you using for a needle/tip set?

[Ken Krawford]

I believe it is a 2.2mm tip that I use for paint.


Well, that turbine certainly looks capable. What are you using for a needle/tip set?

[Matt Meiser]

That's the size of what I've used for paint in both a conversion and turbine gun (very limited use on both.) Have you tried Floetrol (sp?) which is available at Lowes? Thinning a little? I was able to get decent results either way but I think the Floetrol is probably a better way to go.

[Jason Roehl]

If you're not keen on getting an airless at this point (you can reclaim MOST of the material in the pump and hose if you flush it carefully), one upgrade you could make to your system would be to add a pressure pot/gun. That is, the material could be pushed by a small compressor, but the turbine would still supply the atomizing air. This allows for better control when spraying heavier materials without thinning them as much. Heavier materials don't need to be atomized as much, either--they're made to go on thicker. Acrylic/latex paints get their durability from the long polymers tangling and interlocking while the film dries--putting on a very thin coat of them actually inhibits this process, resulting in a weaker film.

[George Octon]

I saw exterior stain once being sprayed with airless and tried it myself and was amazed at how well it worked. The trick was to turn the pressure way down and it went on like a dream, virtually no overspray at all. Actually probably no overspray at all. I always wondered if you could do the same with fine finishing. The neat thing about the airless (and the pressure pot too) is that there is no cup to deal with. I know the airless makers do have specific "tools" for finer finishing.