Graco Paint Sprayer, anyone used this brand

[Scott Brandstetter]

I have a line of children's furniture that I am putting on my website and it will be painted, not stained. I have read a lot of reviews of this sprayer but hoping to get real reviews from forum members. From what I have read, it's a reliable sprayer and latex doesn't have to be thinned. Would appreciate any comments.
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[chase standifer]

I have the cordless version and it has been great. Easy to use, decently easy to clean if you use the bags.

[Tom Ewell]

I tried the older versions of the gun, straight up it throws out a lot of paint and didn't have any real way to control the output aside from changing the tips along with some supposed internal electronics that 'sensed' viscosity and changed pump pressure, would be OK for larger jobs like house siding, fences and the like.

Ended up with the Fine Finish version which allowed more control and in combination with assorted tips I could actually paint shutters and doors without over flooding the nooks and crannys.
Not sure if I'd try to use the Fine Finish on furniture but haven't needed to with my conversion gun, pressurized cup and compressor handy.


The newer ones appear to have better controls that were lacking on the older models so really can't speak to their performance.


Latex, no problem, works just like a regular airless.

[John Huds0n]

I tried the older versions of the gun, straight up it throws out a lot of paint...

Yep - I bought the older corded version when it was first released. It did a good job on some cabinet doors I was painting - but a LOT of paint was wasted and there was not much control.

Again, the older version does not have the "fine finish" adjustment like they do now, but I found out you could actually buy tips for their other machines and make a small modification to the holder to get it work on the TrueCoat which helped a lot. I later moved on to a hvlp gun with a 2 qt (Bandit) pressure pot and wish I would have saved my money on the TrueCoat and just went with the hvlp gun from the start

http://www.spraycat.com/h20.html
http://www.spraycat.com/cups.html

[Peter Quinn]

I haven't used the sprayer, it strikes me as more of a house painter than a furniture tool where you need control over volume and spray pattern more than sheer volume. But the most important detail for me in the product description is "Item weight...8.3 pounds". That sounds more like a dumbbell than a spray gun. If you are doing a lot of spraying, that will get heavy quick, especially once you add the weight of the paint. I'd consider going with a pigmented WB lacquer that is meant to be sprayed out of the can, its generally more durable than latex (which is generally formulated to be brushed or rolled on vast surfaces), and can be had in most of the same colors. Check out general finishes milk paints, Target coatings product line, ML Campbell Aqualente, there are others. Combined with a decent conversion gun if you have the compressor or a small turbine these may be a better long term option for spraying furniture.

[Tom M King]

It's absolutely more for small house painting jobs than furniture. Graco is my choice for airless sprayers. I have the first generation, battery powered version, and it only gets used for latex, or Pro Classic on small jobs like painting a door or three, and I don't want to drag out the big airless and lose as much paint as I need to use cleaning up. It's more trouble to clean than any other gun I own, and I'm not missing any variety.

I even owned an air assisted airless Graco for a short while, but then I bought the new version of airless gun for my old pump that takes the Fine Finish tips, and quickly sold the air assisted. It'll spray just about anything, but you have to be quick and co-ordinated. The latest version of gun allows you to use less pressure than the old models, and that makes a BIG difference, as do the fine finish tips.

If you're just doing furniture, and not big runs of cabinets, I'd recommend a good HVLP like the Apollo.

[Tom Ewell]

Yeah, if you can get into air with either compressor or turbine it would set you up better for your furniture.

The fine finish gun I mentioned above is the Graco 16H240 TrueCoat Pro Fine Finish Paint Sprayer which sets you back about $650 and I needed to repair the thing with a CleanShot kit that ran $92.00 because it started spitting and you don't even want to hear about replacement batteries.

One of the guns I use with a pressurized cup is a Wagner NBC HVLP Conversion Gun which can be had for $180.00. I can shoot anything from WB/ALC dyes to all but the 'mayonnaise' latex paints with the supplied needle and aircap. I will thin some of the heavier stuff just to get a cleaner finish but it is normally not necessary.

Cleaning air guns (and big airless rigs) is definitely easier primarily because you can take them apart, the True Coat series is dependent on thorough flushing, which is OK but when I repaired mine I found all kinds of goo inside after I opened it up which can interfere with function of the pump, the motor and electronics.

Yeah, the True coats are heavy and as mentioned you got to be quick and coordinated with most any airless (of quality).....for me, both of those attributes are on the wane so I like more control of the tool, air pressure at the cup and cap, pattern control, fluid and air settings on the gun, and viscosity as needed.

Also as mentioned, WB finishes meant for spraying can be tinted and even top coated with clears with much quicker recoat times, just have to 'think ahead' for your colors and get 'em mixed/shipped rather than picking a color off the shelf at a big box/local paint shop, which is usually the only reason I spray latex because customers supplied the stuff. Can also readily go with gravity and syphon guns.... gravity with 3M PPS setup allows you to squirt in any direction.