Airless or help for spraying latex

[Tom M King]

Yes, the longer the hose, the more the pressure drop by the time it gets to the end. Without one of the newer pumps, with a gauge that tells you what pressure its producing (which I've never had), the best thing to do is save large pieces of cardboard. Start testing the pressure lower than what you need by spraying a little bit on the cardboard. When its too low, there will be hard lines on the sides of the fan. Turn the pressure up just enough to get rid of the lines. There should be plenty of videos on youtube that demonstrate.

This video is worth watching, if you are new to airless spraying. You will see the hard lines on the sides of the fan when he sprays the first test. Then he turns up the pressure, and gets rid of them. He calls these lines "fingers", but I've heard them called all sorts of things. The first part of the video, he talks about different tips. If you end up doing much besides spraying house paint, you will need to learn about different tips-not only sizes, but types of tips. Fine Finish tips brought airless spraying to a whole new level, and I sold my turbine rigs soon after the FF tips came on the market. Now, they are improved even more by going to the Low Pressure tips. With the right FFLP tip, you can spray anything with an airless rig.

The different tips require the right tip guard that will screw onto your gun, but fortunately they all have the same threads. You can put a Graco RAC X tip guard on your gun, and use the FFLP tips. I'm still using an old pump, but have a newer Graco Contractor gun, and it's like a new world compared to what airless spraying used to be. Titan has an even fancier gun out now, and if I was in the market for a new gun, that's probably the one I would get.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ0JQdrr5fI&t=30s

If you decide you'd like to have a pressure gauge, to eliminate experimenting every time you switch hoses, or coating, Titan makes one that goes on either end of the hose. You can find them on ebay for 30 bucks, with free shipping. https://www.titantool.com/products/a...e-gauge-kit-1/ Write down what pressure works for a particular coating, tip, and hose combination, and you'll be able to go back to that every time, ready to start spraying.