I have a few extra days and want to prime and paint two 4′ porch swings, a screen door and eight plastic shutters with Sherman Williams block primer and a semi gloss Shamrock Green trim paint.
My choices other than brush are a monster Graco ES190 airless(better used with 5 gal. pails) and either a PC hvlp or a PC detail gun. Any info would help. Thanks, Paddy
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At first thought I was going to pass on the airless rig but, re-reading the list of items; I'd choose the airless rig.
1) I don't remember if 'block filler' takes thinning readily.
2) No messing with material thinning.
3) The clean-up time is pretty near the same for the HVLP vs. airless.
4) If you need something to practice on, there's always the back-side of the shutters.
I have both tools, do painting professionally, and that's my choice.
Practice...'till you can do it right the first time.
D, the airless is a 3000+psi unit on wheels (a high boy) that sits over a 5gal pail with a suction tube and a priming line stuck in the pail. It would take a half gal. of paint just to fill the pump, filters and hose to the gun and over a hour to flush and clean pump, three filters, 20 feet of hose and the gun. Then I blow at least a gal. of mineral spirits and load the pump with a preservative for storage. l just shot 12 gal. of Deckscapes on my 53' front porch and a 12'x16' rear elevated deck and staircases with this rig.
The HVLP is a gravity feed gun with a one quart pot sitting on top of the gun pushed by one of my compressors. It's a lot less to clean (maybe 15 min. ) and it is a Porter Cable PSH1 model. Perhaps I was not clear enough in my description. The primer is S W Prep Rite exterior primer, the paint is SW Exterior Accents latex gloss trim.
I am only doing two porch swings, 8 solid shutters (one side) and a screen door frame, I should be able to do two color coats with some of a gal. left over. Paddy
Even with all the extra clean time and all that, I'd definitely use the airless. Gravity guns are ill suited to spraying latex. I own four of them and have sprayed latex through one of 'em. Have sprayed plenty of latex through contractor type airless rigs and while the clean up is unquestionably a pain in the backside, they are designed to spray that type of paint, whereas no gravity gun is designed to spray something that thick.
If you are dead set on using the gravity gun then I would strongly suggest using Floetrol latex conditioner and thinning at least 10% with water. Something closer to 20% reduction with water will probably be where you'll end up at before it'll flow out decently. And then you'll have to be very careful to avoid runs or sags due to the paint having been thinned much more than the manufactorer designed it for. Ditto for the primer. It can be done. I've done it and had it look great. But make no mistake about it, spraying latex through a gravity gun is far more demanding than spraying it unthinned through an airless rig.
Kevin, many thanks, Paddy
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