# Does anybody spray Latex paint?



## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Ok I need help selecting a small paint sprayer for SMALL jobs. I’m not painting houses and I don’t want to waste paint or have a huge cleanup job. A door would be the absolute largest job I can think of that I would ever do and most of the sprayers I’ve looked at probably waste twice that much.


This Harbor Freight 20 oz. HVLP Gravity Feed Air Spray Gun with Regulator looks like the least amount of waist, but will it work for Latex?








So what would you select for spraying Latex? I expect to Paint at least one project a week so I’d like one that is somewhat reliable, but not too expensive.


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

I sprayed all my kitchen cabinets I built with thinned latex through a Kawasaki sprayer very similar to that. Now the downside is I had to thin it so much it took like 6-7 coats to get the coverage I wanted. 

The upside is it worked.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

ryan50hrl said:


> I sprayed all my kitchen cabinets I built with thinned latex through a Kawasaki sprayer very similar to that. Now the downside is I had to thin it so much it took like 6-7 coats to get the coverage I wanted.
> 
> The upside is it worked.


Thanks Ryan, Do you remember how long it took for each coat to dry being so thin?


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## Big Dave (Sep 16, 2006)

When I spray latex I use an airless. You can get them reasonable via Craigslist but for small projects you will have to load so much paint into one just to fill the hose. If your using the same color all the time it would be worth it.

Otherwise I would just use a foam roller for small projects. Even a door can be painted with a foam roller in no time.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Thanks Big Dave, but when I think of an airless spray I think of one of these which I already own. 








The only problem with this is that it wastes more paint then I would use and the cleanup is too much so I don't use. It works great for painting a house.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Gees, that HF purple gun is the worst sprayer I've ever used. I have one and avoid it like the plague. It puts out very little volume and the mason jar lid on it tends to get filled up with paint and glues the lid on. Your craftsman sprayer would do far better. 

Since you are shopping HF for a sprayer to spray latex this is the cheapest gun that will work good for you. Latex paint needs to be pressurized to spray well. http://www.harborfreight.com/professional-hvlp-spray-gun-kit-93305.html


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

OK so my son just now walked in and saw me replying to this. He picked up the box that my Craftsman Sprayer came in and read right on the box that it sprays Latex. I guess I need new reading glasses. Well I guess I'll give this a try first since I already have it.

For those of you who have seen my sprayer here is a photo:


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I can't tell from the picture. Craftsman used to make a sprayer that you could turn a knob and put air pressure into the cup. If that is one of those then it would spray latex alright. Otherwise you really end up thinning it so much it doesn't cover very well. It will work but takes a lot of coats.


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

I've sprayed Sherwin Williams Pro-Classic with my gravity HVLP conversion gun. Pro-Classic isn't as thick as some latex paints, so even though I had to thin it a lot, I didn't have to thin it as much as you would have to thin some of the latex paints I've seen lately. For me, it's kind of a tie between rolling and spraying. I've had good success painting raised panel doors using those dense foam rollers and a good brush. I brush the recesses, then roll the stiles, rails and tops of the panels. It levels nearly as well as sprayed and I avoid cleaning up the gun which seems like a hassle to me even though I still have to clean the brush and roller.

When I'm talking about raised panel doors above, I'm talking about the fake raised panel doors. When I build real raised panel doors, I usually prime and put one coat on the perimeter of the panel before I put it in the frame so that if the panel shrinks it doesn't expose raw wood. In this case, I spray the panel so I don't get too much buildup to ensure the panel will still fit in the frame after being painted.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Yesterday I was at HomeDepot looking at the Husky gravity feed guns and every one of them say you cannot spray latex which is too bad because those cups look like just right size that I would need for my projects.
I went to Harbor Freight and bought a regulator and hose for my Craftsman, but I’m now having second thoughts about the whole thing. It looks like the only real solution is an Electric Airless Sprayer.









The only one that would work for me without a lot of paint loss in hoses and such is hand held sprayer like this.


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

How about this?


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Cra...re-Feed-Spray-Gun-Pat-283-18231-/291342752459


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Quickstep said:


> How about this?
> 
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Cra...re-Feed-Spray-Gun-Pat-283-18231-/291342752459


Thanks but that's almost the same as what I got.

Anyway I was going to give my old Graco Roto Flow Painter a try, but when I pulled it out, I realized I'm missing the Sliding Gate. I found the gate under a cabinet a few years back but couldn't remember what it went to and put it up. Now I can't find it. Oh well I guess I'm just going to use a brush for now until I can get this spraying stuff together.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

That sprayer that quickstep recommended is different than your craftsman. The one you have siphons the paint out of the cup. The one quickstep recommended pressurizes the cup making more similar to the pressure pot sprayer I recommended.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

If you want a gun that will spray both latex and lacquer. The Earlex 5500 has the power to push the latex all day. Very easy to use too. The gun will do both well but the fine finisher it is not.








Al


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Steve Neul said:


> That sprayer that quickstep recommended is different than your craftsman. The one you have siphons the paint out of the cup. The one quickstep recommended pressurizes the cup making more similar to the pressure pot sprayer I recommended.


I guessed I missed that detail. It looks just like mine except its older.

This is just so confusing I might just break down and buy a new electric spray gun without hoses to clean and that specifically states for Latex paint. 

I just can't trust any of this old stuff to do what I want. I'm not nor will I ever paint cars and I just want to paint with latex without brush marks or excess paint waste.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Al B Thayer said:


> If you want a gun that will spray both latex and lacquer. The Earlex 5500 has the power to push the latex all day. Very easy to use too. The gun will do both well but the fine finisher it is not.
> View attachment 113873
> 
> 
> Al


Thanks Al, but it looks like it has a hose and my problem is that in most cases I may only need a half pint for a job and the hose might suck up a pint before it ever gets to the wood.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Sleeper said:


> Thanks Al, but it looks like it has a hose and my problem is that in most cases I may only need a half pint for a job and the hose might suck up a pint before it ever gets to the wood.


That's the air line. The paint goes in the can on the gun. You can pick one up on eBay for around $300.

Al


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Wow I wounder what happen here? I'd be afraid to buy this in fear of receiving a Soap box. 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-All...131003132420&rk=6&rkt=6&sd=191152899265&rt=nc


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

So I want to know why I can't do this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcpM6FyDBMk

Everybody including the sprayer instructions says I can't, but yet I keep seeing these videos.


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## Trav (May 30, 2011)

Sleeper said:


> So I want to know why I can't do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcpM6FyDBMk Everybody including the sprayer instructions says I can't, but yet I keep seeing these videos.


I have a Fuji turbine sprayer similar to the one in that video. It sprays latex perfectly. The secret I have found with it is learning to use the viscosity cup correctly. 

I also have several different siphon guns like the first one you posted. They are from different manufactures and various price ranges but all of them spray latex fine. As others have stated all the latex I have sprayed needed to be thinned substantially. 

on a side note I would much prefer to use my airless. If I am just spraying a quart of latex paint I use a short hose I made. It's about 10 ft long. I load the paint and when it starts to suck air I put a bucket of water under the intake hose and continue to spray the paint. If there is still paint in the pump and hose when I finish I just spray it back in the can. I can then just continue to run water through the machine until it is clean. Easy peasy.


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

Sleeper said:


> Thanks Ryan, Do you remember how long it took for each coat to dry being so thin?



I think I let it dry an hour or so between coats.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Sleeper said:


> I guessed I missed that detail. It looks just like mine except its older.
> 
> This is just so confusing I might just break down and buy a new electric spray gun without hoses to clean and that specifically states for Latex paint.
> 
> I just can't trust any of this old stuff to do what I want. I'm not nor will I ever paint cars and I just want to paint with latex without brush marks or excess paint waste.


I think you should at least try your craftsman sprayer. You already bought a hose and regulator. Might as well dump some paint in it and give it a go. It probably only needs about a 1/4" of paint min. in the bottom of the cup for it to spray. It will just take some tinkering to get the viscosity right. Usually with this type sprayer using latex you have to narrow the spray pattern since it gets choked up with the thicker paint. 

The small projects you do if it comes down to buying a sprayer you might be better off with an electric spray gun. It would just be a bit cumbersome if you needed to spray inside of a cabinet.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Steve Neul said:


> The small projects you do if it comes down to buying a sprayer you might be better off with an electric spray gun. It would just be a bit cumbersome if you needed to spray inside of a cabinet.


Actualy you bring up a good point because I do like to paint inside of cabinets although I don't need to worry so much about brush marks. The sprayer would make it easier to get into the corners though and I do have some previous corners that were missed because I could not see into the corners very well to paint with a brush.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

well it looks like I'm going to have to put all my painting on hold for a while due to the cold. Its been down to 16 deg F in the mornings and until I get a better heater, it's just too cold in the shop. 
In the mean time I'll have a chance to look at some gravity feed sprayers.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I realize this is a lot more sprayer than you need but this is the sprayer I use to spray latex on cabinets. It holds 2 1/2 gallons of paint and has a 20' hose. I'm usually painting cabinets for an entire kitchen though. I've even sprayed a two story house with it before. 

You just might have to eventually buy a few different sprayers for different applications. I have several different kinds of sprayers because I'm doing different things. I bought that cheap HF gravity feed sprayer because I was using a 200 dollar a gallon urethane that is catalyzed so what ever you mix you have to use it or throw away what is left over. Therefore I was trying to use every drop. I mostly use a siphon sprayer like your craftsman gun because I am able to get and use lacquer and it sprays lacquer fine. Then on larger jobs I use the pressure pots. I have one for latex and one for lacquer. Then because my portable compressor gets hot on really big jobs like painting that house I bought an airless sprayer. It also works great for spraying latex wall paint. It covers about 16" per stroke.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

I didn't realize there are so many different types of sprayers and today I'm going to try and make a list. I'm still blown away by the pressure and siphon spray guns looking so much a like and I still don't think I could identify them just by looking at them.

I have a small airless sprayer that slings the paint out, but now I'm confused by my Graco X7 Airless Paint Sprayer which sucks paint out of a 5 gal bucket and pumps it through a long hose yet its also an Airless sprayer. 

I'm going to buy a cheap HVLP Gravity Feed Air Spray Gun from HF just to experiment with and if it work for what I need it for then so be it. Its still got to be better than Rattle Cans.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

With a compressed air sprayer the gun blows air over a tube going down in the cup kind of like blowing air over the top of a drinking straw. It creates negative pressure and the paint comes up the tube where the air blowing past the orifice turns it into a mist. The HVLP sprayer does the same thing only it has a extra baffle in it. The gravity feed gun has the paint above the orifice so it doesn't have to draw paint, it just runs out the bottom of the cup. The pressure pot sprayer and the old craftsman cup gun on ebay the paint container is pressurized pushing the paint to the oriface. The airless sprayer just uses a pump to compress the paint, kind of like if you had an electric water pump drawing water out of a container and running it to a garden hose nozzle. With your small airless the only difference is the pump is mounted on a small container instead of running it through a hose.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Thanks Steve. I didn't get to HF today because I'm coming down hard with the flu and if the way I feel right now is any indication of whats to come, I may be out the whole weekend.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Sleeper said:


> Thanks Steve. I didn't get to HF today because I'm coming down hard with the flu and if the way I feel right now is any indication of whats to come, I may be out the whole weekend.


Gees that's rough. I've been wondering when I'm going to get the flu. It's suppose to be at epidemic levels in my area and I've got a job going right now for an important customer. I can't afford to get down right now.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

I have to say that I have never been so happy to see the morning sun. I had a 103°F temp and I was in so much pain I didn’t think I would make it through the night. 

10 people from our Christmas Party ended up with it and there were a few others that we haven’t heard from yet. I don’t know what happened because I had a flu shot this year.
Well I don’t know how long I’ll be up moving around this morning because I feel like it’s not done with me yet.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

From what I hear on the news the flu shot this year just isn't effective against the strain of flu going around this year. They say the flu shot lessens the severity of it but I don't buy it. They just screwed up.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Well I don’t know about reducing severity because this is the worst I’ve ever experienced and I think if it weren’t for modern day flu remedies, I would have surely perished.


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