Airless sprayers

[dlerwick]

I was recently talking to someone in the custom furniture business and he told me that they had switched to airless sprayers. They had been using HVLP sprayers and were much happier with the results they were getting from airless sprayers. I know nothing about them and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on what to look for in an airless sprayer. Right now I would be using it to apply Hydrocote. I was looking at a few of the upper end Wagner sprayers at the Borg. Are these any good? TIA for any advice.

[sacherjj]

I picked up one of the upper end Wagners and it works great, 95% of the time. The other 5%, the nice spray pattern turns into a paint spitting machine and ruins the finish. I can't find any method to make this never happen. It is really frustrating if you are painting anything that the finish matters, you have to pull out a brush and smooth these huge drops out. I added floetrol (or whatever the flowing agent is called) according to the instructions and it didn't really help. I wish I would have either spent the extra to get the "real" systems, or just bought a couple nice brushes or rollers.

[Jan]

I use the little Graco Magnum DX from HD, about $300. I bought it to spray the house and then started spraying trim and doors with it. I use a Fine Finish tip for finish work. You can get FF tips online at Gleempaint.com. I think they have a little tutorial about tips on thier website. For fine finish you'll want a small tip, no more than a 210.

An airless puts out a lot of finish; you need to move smartly to spray furniture. Your cabinet finisher friend, a well practiced man no doubt, probably enjoys the extra speed. Practice up on something before you attack your finish projects.

Any spray system wants carefully strained finish. They'll all spit if you don't strain the finish. Paint accumulates around the tip of an airless when you're using one. It'll sometimes drip paint when you're spraying horizontally if you're not careful to start the spray before you reach the edge of the piece.