Some time ago I posted about the projects I will be doing soon; painting a fence and a deck...or rather staining them (I decided to use oil based stains for both).

ANyhow....I am still unsure how to execute..... I do have manual tools... 5inch brushes, large rollers etc.... but don't look forward to all the work that it will take.

Alternatively I have been looking at the spray guns and while I am not willing to invest $250+ on a decent quality unit for 2 projects and then nothing for a while.... I wonder about the cheaper units.

I saw that there are paint sprayers for about $70.... and also I noticed that I could get for about $50 spray guns that I could connect direct to air compressor.
What should I expect regarding those tools ?
For example; Husky Siphon feed spray gun at HD for $55
How much stain would I waste in overspray ?
Could I expect a nice even pattern from such units ?
Keep in mind the application - not looking for perfect finish expected on the interior walls - but it must be good for a wooden fence / deck

Thank you!

 

I have only one experience with the small electric spray type guns. They basically "Spit" paint through a small aperture buy a small piston. Volume was hard to control. Pray pattern was round as in circular and somewhat concentrated. Lots of over spray as in wasted paint atomized into the air and not on a surface. Found this the hard way when I failed to sufficiently mask EVERYTHING OFF. I also had to where a mask and probably should have worn a head sock, but my hat worked OK. I did a couple of walls and gave up.

Your gravity feed guns need to have the paint thinned down which, also a lot of over spray

I have a small professional airless gun that I finished my Above Job with (I was out of town and experimented - made a trip home and retrieved the pro one). Paint is pushed through a hose under pressure, spray pattern is linear so it is easier to overlap for good coverage. There is no over spray or atomization. I still wore a mask to be safe. I'm pretty sure you can rent these. Clean up is to run water through until it comes out clean.

 

A half-hundred for a siphon-feed spray gun is probably an okay buy PROVIDED the material you spray (stain) if of low viscosity, close to water in consistency. If your stain is closer to a thick latex paint then forget about using a siphon-feed gun.

You can control to a fairly good degree the overspray by careful adjustment of the material and "fan" controls of the gun. Understand that as you reduce the fan it will reduce the amount of fence covered with any single pass. Note also that using a conventional spray gun requires a LOT of compressed air and your compressor may not be able to keep up with the demand. This means that you will probably have to paint a section, stop, take a break while the compressor is recovering and then paint another section. Further, the "cup" on the gun probably has a usable capacity of maybe a quart so you will be stopping quite often to refill the cup.

The truth is, while spraying looks to be labor saving procedure, in actual practice it often takes longer than a brush and roller, especially when any masking needs to be done as well as the set up and cleaning of the equipment afterwards. My daddy was a painter and in my opinion spray painting is NOT for the homeowner, regardless of the late-night infomercials.

 

As said, you can not spray stains through a siphon type spray gun.
The amount you would have to thin it would not make it cover properly.

You need high pressure atomization as also said.
I have had reasonable success with the mid price range sprayers like what Wagner offers.

 

Basically conventional spray guns [needing an air compressor] are only for solvent based coatings and don't work well for latex or high volume spraying.

Many of the cheaper airless pumps have a diaphragm pump, a piston pump is preferred. You want a fan type tip! a round spray pattern is too hard to control. While I have a good bit of experience with pro type airless pumps, I have very little experience with the diy type pumps. Availability of parts should be a consideration when buying an airless. Most tool rental stores have small commercial grade airless pumps for rent.

Spraying isn't always a time saver! Proper prep along with clean up often negates any time savings versus brush/roller.

 

this is good info - thank you all.
ultimately I want to do a good job and that's more important than saving time.... My hope was that those cheap units would provide decent quality (comparable to hand staining) AND save me time.