It’s hard to imagine anyone that has done home improvement of any kind to not at least know something about airless paint sprayers. Airless paint sprayers have been around for more than 75 years and have become a household product for hobbyists and handymen throughout the world.
Professional contractors use airless paint sprayers for completing large residential, commercial, and industrial jobs. They are ideal for projects that require a large amount of coverage and can handle light to heavy viscosity depending on the particular type of airless paint sprayer being used.
How they work
The way that an airless paint sprayer operates is through the use of a high pressure pump system pushing paint through the nozzle and sprayer tip present in an airless sprayer gun. The amount of pressure and the type of sprayer tip affects the shape, pattern, and the atomization of paint being applied to any surface. Atomization is the separation of flowing paint into paint particles when a paint sprayer is utilized. Most modern airless sprayer guns have removable tips for altering the size and shape of the paint patterns they produce. Through the adjustment of pump pressure and various tip varieties, numerous coatings and finishes can be achieved.
Applications
Typical applications include spray painting the interior and exterior of homes, commercial venues, and even roof coatings. They are not predisposed to fine finish work like HVLP paint sprayers are. The pressure that airless paint sprayers operate at – 300 to 7500 pounds per square inch – create an overspray that requires some tape masking for professional finishes. The coatings have a tendency to be thick in order to fill crevices and imperfections on the surface areas they are covering to reduce the number of passes necessary to finish the project. Some airless paint sprayers are specifically designed for mastics, block filler, and epoxy coatings that have a very low viscosity and require high amounts of pressure to move through hoses. The type of airless paint sprayers that are needed have many different factors that need to be incorporated into the unit. The applications they are used for are practically endless.
Determining Factors
- Typical applications
- Material viscosity
- Size of projects
- Versatility
- Power sources
- Gallons per minute
- Yearly usage
- Warranties
- Reputation
- Experience
- Cost
Price ranges
There are a huge range of airless paint sprayers on the market today. They range from hand-held, battery-operated paint sprayers that have limited spray fan sizes that can cost as little as $59.00 to large gas-powered airless paint sprayers that can handle up to five paint sprayers at one time and cost as much as $8,000.00. Entire systems can be purchased that include everything to complete paint projects, or individual pieces can be purchased to work with existing tools components. Influencing factors also include where an airless paint sprayer is purchased as well. With all the varieties that are available, the price of an airless paint sprayer is usually determined by the tenacity of the consumer or professional to find what they need in conjunction with what they know and are willing to spend.