Hey there.
I've got a wagner paint sprayer that I thought would save tons of time, perform better than rollers and brushes, and get me back on the water faster. Unfortunately, it's only about 90% true. Every once in a while, it's spitting out gobs of paint rather than mist and screwing up my finish, requiring sanding and re-painting in certain areas.
Any thoughts? I'm using Kilz exterior water clean up primer ... I've also tried adding a touch of wagner's latex thinner and mixing it in well. All that did was make the paint run, and still send out gobs of paint periodically.
Kinda sounds like you might have the wrong tip for the product you are spraying. They have several different size orfices, and some just don't work well with some products based upon how fine a grind they have in the pigments. I would check with your local Paint dealer that sells them and stocks the other tips.
Hey Stuart- I can probably help you with this. I'm a paint guy but mostly deal with now with High Performance coatings for steel, and big pumps for spraying same, but still do house paints and little sprayers.
Do you have a Wagner cup gun? Hand held and goes BUZZZZZZZ- or they also make some airless pumps as well- sprayer, hose and gun separate pieces connected together?
Steve.
Hi Steve,
It's a gun with a container that screws into it, and yeah, it goes bzzzzzzz.
Didn't know about the different tips either, thanks.
OK, I reviewed the Wagner website- not great technical info there, but I read between the lines.
http://www.wagnerspraytech.com/Wagner/product05.jsp
You've probably got one of these. The blue 4.2 GPH and 4.8 GPH will not support latex materials, the blue 5.2 GPH will support THINNED latex. The yellow Wideshot series will support unthinned latex.
The little guys do not develop enough pressure to atomize latexes (looks to be 1200- 1400 PSI- you would need about 2000 PSI min.) In addition, because they are set up for oils, they have a smaller tip size- around 0.6 to 0.8 mm. You would need a 1.0 mm to move latex, with more pressure to hit atomizing because of the larger tip size. 1.0 mm tips are not even in the parts listing for the smaller ones online, you have to get to the big ones to find that size listed. So even if you swapped to a larger tip, it couldn't atomize and would pee out instead of spray.
Now if you do have the bigger one, and it's not working properly, it's probably the diffuser, known by Wagner as the "swirl valve".
http://www.wagnerspraytech.com/Manuals/R...85636B.pdf
Page 7 of this document shows these new and then deformed by the passage of abrasive fluid. Latex is especially abrasive, and as they note can wear this little part in 7-10 gals. This is normal and the part is a wear item so no warranty. In fact, performance degrades as soon as there is any wear on the diffuser, you just don't normally see it until the unit stops working.
So my guess is you've got a little one. The latex additive may help, but you need to drop viscosity to spray (add water not conditioner). This may work as it's easier to atomize at lower viscosities, but the latex may still not fit through the smaller tip.
Hope this helps, it's not great news if you've got a little one.
If it's new can you take it back and exchange for larger?
Steve
This is good info. and I thought it should get archived under the Shop Tips, Jigs, & Mods forum.
I had this same problem with the mini-Cat, But then decided it was more important to finish it and use the boat than it was to make my finish perfect.
Thanks for the research Steve.
Thanks for the tips. All really helpful, especially since I need to buy more paint as soon as the tax man deposits the check. I guess oils are the way to go then, since I'm using the smaller guy? It's listed at 1500 psi, one speed ... never did find the model number. Go figure.
Any thoughts on the best paint choices in the exterior oil based category, and the best clean-up liquid for it?