what friggin paint to spray with?!

[nickwrx]

Ok, I have googled, searched, asked millions and still have not gotten one straight answer

I have a suction feed spray gun that I have never used yet. What kind of paint can I use to spray with? Latex, enamel, oil based, etc? Its so damn confusing! Then, what exactly do I "thin" it with?

I bought a semi-gloss valspar black latex today. It says you can spray it and use water to thin it. Will that work good?

I am painting over already painted ugly brown cabinets. I just wanted to spray them a nice black. Have never used a gun before so I want to make sure I get this right! Thanks guys,

 

[hobie1dog]

Use distilled water and thin the latex down to the proper viscosity that will give you a good even pattern with minimal orange peel.....it doesn't have to be as thin as water, but as a general rule, start off by taking a gallon of paint and distilled water at a mixing ratio of 5:1, or add to another larger container the gallon of paint and about 20 ounces of water to start off with. I spray latex on foam board to make projection screens all the time, so it does work very well....I use a high quality Automotive spray guy ( Iwata), about 400.00 retail and it lays down a very nice pattern. Overlap the previous line of paint about 50% until the cabinet face is covered. Be sure to sand down your ugly brown cabinets with a orbital, or palm sander if you can, so that you get alot of the existing brush marks out of there.

 

[tcianci]

If you decide to spray your cabinets with latex paint, be sure your gun is designed for "waterborne" coatings otherwise the internal passages and parts of the gun will corrode and shorten the gun life. Thinning will be necessary most likely. I know that some guns are adjustable from suction to pressure spraying. Pressure spraying allows for using higher viscosity coatings such as latex paint. Also what is the tip size of the gun you have? I know heavier automotive coatings such as high build primer require a 1.8 to 2.0 tip. In any event your material can be sprayed with sufficient thinning. Practice on some scrap and be sure to clean your gun correctly when you are through. I'm no expert but I think it may make sense to spray some light oil through the gun after you have cleaned it with water. Just be sure to clean the oil out with solvent before the next time the gun is used. The gun manufacturer will have the best recommendation on this. I Have also had great results on cabinet surfaces with a very smooth foam roller cover, especially with slow drying paints, the roller puts down a nice uniform coat and the slow drying allows the coating to level nicely, looking as if it was sprayed.

 

[nickwrx]

I was just told by my cousin to use Floetrol. He said that should work well for thinning it out, any ideas there?

And thanks for all the advice.

 

[hobie1dog]

I was just told by my cousin to use Floetrol. He said that should work well for thinning it out, any ideas there?

And thanks for all the advice.

Been there , done that, basically it's a waste of your hard earned money....thinning the paint down with distilled water will get you the viscosity that will flow out great......just remember, have a test panel of tileboard or some smooth surface to test your spray pattern with....DON"T just start spraying a cabinet door until you've determined how much water to use to get 90% of the big orange-peel out of the gun.

 

[dps]

Nick, no offense intended, but you're almost certainly going into things under prepared to expect a decent result. For example, you have to know what size spray tip your gun has to know if it can handle the thicker latex. The air cap has to be the right size for the spray tip; it probably is if it was sold together, even if it's a Harbor Freight gun, which I'm guessing it is from the between-the-lines information. Then you have to know if your compressor can handle the air cap. So it would be worth exploring websites that provide spray gun info/education.

Then you would want to learn something about paint characteristics to determine your best choices for any given project. For example, latex paint has the poorest adhesion of all paints, which may not matter, but oftentimes does, especially in a re-paint. Diluting it with 20% water, distilled or otherwise will probably give you a dried coating that will fail.

The practice on some scrap advice given above would be very desirable.

 

[lilredex]

Do lots of practicing to see how the gun operates. As suggested earlier spraying water based anything will tend to rust the internals of those budget guns. You can even practice with plain water to see how the adjustments/spray patterns etc. work. When you're finished for the day, spray a bit of methyl hydrate (gasoline antifreeze) through it and then some varsol to keep it in good shape. It can be safely stored then without worries of rusting.

 

[metal1313]

ive used a cheap gun to spray rustoleum as a cheap way to make my wheeler truck look better. thinned the paint with mineral spirits as a friend who has done the same said and it worked great. i actually got very little orange peel and the paint has held up for 3years of hard use. i'll prob do the same when i rebuild the truck soon.

 

[nickwrx]

Wow, thanks for all the info. And no offense taken, like I said, first time spraying so I am somewhat clueless!

The gun is a Campbell Hausfeld 5400, suction gun. Its a bit older but seems like it would be decent.

So if I should not really use latex, what the hell should I use?! I dont think anyone has mentioned anything else? I can return this no prob, but I want to make sure I get something right! And not only what paint, but what to thin it with?!

Thanks again for all the info guys! I appreciate it,

 

[buening]

I have found that an oil-based paint will be more durable than latex. If you are using a gloss paint, watch the amount of thinning you do to the paint. I've found that the more thinner used the more the gloss is reduced.

Also, my cheapo gun has a 1.4 tip and it sprays latex just fine. Latex dries pretty fast, so getting it thinned down is essential in preventing orange peel.

 

[Kevin54]

Paint guns are made from plastic, brass, and aluminum with one or two steel springs. Thinning your paint down with water will NOT hurt your gun. You just have to make sure to clean it with something like lacquer afterwards. Take a quart of paint and thin it down 25%. See how it sprays. If it is still too thick, then thin it a little more. Just make sure you write down the ratio that you are thinning the paint to. After you are all done, DO NOT let the paint set in the gun for a long period. Empty it out, then run lacquer thinner thru the gun to clean it. Pull the nozzle and tip off of the gun and clean them thoroughly. You will have no problems for the next time you want to spray something.