You Should get better finishes out of Expensive Spray Guns – Here’s what to do if You Are not

You may be a hobbyist who has had a budget throw away spray gun for years or a contractor who painted only when they had to but now are starting to paint more often as more people ask for you to. Either way you make the leap to a quality spray gun that costs anywhere between $220 – $600 dollars. After that expense you find your finish is better with your original 10 dollar spray gun and move on as you figure that expensive gun was bought in stupidity. If that’s your situation you are not alone I have heard this from painters often and I personally have worked on spray guns from 5 dollars up to the top of the line guns in the industry. Here are tips you can use to make your expensive spray gun paint significantly better than your cheap spray gun like you thought it would when you bought it.  If you need reassurance that there are true performance differences in spray guns you can read this article on spray gun price differences and why they exist.

First Area to Check – The Spray Guns Setup

The first thing to check to see if it is causing poor performance with your high cost spray gun is the setup of the spray gun. Higher priced spray guns typically offer a variety of different air caps and fluid nozzle sizes. These various spray gun nozzle and air cap options are each designed for a specific type of coating.  Your manual for your spray gun will give you a rough idea of the types of coatings different air caps are suited well for. If you noticed your material is not atomized enough with your high end spray gun this would be the first thing I would check, that your air cap is not to weak for your paint and fluid nozzle. As a general rule, the higher the CFM the air cap, the thicker the paint it can atomize. If you need further help you can learn more about selecting an air cap here. You will also want to check your fluid nozzle as well. High end spray guns offer a variety of fluid nozzles which allow you to limit or increase the amount of fluid to air when painting. A higher ratio of air to fluid will give you a finer finish.  Selecting the proper fluid nozzle is critical in choosing the correct setup for your spray gun, which you can learn more about fluid nozzle selection here.

Second Area to Check – How you have your spray gun Adjusted

High end spray guns typically have greater precision in being adjusted. Their fluid nozzles and needle will be tapered allowing control of the spray pattern within the trigger pull.They also allow the fluid needle to be adjusted to allow more or less paint to flow. Finally, their air adjustment valve will allow you to control the size of your spray pattern. It can take a little bit of time to achieve optimal results with adjusting a higher priced spray gun. You can check out the helpful video tutorial below on adjusting your spray gun for optimum results.

Ultimately you should be achieving better results with a high end spray gun then a cheap spray gun. By verifying your spray gun set up is correct with your air cap and fluid nozzle being proper for your paint and by verifying your spray gun is tuned appropriately you should see better finishes from the high end spray gun.  If you need further help you can contact us for free consultation on your spray gun working