When you're looking for a quick and easy way to get a clean finish on your painting project, you should consider investing in a paint sprayer. It allows you to control the paint coverage more evenly without the risk of having brush or roller strokes left in the finish. However, if you opt for an airless paint sprayer, you'll need to be aware of some of the potential problems you could encounter. Here are a few things to watch out for.

Overspray Problems

Airless paint sprayers rely on a significant amount of pressure to get the proper distribution of paint through the nozzle. Unfortunately, the force that the pressure causes can lead to splatter and overspray. To control the overspray problem, you should do a couple of things; first, make sure that you're using the least amount of air pressure needed for the coverage you're trying to achieve. Remember that thinner paints will need less air pressure to get the job done right.

You can also minimize the amount of overspray by changing the tip that you're using. Since the size of the tip opening can contribute directly to how much paint passes through, adjusting the tip may make it easier for you to paint without causing too much overspray. The fan width of the tip can also be a contributing factor. Make sure that you're using the right tip size and fan width for the paint you're applying.

Clumpy Paint

An airless sprayer doesn't have the atomization to break up the paint coating the way a traditional paint sprayer does. Instead, they use inlet pressure to force the paint to the tip. If your paint is coming out clumpy, that may mean that you have too little pressure in the system, or a tip that's too large to encourage the necessary atomization. Adjust one or the other to see if that helps resolve the problem.

Uneven Coating

When the paint spray leaves tails or ripples in the paint along the edges, that means that you don't have enough pressure in the system. You can increase the pressure to the spray line to help minimize this problem. However, if increasing the sprayer pressure doesn't fix the problem, that means you'll want to replace the fluid tip with a smaller diameter one, or one that isn't worn or warped.

Understanding how to troubleshoot these problems will help you get the clean, professional finish you want from your airless paint sprayer. For more information, contact companies like Spray Equipment of Tulsa.