How to choose a spray gun for cars, homes, and furniture?

We tell you which spray gun to choose for painting a car, garage door, house facade, household appliances, and furniture.

Why do I need a spray gun?

The device applies paint and varnish coatings. You can spray water to moisten concrete and peel off wallpaper, treat plants with fertilizers and pesticides. A separate category — confectionery devices-apply food dyes, creams, and glazes to desserts.

Most often, the question arises, how to choose a spray gun for painting walls and ceilings, car, fence and other large surfaces — the mechanized method of painting has more advantages:

• the performance is 5-25 times higher. 2-3 days of work can be done in an hour and a half;
• smooth surface without bubbles, lint and streaks-it is important when working with the car and home decor;
• the paint penetrates more easily into hard-to-reach places — on the back of the radiators, in the joints of the washing machine body or in the hidden cavities of the car;
• learning to paint is easier — you can master the handling of a spray gun in half an hour;
• the device can be reused.

Spray gun device

It looks like a pistol with a convenient handle and a tank for a liquid solution. The paint is poured into a tank with a filter to catch dirt. When you press the trigger switch on the handle, the valve opens.
The mixture enters the pump chamber and is squeezed out through a narrow nozzle (bell) in the front part. In most models, you can adjust the paint feed rate, pressure, and shape of the jet to get the desired result.

If you choose a spray gun for cars, there are two design options. In air models, the paint is blown out by a powerful stream of compressed air, which is supplied by an integrated or external compressor.
It forms an aerosol of many microscopic particles that fall on the treated surface in a thin, even layer.

Suitable for finishing painting before polishing and applying a glossy varnish. In airless models, a liquid pump is used, located in a gun or in a separate unit-it pushes the paint through a narrow nozzle.
It is sprayed with large drops — the work goes faster, but the coating is not uniform — there are streaks, bubbles, and poorly painted spots. It is used for rough painting, priming, and water spraying.

Main types of spray guns

Electric

If you need to paint a gate, door or window frame, the main question is how to choose an electric spray gun. In such models, air or liquid pumps are used, which are powered from a household outlet.

Electric spray guns are more convenient to use — they do not need expensive compressors, air treatment stations and filters. The simple design without narrow channels and thin needles allows you to use thicker compositions, including primers and mastics.

But the performance is lower — the most powerful models paint up to 25-30 square meters of surface per day. The pump sprays the paint unevenly-without perfect smoothness and glossy shine.

The weight and dimensions are 1.5-2 times larger than those of pneumatic models. Electric spray guns are considered household-suitable for rough painting of walls, ceilings and furniture repairs with their own hands. They cost from 1000-1500 rubles.

Pneumatic

With a large amount of work, the question arises, how to choose a pneumatic spray gun for painting a fence, car or building facade. There is no pump in it — the mixture is sprayed with compressed air, which comes from an external compressor-an even layer of paint is obtained, ready for finishing polishing. The compressor is purchased separately, installed permanently or transported on a frame with wheels.

Pneumatic spray guns are much lighter than electric ones — up to 1 kg against 1.5–3 kg. Their productivity is several times higher — household models paint up to 50-100 sq. m. per day, and professional-up to 200-300 sq. m.

"Pneumatics" can be used in sealed paint chambers and in rooms with poor ventilation, where it is forbidden to turn on electrical appliances due to the threat of paint fire. But it needs expensive equipment — a powerful compressor, filters for fine air purification and cylinders-receivers that maintain a stable pressure.

Therefore, it is more often used in professional construction, in the painting of cars, as well as in industrial enterprises. The price of a household model— from 800-1200 rubles, professional-from 10,000 rubles.

How to choose a spray gun: main features

Paint consumption

To decide which spray gun to choose for wall painting, remember-to paint 1 sq. m in 3 layers takes 200-300 ml of liquid solution.

• for painting a chair, window frame or washing machine body, a model with a consumption of 0.3–0.5 liters of paint per minute is suitable;
• for painting doors, floors, walls and ceilings-0.8-1.2 liters per minute;
• in professional construction and repair of cars — up to 2-2. 5 liters of paint per minute.

Nozzle

To choose the best spray gun, designed for years of perfect work, remember-the nozzle must be metal. Aluminum models pass through up to 100-200 liters of paint, steel — up to 1000. Brass ones are rust-resistant and easy to clean from the mixture residues — their service life is not limited. Plastic nozzles are considered disposable-it is impossible to completely wash them from the paint.

If you decide which spray gun is better to choose, pay attention to the diameter of the nozzle-it depends on the type of solution used:

• up to 1.3 mm-enamel;
• 1.4-1.6 mm-acrylic;
• 1.8-2 mm-liquid putty;   
• 2.2-2.5 mm-primer;
• 2.8-3.2 mm-mastic;
• more than 5 mm — thick building mixes.

Some models are compatible with only one type of nozzle, in others the nozzles can be changed.

Performance

The main characteristic of pneumatic models — air consumption-is 30-40% higher (1.3–1.4 times more) than the compressor performance. For example, if the compressor produces up to 250 liters of air per minute, the maximum air consumption of the spray gun is 250/1. 3=192 l / min.

To understand which electric spray gun to choose for painting, take a look at the pump power. To work with liquid paints on wood and plastic, 250-300 watts will be enough. For applying thick paints on metal, the power should be increased to 500 watts. To work with mastics and primers, 700-800 watts will be required.

Pressure

Models with low pressure (up to 2.5 atmospheres) use paint sparingly, transferring 80% of the solution to the surface to be treated. But the speed of staining is low — for an hour 8-10 sq. m.and there are streaks, bubbles.

If you want to know how to choose a spray gun for painting a car, look at models with an average pressure (up to 5 atmospheres). They transfer up to 60-70% of the solution, treat up to 12-15 sq. m of the surface per hour and give a consistently high quality of paint and varnish coating.

High-pressure devices (5-7. 5 atmospheres) allow you to paint up to 20 square meters of surface per hour. But the paint loss reaches 50%. A toxic explosive mist is formed in the air around the sprayer-it is allowed to work only in the open air or with good ventilation.
Tank
The plastic container can not be washed completely. To prevent the paint from mixing, keep a few containers in stock. Metal tanks are easily cleaned of paint, allowing you to get clean shades. But the rest is not visible — it is necessary to control the weight or time of spraying.

The volume of the tank depends on the size of the surface to be treated. For a door or window frame, 0.2–0.3 liters will be enough, for working with walls and ceilings — 0.5 liters, for painting fences and gates-1 liter, for repairing the facade of a house-from 2 liters or more.

When you decide which spray gun to choose for painting a car, it is better to give preference to the model with the lower location of the barrel — it is more convenient to hold it in the air while you go around the car and work in the cabin.

The upper tank is suitable for construction — it allows you to evenly feed thick mixtures (mastics and primers). Sprayers with a side container are suitable for working in hard-to-reach places: behind radiators, inside cabinet furniture and under the ceiling.
Adjustments the

• paint consumption affects the coating thickness;
• the choice of air pressure allows you to find a compromise between the speed of operation and the loss of the solution;
• adjusting the jet will help you adapt the spray gun to the shapes and sizes of the surface to be painted. You can change its diameter, stretch the spot to be painted vertically and horizontally.

Mobility

How to choose a spray gun for painting a house, so that it is convenient to work with it? Do not forget to specify the weight of the device. For working at height— no more than 1.5 kg. More than 2.5 kg — you will have to take breaks every 10-15 minutes to rest. In production and construction, paint stations are used — the pump unit is located on a separate trolley, and the gun weighs no more than 0.5 kg.

When choosing electric models, you should specify the length of the cord. For indoor use-1.5 m, outdoor-up to 5 m. If you have to paint the fence or the facade of the house, do not forget to buy an extension cord.

Equipment

Replaceable nozzles-for working with different types of paint and adjusting the spray width.

Spare tanks allow you to quickly change the color of paint materials.
Nozzle cleaning kit - for cleaning the spray gun after work.

The suit, glasses, respirator and mask protect the body from the effects of toxic paint.

Replaceable filters for paint and air help to get a more even coating.