Spray Painting Equipment Types

There are many different types of spray painting equipment. Let's take a look at a few of the options.

Aerosol

Aerosol spray packs are a fast convenient way of applying paint with the minimum of equipment preparation. simply pick up a pressure pack in a suitable colour shake the pack for at least 60 seconds, longer as possible, make a quick test spray on the surface in an area it is not important and if everything is okay complete the job. 

  • Pros, quick convenient, no outlay for equipment.
  • Cons, expensive for large jobs, may not be available in the required colour, slow application rate.

Air Spray Guns

Air spray guns are possibly the most common type of spray painting equipment used. Air spray guns are commonly referred to as conventional spray guns, and include technology and acronyms such as HVLP, high volume low pressure, LVLP, low-volume low-pressure, and associated products such as pressure pots, double diaphragm pumps, hopper feed, gravity feed, suction feed, pressure feed etc.

  • Pros, usually a high level of finish, equipment is usually economical to obtain, minimal amount of maintenance required.
  • Cons, air compressor is required, typically more over spray, many paints require additional  thinning, not the fastest application rates.

Airless Sprayers
Airless spray painting systems have become more and more common due to reduced cost.
Commonly most airless spray systems in use today are designed to use a piston to pump and pressurise the paint to be sprayed.
This is true for the least expensive DIY hand-held electric airless guns right through to the largest industrial airless spray units.
Another less common airless pump design is the hydraulic diaphragm airless pump but with the advances made in low-pressure control that has been made with piston pump designs and greater efficiency of a piston pump for a given size hydraulic diaphragm pumps are not as popular or is common worldwide.
Airless spraying includes many industry terms and acronyms such as suction sets, hoppers, airless guns, high-pressure filters, airless paint spray hose flat tips, reversible tips, adjustable airless tips, inlet and outlet valves, packings, relief valves, swivels etc

  • Pros, fast application rates, paints do not require thinning (unless it is a small airless unit), reduced overspray compared to conventional air spray.
  • Cons, equipment is relatively more expensive to acquire, airless equipment is notoriously expensive to maintain and repair and airless equipment is typically large heavy and bulky.

Air Assisted Airless

Air assisted airless is a combination of air spray and airless spray. less airless fluid pressure is required and less air air pressure is required which combine to provide greater transfer efficiency than is generally achievable with any type of standard air spray, including HVLP and LVLP, and finish qualites are achievable which rival conventional air spray with application rates at a far faster than any air spray system application rate.

  • Pros, high transfer efficiency, low overspray, quality finish, fast application rates.
  • Cons, both air compressor and airless pump required, expensive gun, expensive tips, two lines must be run to the gun.

Electrostatic Spray

Electrostatic paint spraying is where the atomised particles of paint leaving the electrostatic spray gun are positively charged and the actual workpiece is grounded negative charge so most overspray is attracted back around the jobrather than floating off in the atmosphere as waste.

Electrostatic paint spraying systems are available as conventional air spray airless or the hybrid air assisted airless electrostatic. Electrostatic spraying Systems do not typically paint the back of an object from the other side as many may assume. In actual fact they can be cases where the electrical charge is opposing and some areas cannot be painted using electrostatic such as tight corners.electrostatic spray painting can be difficult to set up and complicated to maintain.

  • Pros, Highest transfer efficiency ( if a setup correctly and used correctly).
  • Cons, Very expensive to acquire, complicated to set up, difficult and expensive to maintain.