Understanding, Types and How to Use a Spray Gun or Spray Paint

Spray guns are used to atomize liquids, generally paints. By using a spray gun, the painting results will be better and save paint usage compared to using a brush. To get good painting results when using a spray gun, we need practice and experience. For those of you who just want to learn to paint or buy a spray gun, the tips below can help you determine what type of spray gun you need to buy. If you need additional reading on paint gun, click over here.

Spray Gun Parts

1. Paint tube/tank

2. nozzle/nozzle cap

3. tuas spray/trigger

4. paint spray area control knob

5. knob to control the amount of paint ejected from the nozzle

6. knob to regulate the pressure of the air entering the spray gun

Not all spray guns have a knob to regulate the inlet air pressure (no. 6). But we can install a device called a pressure regulator on the bottom (vent) of the spray gun. On this device, there is usually a pressure indicator in the form of digital or analog.

Type Type Spray Gun

In a spray gun with a suction feed type, the tube is located at the bottom of the spray gun. This type of spray gun requires a lot of energy/wind to be able to suck and spray paint, besides that because of its large body this type of spray gun is not suitable for painting small, narrow surfaces. The advantage of this type of spray gun is that it can accommodate a lot of paint so it is suitable for painting with large areas, such as walls, fences.

Gravity Feed

In a spray gun with a gravity feed type, because the tube is located at the top of the spray gun, the paint will come out through the nozzle by itself and the wind only functions to spray the paint so it doesn't consume a lot of energy/wind. This is the type of spray gun that is most often used to paint cars, motorcycles, etc.

In addition to the suction feed and gravity feed, the nozzle on the spray gun also varies in size depending on the area to be painted and how thick the paint is to be sprayed. The spray gun in the middle image has a nozzle size of 1.5 mm, while the right one has a nozzle size of 0.8 mm. The size of the nozzle also affects the pattern of paint spray, so if the area to be painted is small, use a small spray gun and vice versa.

How to Set Up and Use a Spray Gun

Regardless of the type of spray gun, how to set up and use a spray gun is basically the same. To get the maximum setting, we need to try again and again. Due to the difference in paint viscosity, the settings will also be different.

Set the output air pressure on the compressor to 26 psi or according to the manual found when buying a spray gun, then attach the spray gun to the compressor hose.

Put the paint into the tank, then close it.

Adjust the knob to adjust the amount of liquid that will come out of the nozzle. Turn clockwise to decrease and counterclockwise to increase.

Adjust the air pressure that enters the spray gun. Here it takes trial and error to get the right spraying results. The principle is that if there is too much wind, the paint will become foggy and speckled, the paint will be wasteful and the results will not be good. On the other hand, if there is too little wind, the paint will not spray properly.

Adjust the knob to adjust the paint spray area. Turn the knob clockwise to decrease the burst area and turn it counterclockwise to increase the burst area. Before painting on the area to be painted, first test the results of the paint spray on paper or newspaper.