# Spraying SW Proclassic acrylic latex



## Pierson Painting

First time using a sprayer on some panelled doors. These doors a preprimed mdf and have a wood grain to them. Going to use SW Proclassic acrylic latex, any tips? Do I use it straight or add something to make it flow better? Anything that would help a greenhorn would be appreciated.:blink:


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## Different Strokes

welcome to the forum:thumbsup: watch for sags


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## straight_lines

Yup it will take off on you more so than most trim paints. Shameless blog link on using proclassic.


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## 6126

Yes, it will run like a bandit if your not careful. I've used quite a bit. I never thin it or add anything. I would stick with a 411 tip, or fine finish like a 412.


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## Paradigmzz

Careful with sheen satin sprayed is matte finished. Probably classic sheers like a mofo.


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## [email protected]

Woodland said:


> Yes, it will run like a bandit if your not careful. I've used quite a bit. I never thin it or add anything. I would stick with a 411 tip, or fine finish like a 412.


Same here. It's my "go to" trim/door paint, but it certainly has a learning curve to hurdle. 

Runs sand out nicely to dust. Easy fixens... :thumbsup:


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## TheRogueBristle

I have not used the particular product, but I would say err on the side of thin coats. It's way to easy with a sprayer to get too much on. You ca always add another coat, but dealing with drips and sags defeats the purpose of spraying, which is efficiency and quality of finish. It is a fine line though, you want enough to get good flow and not be dry dusting it, but not so much that it's starting to sag. The temptation is big to lay it on thick.


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## Different Strokes

Paradigmzz said:


> Careful with sheen satin sprayed is matte finished. Probably classic sheers like a mofo.


Great advice ^^ PC is a step down in sheen vs. what is labeled on the can. 

If you want a semigloss...you better buy gloss.


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## straight_lines

Honestly I would choose at least four other trim enamels over Pro Classic. Its just to hard to work with. Why make it harder on yourself when there are better paints?


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## Wolfgang

straight_lines said:


> Honestly I would choose at least four other trim enamels over Pro Classic. Its just to hard to work with. Why make it harder on yourself when there are better paints?


And what's funny is that SW makes some of them. Switched to IncrediCoat a few years ago and it was hard to look back.


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## ewingpainting.net

I hope you aren't going to put a finish over "pre-primed" I would highly recommend priming it.

I think the last time I used Pro Classic was around 1998. You got a bit to catch up on


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## TJ Paint

You and your priming ways Gabe. They got that primer and paint in one now from hd. Get with the times man


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## ewingpainting.net

Why one should never apply finish over pre-prime. Its the cheapest primer on the market. They only use products for protection for storage and shipping. The substrate also can be contaminated by being stored at the warehouse, machinery oils, shipping and handling.


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## DeanV

Try telling that to a mdf company rep when the primer and finish lifted off the factory primer once. The fault? Using a primer. According to the mdf company, never prime over the factory primer.


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## straight_lines

ewingpainting.net said:


> Why one should never apply finish over pre-prime. Its the cheapest primer on the market. They only use products for protection for storage and shipping. The substrate also can be contaminated by being stored at the warehouse, machinery oils, shipping and handling.


Or you could use WB Impervo and all things wrong with you life will disappear. :thumbsup:


I know you would never not prime, it would keep you up at night worrying.


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## Pierson Painting

*Thanks for the input*

Thanks to all with the input. I'm finally going to try spraying everything tonight. Was going to try yesterday, but the rental was plugged and the tip was damaged, which the SW person figured out today, I wasn't too happy! I did brush some with the ProClassicm, wow was that different, hopefully the second coat will make things look a little better. Thanks again!


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## ewingpainting.net

straight_lines said:


> Or you could use WB Impervo and all things wrong with you life will disappear. :thumbsup:
> 
> 
> I know you would never not prime, it would keep you up at night worrying.


If you ever experience a pricey failure, it will open your eyes of how inexpensive priming is.


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## aaron61

It's all we use.No problems here.


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## Pierson Painting

*Wood doors done, not so good with metal.*

I sprayed my 4 wood doors and 1 metal door and jamb. Wood went well, metal not so well. First of all, holy crap I went through the paint. I am using the Graco 170 that I rented from SW, they gave me a 317 tip. To get rid of the fingers on the spray test I needed to turn the preasure dang near all the way up. I tried to spray a light first coat as someone suggested, but notice on the metal door frame I've got a sag on one of the corners, I've gone through more than 1.5gal, wood doors have 2 coats, but I still need 2nd coat for casing and wood frames. I also noticed that I missed some expose steel on the metal door and frame, I see rust showing I thought I would have everything done tonight, hopefully tomorrow. I've got another job coming up that has nine wood doors to spray, how do you calculate paint quantity for spraying, whats the sqft coverage per gal?


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## DeanV

317 tip? If you explained to your SW store what you were doing and they told you to use that tip for trim. Never, ever listen to that person again. About anything paint related. Maybe even about anything that is not paint related.

I would look for a 310, 312, or 311 tip.


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## DeanV

For small batches, you waste so much just loading up the sprayer. Figure half a gallon total is lost to load the sprayer and left in the sprayer when you empty the gallon.

For the coverage rate, I usually use something like 300 sq. ft. per gallon when spraying on a full NC job. Most often I just know that a job of type X,Y or Z takes 5,10,15 etc gallons for trim.


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## Pierson Painting

So I take it that I'm throwing to much paint out there. I'll check on different tips tomorrow, thanks DeanV.


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## Pierson Painting

Just looking through the Graco Accessories booklet and it recommends .015-.019 for latex. Latex would make it through those smaller tips?


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## RH

DeanV said:


> For small batches, you waste so much just loading up the sprayer. Figure half a gallon total is lost to load the sprayer and left in the sprayer when you empty the gallon.
> 
> For the coverage rate, I usually use something like 300 sq. ft. per gallon when spraying on a full NC job. Most often I just know that a job of type X,Y or Z takes 5,10,15 etc gallons for trim.


Chase it with solvent and you can cut the waste down. I've timed how many seconds of open trigger it takes for a load to go through my 50' of hose. It's around 30 seconds with a 517 on my machine. When the bucket is empty, I can drop it in solvent and spray for a good 20 seconds more. I might only save a 1/4 gallon every time I switch the load but it adds up.

I have always assumed the airless keeps the paint and solvent from mixing for the most part because of the pressure. (no room to mix)

Of course if I'm wrong I just wrote a paragraph about watering down your paint..... :whistling2:


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## straight_lines

Pierson Painting said:


> Just looking through the Graco Accessories booklet and it recommends .015-.019 for latex. Latex would make it through those smaller tips?


Read this on tips.


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## aaron61

Gibberish45 said:


> Chase it with solvent and you can cut the waste down. I've timed how many seconds of open trigger it takes for a load to go through my 50' of hose. It's around 30 seconds with a 517 on my machine. When the bucket is empty, I can drop it in solvent and spray for a good 20 seconds more. I might only save a 1/4 gallon every time I switch the load but it adds up.
> 
> I have always assumed the airless keeps the paint and solvent from mixing for the most part because of the pressure. (no room to mix)
> 
> Of course if I'm wrong I just wrote a paragraph about watering down your paint..... :whistling2:


WTF ??? Why not use less hose? Are you really concerned about replacing $10 worth of paint with $5 worth of thinner? What happens if you squirt that thinner up on your latex? What will probably happen is,oil & water don't mix,so you get gum balls of latex cloggin up your 5hit.


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## BreatheEasyHP

aaron61 said:


> WTF ??? Why not use less hose? Are you really concerned about replacing $10 worth of paint with $5 worth of thinner? What happens if you squirt that thinner up on your latex? What will probably happen is,oil & water don't mix,so you get gum balls of latex cloggin up your 5hit.


Paint thinner is a solvent for oil-based paint. 

Water-based paints are called that because their "solvent" is water. So when I'm needing to finish a door or a little bit of wall and don't want to break out another gal I put my input line into a bucket of water.

Good point on the shorter hose. Before I switched to a ProSh*t I used a separate sprayer for small jobs. My regular sprayer holds what looks like 1/10 of a gal just in the input and has 75' of hose. The other is a much smaller suction hose and hooked up with 15' of hose. It saves paint as well as time and water for the cleaning.


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## aaron61

FYI...most painters I know don't call water solvent!


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## Pierson Painting

DeanV, I got SW to bring me a 311 tip and some more paint. Works better, but everyonce in awhile the tip would clog and stop spraying mid stroke, leaving little splatters on my door, what causes that? Here's another question which I'll probably get crap for. This metal door and frame I'm messing with, its preprimed, but everytime I come back after spraying a coat, I find nats ass sized specs of rust showing. Do you really break out the sprayer to prime one door, I guess the answer is yes, what a pain.


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## BreatheEasyHP

Pierson Painting said:


> DeanV, I got SW to bring me a 311 tip and some more paint. Works better, but everyonce in awhile the tip would clog and stop spraying mid stroke, leaving little splatters on my door, what causes that? Here's another question which I'll probably get crap for. This metal door and frame I'm messing with, its preprimed, but everytime I come back after spraying a coat, I find nats ass sized specs of rust showing. Do you really break out the sprayer to prime one door, I guess the answer is yes, what a pain.


I'm bring this to the front to find out about the tip clogging. I've had the same problem when trying to use such as small tip with a material that thick. 

DeanV, do you strain your paint every time before spraying?

Also, do you use a fine filter in your gun for spraying with that small a tip?


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## Paradigmzz

BreatheEasyHP said:


> I'm bring this to the front to find out about the tip clogging. I've had the same problem when trying to use such as small tip with a material that thick.
> 
> DeanV, do you strain your paint every time before spraying?
> 
> Also, do you use a fine filter in your gun for spraying with that small a tip?


The answer is yes and yes. Quality control and quality outcomes take just a little bit more effort. Thin with appropriate recommended reducer, extender or flood product if you have to. Keep your rig clean. The right prep, the right outcome. Fine finishes are quite different from apartment painting and the devil is always in the details.


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