# Favorite current airless spray guns?



## Masterpiece

I replaced my ever failing Titan LX80 guns awhile back w/oddly enough, the SG20 Graco guns from Home Depot. They have been doing really well w/the occasional spitting after a few hundred gallons.

They're being discontinued so I'm looking for a replacement LIGHTWEIGHT, long lasting spray gun. So far I've been considering the following:

Graco FTx....$120
Graco Contractor Gun (redesigned needle supposedly w/pistol type grip)
Spraytech G10-XL $89 (special)
Spraytech G12-XL...$125 (pistol grip G10 according to the site, gleempaint)
ASM/Graco Contractor 500...$80 (sale, closest replacement to the SG20)

I'm going to go try the pistol grip Contractor gun just to get a feel for it before I decide to buy anything. I think I'll prefer the traditional barrel style but who knows.

What's your favorite airless spray gun and how does it do regarding time between needle replacements/rebuilds and spitting?

Thanks guys

Jeremy


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## deach

For me it's the G10 without a doubt. (although I might not mind trying a G12) At any rate I think that 's an awesome gun.


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## Workaholic

I use the new contractor gun


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## [email protected]

I've got a few guns hang-n around the shop, but at the moment I have the never failing LX80 on my sprayer plus a new one in the box... Been using the one I have on the sprayer for about a year now. No issues yet. 

My post may not have helped you, but thanks for the opportunity to chat. :thumbsup:


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## [email protected]

I amite I am a Grayco man in general. Demo when the new Graco Contractor Gun came out. Of the three contractor guns The current one and the first one I like the best. I might be old fashion but like the older one just a little bite better.


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## Workaholic

I like the current one best. The contractor2's was giving me problems with leaking after awhile.


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## RCP

Quote from Rob
"I miss the Graco silver guns, they were my favorite, the G10 is nice . I like the Contractor 2 with the flat tips. I prefer a two finger, as far as spitting, you gotta learn to play it like a bad golf swing"


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## Masterpiece

I think I'm going to still go check out the redesigned Contractor gun to get a feel for it but I'm going to also order a G10 gun to try out as well...

I really wanted to consider the Tritech guns that are advertised in the American Painting Contractor mags (14oz) but at their site, they only list accessories under their products listing so I dunno...

Jeremy


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## RCP

For comparison
http://store.spraymallstore.com/guaipaspmogr.html


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## [email protected]

Can't speak on Tritech guns but Like there tips.


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## Mantis

The 'new' graco contractor gun by far. I have 3 G10s, 2 contractor IIs and 1 2 finger 'new' contractor gun. I love it. Next time i need to get another gun, its gonna be a contractor again for certain. 

Why didnt they think of a more original name other than "new" contractor gun. wtf?:huh:


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## Wolfgang

I've got 4 Graco Silvers, 3 "new" Contractors, a Contractor II, a couple of LX80's, and a couple of Airlessco's. I guess I just like the Silvers', simple, easy to rebuild, and last forever.

What gets me anymore is that the rebuild kits are darn near up in the new gun price range on some of them. I just bought 2 LX80's for [email protected] and I think their kits are in the same range.


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## IHATE_HOMEDEPOT

I have the new Graco Contractor gun and it seems to have a stiffer spring so if you are spraying a lot you might get a sore hand. The selling point is that the needle is isolated to keep from having spitting issues:gun_bandana:


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## Wolfgang

IHATE_HOMEDEPOT said:


> I have the new Graco Contractor gun and it seems to have a stiffer spring so if you are spraying a lot you might get a sore hand. The selling point is that the needle is isolated to keep from having spitting issues:gun_bandana:


It's a Graco and if you use their tips and guards, they're gonna spit. If you ever talk to anybody at their factory who's honest they'll tell you it's been an ongoing problem with them for some time, especially the RACX tips and guards.


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## 1977corey

I use Spraytec's GX-10, so go ahead and laugh it up, but don't knock it till you try it


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## deach

1977corey said:


> I use Spraytec's GX-10, so go ahead and laugh it up, but don't knock it till you try it



I'm not laughing...Three airless sprayers, Three GX10's....Love em


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## Masterpiece

I've noticed that my second SG20 spray gun started spitting almost right away when spraying s/gloss paint (like Pro Mar 400/200) through a small 311 tip every time you release the trigger...

I spray about 10 gallons a day so I want something that's pretty light and easy on the hand. That was the deciding factor for getting these SG20 guns but I need something a little longer lasting.

Jeremy


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## Southern Exposure

*Where to get cheap rebuild kits?*

Anybody know a spot for graco and titan gun rebuild kits? 
Oh, and they should be cheaper than S/W?
Thanks


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## Bender

You look a little young to be paintin' fella


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## Softy

Wolfgang said:


> It's a Graco and if you use their tips and guards, they're gonna spit. If you ever talk to anybody at their factory who's honest they'll tell you it's been an ongoing problem with them for some time, especially the RACX tips and guards.


Yup, so true. My new contractor gun spit like crazy when I use RACX. It stop spiting when I switch to RACX-FF but FF is only good for door and trim.


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## Softy

Workaholic said:


> I like the current one best. The contractor2's was giving me problems with leaking after awhile.


I've noticed with a newer model I can paint at lower pressure as appose to contractor2. I wonder if the little piece of metal in the gun causing it. The bad thing for me with new contractor gun is the trigger is much stiffer. Most house we use about 50g and up. My finger gave out long before that.


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## Workaholic

Softy said:


> I've noticed with a newer model I can paint at lower pressure as appose to contractor2. I wonder if the little piece of metal in the gun causing it. The bad thing for me with new contractor gun is the trigger is much stiffer. Most house we use about 50g and up. My finger gave out long before that.


Yeah it is a little stiffer, have you tried the new ftx gun? it is the four finger new contractor.


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## Softy

Workaholic said:


> Yeah it is a little stiffer, have you tried the new ftx gun? it is the four finger new contractor.


I was gonna say that I need a 4 finger gun. Job is a bit slow lately so I tend to put it off just for now


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## Workaholic

I hear ya. I was going to buy the four finger when I bought my last gun but they were out and I went with another 2 finger.


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## nEighter

Sean how often do you replace your guns?


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## johnpaint

Softy said:


> I've noticed with a newer model I can paint at lower pressure as appose to contractor2. I wonder if the little piece of metal in the gun causing it. The bad thing for me with new contractor gun is the trigger is much stiffer. Most house we use about 50g and up. My finger gave out long before that.


Are talking 50 gallons of paint for one house?


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## Workaholic

nEighter said:


> Sean how often do you replace your guns?


I get a year+ out of them and then I often rebuild. I was going through the contractor2's quicker than that.


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## K&R Painting

*spray gun*

try www.urepairsprayerparts.com they have a Tritech T360 spray gun that comes with tip and tipgaurd, an extra 517 tip, 2 extra filters and a 3' whip hose for $124.50


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## DeanV

johnpaint said:


> Are talking 50 gallons of paint for one house?



Not unusual. We often go thoruhg 50 gallons of drywall primer, 15 gallons trim paint, 10 gallons trim primer on a new home.


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## johnpaint

That's a big house.


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## RCP

We use an average of 130 gallons of paint and primer on a house. Not unusual at all.


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## Workaholic

DeanV said:


> Not unusual. We often go thoruhg 50 gallons of drywall primer, 15 gallons trim paint, 10 gallons trim primer on a new home.


I do about the same on larger NC jobs.


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## johnpaint

New construction: You guy's work for your money, for sure.


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## johnpaint

your only young once.


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## Workaholic

I do both NC and repaints. I like doing them. They both have their challanges. I have seen a lot of NC guys that can't cut it doing repaints and the opposite is of course true too. It is good to have a balance and be able to tackle as many different projects as you can.


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## johnpaint

So when you put out hundred gallons of paint on one house what kind of total bid cost is there? you have at least 2,000 on materials so what is the ball park of the end price?


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## johnpaint

I guess no one wants to answer that one.


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## Workaholic

johnpaint said:


> So when you put out hundred gallons of paint on one house what kind of total bid cost is there? you have at least 2,000 on materials so what is the ball park of the end price?


Those bigger houses I was getting 3.25 - 3.50 a sqft.
I had lowered my rate to 3.00- 3.25 a foot. This is NC houses. Repaints never take that much paint and the application is different too.


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## RCP

Three tone?


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## nEighter

great thread. I was wondering cause you have said you have picked up a couple guns. What on the ContractorII's were wearing out to the point of getting a new gun? Just wanting a new gun? I only ask this because I have been good with mine thus far (over 2 yrs on my current gun) BUT not doing nearly the amount of work I used to do with tenant repaints. I want to try out the new contractor gun. Again what tips are you using? I thought you said RacV's if I am not mistaken.


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## Workaholic

RCP said:


> Three tone?


Trim color, ceiling color, plus main wall color then bonus third color. Any colors after that are extra.



nEighter said:


> great thread. I was wondering cause you have said you have picked up a couple guns. What on the ContractorII's were wearing out to the point of getting a new gun? Just wanting a new gun? I only ask this because I have been good with mine thus far (over 2 yrs on my current gun) BUT not doing nearly the amount of work I used to do with tenant repaints. I want to try out the new contractor gun. Again what tips are you using? I thought you said RacV's if I am not mistaken.


Mine were starting to get a leak in the handle, it did not matter how tight I got them on there. Before that started happening I swore by those guns. I have quite a few of them in the garage and van. 
I use racX fine finish for trim and regular racX tips for the rest.


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## nEighter

yeah am a RacX guy myself. Just remember a discussion of spitting and thought you said you used a different tip.


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## Wolfgang

nEighter, I think I'm the one who isnt the big fan of the RACX setup. I've had issues with them spitting, particularly the FF tips. Just so you know, I always figure a new FF tip in every applicable job. Lately I switched over to the Titan FF (purple) tips; cheaper and hardly any spitting issues.


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## johnpaint

Seems like the new blue tips really last much longer than the old ones, and also I have noticed that, out of the box there are fewer defective ones.they also rust less than the older ones inside.


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## LOSTinDETAILS

I have three guns that I keep. A titan LX80II, a graco SG2 and campbell hausfield that is ancient and is shaped like a block. but I only use my Titan LX80ii. Not much difference in either of the graco or titan guns I have. They are both mid-level contractor guns that serve there purpose but dont have any bells and whistles. I currently have my old worn out campbell hausfield around for sentimental reasons.


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## Masterpiece

I checked that link to the Tritech gun but didn't see anything about spray guns at the site....perhaps I overlooked it...


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## Msargent

I havent had a problem with my titan yet.


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## K&R Painting

try ... 25 to 30% off of Graco list price


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## K&R Painting

go to the miscellaneous section


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## Softy

Workaholic said:


> Those bigger houses I was getting 3.25 - 3.50 a sqft.
> I had lowered my rate to 3.00- 3.25 a foot. This is NC houses. Repaints never take that much paint and the application is different too.



Gees! that's lots of money. I work for company so only get about $1/ft and I've to buy my own material but sometime people ask me so I quote them $2/ft.


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## Softy

johnpaint said:


> So when you put out hundred gallons of paint on one house what kind of total bid cost is there? you have at least 2,000 on materials so what is the ball park of the end price?


Usually that's 4,000 sq ft home. Material cost can vary around $1,000-3,000 depending on the paint


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## Workaholic

Softy said:


> Gees! that's lots of money. I work for company so only get about $1/ft and I've to buy my own material but sometime people ask me so I quote them $2/ft.


You do a 4000- 5000 sqft house for a dollar a foot. You must spray everything and be gone.
How long does it take you? I am initially in a house that size for 9-14 work days. (they stack a good amount of trim in the houses here) 
How many people? It is just me and another.
For a buck a foot you would have to be in there for only a 2-3 days? 

Then we come back for another 3-5 days on the final. Stairs to finish, front doors to be stained, walls to be repainted and things to be touched up.


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## Softy

Workaholic said:


> You do a 4000- 5000 sqft house for a dollar a foot. You must spray everything and be gone.
> How long does it take you? I am initially in a house that size for 9-14 work days. (they stack a good amount of trim in the houses here)
> How many people? It is just me and another.
> For a buck a foot you would have to be in there for only a 2-3 days?
> 
> Then we come back for another 3-5 days on the final. Stairs to finish, front doors to be stained, walls to be repainted and things to be touched up.


2 or 3 days depending on the design floor with just me and my helper.


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## Workaholic

Softy said:


> 2 or 3 days depending on the design floor with just me and my helper.


No stair work? very conservative amount of trim? Crown? Wainscott? No wood or fiberglass doors to be stained?
You would be doing 3 to my 1 so the money is about the same as far as time goes.
Well I would use a couple thousand less in material.


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## Softy

Workaholic said:


> You do a 4000- 5000 sqft house for a dollar a foot. You must spray everything and be gone.
> How long does it take you? I am initially in a house that size for 9-14 work days. (they stack a good amount of trim in the houses here)
> How many people? It is just me and another.
> For a buck a foot you would have to be in there for only a 2-3 days?
> 
> Then we come back for another 3-5 days on the final. Stairs to finish, front doors to be stained, walls to be repainted and things to be touched up.


Hey we just did 2,000 sq inside office w/ 7 rooms in one night from 6pm-6am. The management couldn't believe that we can do it. They gave us 3 days to finish the job but I told them 1 night and you wont see me again...Their eyes pop out


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## Softy

Workaholic said:


> No stair work? very conservative amount of trim? Crown? Wainscott? No wood or fiberglass doors to be stained?
> You would be doing 3 to my 1 so the money is about the same as far as time goes.



Actually we have to do all that too with different color than the wall. All doors, CM, base mould, handrail everything. We've like 2-3 inspectors per house. If we messed up then usually I've to go back.


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## Workaholic

Softy said:


> Actually we have to do all that too with different color than the wall. All doors, CM, base mould, handrail everything. We've like 2-3 inspectors per house. If we messed up then usually I've to go back.


What about final? Here only bdrms would go carpet so painted shoe through out. How many days are you in for the final? 

You spray everything so when you come for final do you use brush and roller or what?


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## Softy

Workaholic said:


> What about final? Here only bdrms would go carpet so painted shoe through out. How many days are you in for the final?
> 
> You spray everything so when you come for final do you use brush and roller or what?


I think 99% of the works are spray on. Even the touch up is spray on. We do so much reverse spray touch up it not even funny...trying not to it wasting time. All the molding and door and jamb are spray on. I think the worst part is tape up carpet and stone decorated wall. It has to be perfect or the paint will go in. Only brush involve when there's crazy trim. Me and my helper only have 1 brush each, Purdy.


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## Softy

Workaholic said:


> What about final? Here only bdrms would go carpet so painted shoe through out. How many days are you in for the final?
> 
> You spray everything so when you come for final do you use brush and roller or what?


I don't know what's final. We do trim works on the day we paint, not all the time depending on temperature and the time we start. Normally I use 2-3 high velocity fan set it up to pressurize or depressure the entire house so the paint dry really fast and also remove the toxic stuff.


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## Workaholic

Softy said:


> I don't know what's final. We do trim works on the day we paint, not all the time depending on temperature and the time we start. Normally I use 2-3 high velocity fan set it up to pressurize or depressure the entire house so the paint dry really fast and also remove the toxic stuff.


Final is the lockout, final touch up.


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## LOSTinDETAILS

This is my next gun as of right now. I have been wanting to go with a two finger for a while now. I am still looking for best price and researching other makes as well. I thought I would share my .02 cents.


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## Masterpiece

Yeah I noticed just lately that the LX80 has adopted the now popular pistol grip style....my main gripe w/the older LX80s was hit and miss quality. One would last for 6mos to a year no problems and the next would spit out of the box...

I'm going to pick up one or two different guns to compare but mine's still doing fine, the other SG20 has a rebuild kit waiting to go in (can't seem to get the 'seat/diffuser' seperated) and I just haven't taken the time to get anything else yet. I'm going to sample some of the better guns at SW and the other local paint stores this week though...

I'm inquiring about that Tritech gun right now. It appears to be even lighter than mine (15oz vs the SG20 1.4lbs)...

Jeremy


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## LOSTinDETAILS

Update! I just received my new LX80 platinum.Ended up paying 129.00 for it. I have yet to use it, but I do like the way it feels having more than a thumb gripping the handle. 

I pulled out my SG2 the other day to clean and rebuild. I forgot how good this gun felt in my hands. The trigger is closer to the handle and it was lighter and shorter than my LX80. Hands down a better gun than my 80. My only complaint about my SG is the 2 pc diffuser/housing system. I like the Titan's simplicity when rebuilding.


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## mr.fixit

hey jeremy if you go to that website www.urepairpsprayerparts.com where you could not find the T360 gun and look under miscellaneous you will find it. the T360 spray gun with tip and tip guard and additional 517 tip 2 additional filters and a 3 foot whip hose $124.50


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## alpinecrick

Masterpiece said:


> What's your favorite airless spray gun and how does it do regarding time between needle replacements/rebuilds and spitting?
> 
> Thanks guys
> 
> Jeremy


 
My 25+ year old Graco Silver guns.......the ones that are stainless steel instead of the cast aluminum ones........



Casey


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## Masterpiece

Mr fixit, any idea how the 360's trigger is compared to the LX80 or any other popular guns? I find most mainstream guns a little on the stiff side and now that my hands/wrists are starting to bother me, I'm trying to find the lightest and easiest to use guns. My SG20 is much lighter than the LX80 and takes very little effort to squeeze vs the LX80. I don't want to be squeezing a bear trap all day long....

Jeremy


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