Spray Painting (air) Picket Fence

[looney]

my two bobs is use a mini roller, it's really good if you can get it down between pickets, roll front and back of about 4 at a time, roll in between and side of shaped tops, then quick once over front and back with no paint on roller to get blobs off, have brush sitting there for those hard to get at spots

before painting - if old paint coming off use pressure hose to clean and get most loose stuff off, be careful not to break down surface of wood with pressure, let it dry, scrape off what's left, buy small triangular scraper for in between pickets

sand it

oil based primer on holes and cracks you wanna get rid of (if radical change in colour, get the paint shop to tint primer), let dry, fill, use bog as cheap as others but hangs on better (don't like direct sun, goes off real quick, which i don't mind, just mix up small quantities), sand filler, prime filled areas well as all bare parts

i then give a quick light hand once over sand, gap where water may get in and then two coats of good acrylic paint

i do this all the time

knew some bloke who did it by spaying, took him as long, loads of spots missed which he had then to do by hand, cost him buckets of cash which would of paid me to do it

hey - but what would i know

[barrysumpter]

http://www.barrysumpter.com/Personal...Fence/pics.htm

[MrFixIt]

Hi

Hi all,
Anyone have a hyperlink or magazine article
for instruction on how to prepare, mix paint, adjust spraygun (air), actually spray paint, and clean up for spray painting a Picket Fence?

Realistically you can't get a good "thick" coat of paint on a picket fence using a spray gun. You can't even get a really good cover with an airless spray gun.

The best way REALLY IS to use a brush I did such a fence with an airless spray gun, sure it did look nice but the finish did "weather" fairly quickly and left the open grain of the "old" timber pickets exposed.

This was on a previously unpainted fence so that did not help. If your fence is already painted and you want to paint over the current colour then you can achieve a better result.

An airless spraygun is the best, not one of those "piddly" bzzzzzt, phut, pop, LEAK, electrical airless sprayguns, one of the proper 3000psi airless guns. The one I used was a Titan brand (Titan 4000. I think?).

These devices basically just spray PAINT. There is NO air involved, so there is much less overspray.

Using an ordinary spray gun creates too fine a mist for use outdoors. The outdoor result generally creates too much paint "dust" the particles that dry too fast and do not form part of the proper coverage but leave a "dust" like feel to the surface.

Using water ti experiment with the gun can only ever be a VERY subjective guide. Sure you CAN fiddle with the adjustments and "see" the results. However these results are not truly accurate because you cannot really see the effects of overspray (as the water is transparent) and you do not have the "feel" of the mix to compare with the resulting spray pattern and how moist/dry it is.

You will need to experiment with each type of paint you use, probably each time you change paint etc. The humidity, type of paint, the consistency of the paint, the pressure, amount of air flow ALL conspire to provide the end result - which is sometimes good

Sure spraying paint is a great way to paint things, I do it all the time now. However is is not automatically a good result, it does take a little practice, trial and error etc.

I guess a picket fence is as good as any item with which to start, just don't expect as good a result as you would get with the brush.

BTW you WILL lose some paint to the atmosphere.

Good luck....

[durwood]

Wood is best painted by brush or roller,

You will loose half your paint in overspray and will get paint on the plants, ground and anything else within a few feet of your spraying.
If there is a wind blowing yoiu will have overspray over next doors house washing on the line and the family caras well as the dog.

As Mrfixit said the penetrating into the wood will be poor as the air bounces back out of the wood grain stopping the paint getting in. Thats why you always brush the first coat even if you intend finishing with spray.

Airless with a proper unit does work its like spraying with a garden hose the paint hits the surface and is forces into the grain. But you will still use heaps of paint as you miss between the pickets when spraying and you will still paint everything close.