air verses airless paint sprayers

does anyone have experience using an airless paint sprayer for painting on a tractor? My compressor is not large enough to handle an air sprayer and wondered if I could use an airless sprayer.

thanks

It's hard to lay down low viscosity material with airless. Most people have gone to high volume low pressure for truck,tractor and auto paint. In addition to less overspry in air,I like turbine air supply because moisture and oil are not an issue.

A airless sprayer is designed to spray paint that is thick such as latex paint. Automotive paints are sprayed very thin so going through an airless would be like rigging paint to be sprayed with a garden hose. I would stick with your compressed air sprayer and find a bigger compressor. You might try finding a used bigger compressor but that is risky. Often when a compressor gets old it starts putting oil in the air which can cause problems. Before spraying paint try spraying air at a piece of clean cardboard for a minute or so and see if there is any color difference that stays. Water can also darken the cardboard but you could get that with a brand new compressor.

How big is your compressor? You might consider adding a cheap extra tank or two in line as a buffer. Of course if it's a little pancake compressor that's probably not going to help much. But if you're close to being able to spray with your current rig, you may only need a little more capacity to make it possible.

I wouldn't suggest such a thing for painting a car. But I find in painting tractors, there's a lot of stop and go anyways, so you COULD get away with a smaller air supply if you had to. You'd just need to be careful- and patient.

An extra tank would also help eliminate pulsating while the compressor runs.

I've never tried it - and maybe there's something I'm not thinking of - maybe others can chime in on the idea, but I can assure you it'd be a better option than an airless sprayer - that's the wrong tool for the job.

There are expensive turbine type high volume low pressure almost airless sprayers and spray guns that will spray automotive paint well. But they are expensive. A friend with a painting business uses one to spray mostly lacquer on furniture, kitchen cabinets and doors. Overspray is almost non existent. So it was not a problem using it inside houses. I don't remember the brand but the turbine type air supply and gun cost him around $900. I have a large Wagner air supply (Turbine based) and a Wagner and a more expensive Titan spray gun. Many years ago I used the Titan to paint a 1995 Chevy pickup with basecoat/clearcoat black and silver in a barn during the winter because of temperature and humidity concerns with better results than I was getting at the time with my Devilbiss. I'm retired. I used to paint in a body shop paint booth. Now I paint in a barn. My painter friends thought I had color sanded and buffed it. The Turbine warms the paint as it goes on and does not stir up dust. I bought it from a painter who paid 1500 for it. I bought it for half. I often use it in situations that are less than ideal. I personally do not feel a need for a personal air supply when using urethanes. There is no paint buildup on my mask unlike with a conventional gun or true airless. I would caution that one has to relearn gun adjustment, paint velocity and spraying technique. At this time some of these units are more reasonably priced. I mention this as they are a good alternative for someone who does not have an adequate space/place to paint in.

Actually Bill,airless mean's just that "no air",it's a hydraulic pump not much different than pumps on tractors.

What about the LVLP guns that require less air capacity than do even the HVLP ones. Your compressor may be adequate for that. Does anyone know about them?

Airless puts the paint out so fast, it would be runs and drips everywhere. If you have a small compressor, look into a smaller gun. Something bigger than a detail gun, but smaller than a full size production gun. Cheap way to add capacity is a 20 gallon portable inflation tank, the kind you see at auto parts stores to carry air somewhere you can't get a compressor to.

I have a Wagner turbine HVLP, it's nice. But it was $800 in '92, but Craigslist should have some used ones if you look for a bit.

I have added compressor tank to my air supply, works well.