Can You Use Oil Based Paint In A Spray Gun? Step By Step

Did you ever try to paint your home, car, or furniture item with oil-based paint using a spray gun and failed? You probably want to know what wrong way you have approached and you failed. 

The answer is, you have used the oil-based paint without thinning it. Yes, the usual oil-based paints are too dense and thick for painting on surfaces.  This thickness only allows the brush to put it in the right way.

Instead of a brush, if you want to paint the oil-based paints using a spray gun, you need to thin the paint’s thickness.  Following some simple steps that we are about to mention, you can make your thick paint thin. Hence, let’s see the ways you can use oil based paint in a spray gun.

Thinning Oil Based Properly For Spray Guns

Thinning the oil-based paint means making it more fluid and less dense. You have to use thinning substances like mineral spirit, lacquer thinner, and turpentine.  These substances will break the paint viscosity to make it spread quickly. In this conversation, we will talk about items to have for this job and the procedure steps.

Required Tools And Materials

The tools below are must-have for thinning oil-based paint

• Face mask
• Apron
• Stick
• Overall
• A bucket full of warm water
• Special Containers
• Thinner, e.g., turpentine, mineral spirit, or lacquer thinner

Can You Use Oil Based Paint In A Spray Gun?

Yes, you can use oil-based paint in a spray gun. However, it is important to note that oil-based paints are thicker and may require thinning before they can be properly sprayed.

Additionally, oil-based paints may have longer drying times compared to water-based paints, so it is important to take this into consideration when planning your project. It is recommended to consult the manufacturer’s instructions for your specific spray gun and paint to ensure that you are using them correctly and achieving the desired results.

Put On The Proper Protective Gear

Begin the process by putting on the proper protective attire. Usually, oil-based paint is harmful. They slowly discharge a smell or moisture that may cause cancer if you inhale it for a long time repeatedly.  To protect yourself from that moisture, you have to wear a gas mask. Besides, the paint will harden on your clothes or skin. For shielding these two body parts, you need to put on the overall and a pair of hand gloves. 

Pour The Paint In The Container

Now it’s time to pour the paint into the container. Before running, guess the amount of color you might need for the task you are given.  Choose the right size container which can hold that much paint. Pour out your paint into the container steadily and meticulously. 

Add The Thinner

Now add the thinner you want to use to the paint. Check manufacturer recommendations to know what should be the ratio of paint and thinner.  Hence don’t forget to check the manufacturer’s manual before adding thinner. But in general, the 1:3 ratio does an excellent job of mixing these substances. 

Stir Thoroughly

After adding the thinner to the poured paint, mix them thoroughly with a particular type of stick. At first, stir steadily and consistently increase the pace.  The color will slowly get thinner. Work with care on this step because spilling off any paint will mess your surroundings.

Test The Outcomes

When you are done stirring the paint test, the thinning outcome is to check whether the products are as good as you expected. If still, the resultant solution has viscosity, add more thinner to it.  If the paint gets too thin, do the opposite, meaning adding more of the color slowly and continue stirring the mixture. 

Place In Warm Water

Finally, place that thinned paint into the bucket of warm water. Doing this will keep the desired viscosity and prevent hardening.  You don’t want to lose the moisture even so little, hence seal the container correctly. Make sure of using this thinning paint as soon as possible, or else if it gets ruined, you need to make it again. 

Pour In The Spray Gun

Now that you have thinned the oil-based paint pour the paint into the spray gun. Open your spray gun’s canister to channel the color into it slowly.  Do it carefully, and don’t fill the canister with paint. This might cause it to close when you are going to use it. 

Thin The Oil-Based Paint For Spray Gun With This Pro Tip

Be sure to strain the oil-based paint before you mix for removing impurities, clumps and preventing a clog. This one-step helps the pros to get all the killer results you are dreaming to have.

Advantages Of Painting Oil-Based Paint Using Spray Gun

Of course, people who use spray guns for painting Oil-based paints have a good reason for doing this. You get a lot of advantages from using a spray gun for painting Oil-based paints. Come and take a look at those fantastic advantages;

• All of your painting is used properly
• A significantly less amount gets wasted
• Spreads on the surface you want to paint
• Reduce the risk of getting harmful flumes inside of our body by inhaling
• It makes the paint quality suitable.
• It eases painting because you don’t need to use the brush anymore
• Almost spreads zero amount of paint outside of the surface
• It saves a lot of time and effort

Is Buying A Spray Gun For Painting Worth It?

We know it’s a typical query; most of us want to know if buying a spray gun for a painting worth it? Of course, paint sprayers are getting popular as the days are passing for it delivering more benefits than other paint tools. You can understand that a tool that offers you good quality color and covers all the painting surfaces should be considered an excellent painting tool. Paint sprayers work this way.

Moreover, it uses minor painting, meaning you can save both paints in quantity and money. There’s another thing you must understand: which paint sprayer among many you should choose?

If you are looking for a recommendation from us, we would say buying an HVLP spray gun will do the painting job nicely. Another one is the LVLP spray gun but if painting quality is your priority, then choose HVLP.

On the other hand, if you have a tight budget, you can continue the painting using LVLP. Other painting tools like brushes and rolled rollers will make you tired quickly while painting.  The modern solution for reducing tiredness while painting is using spray guns. Those other tools will not only make you tired but will also buy a lot of your valuable time.

Of course, you don’t want to waste 3,4 hours in painting when you can do it within an hour. Moreover, there’s always the risk of your hands and clothes getting messy with paint using a brush or rolled rollers. But a spray gun can save you from facing such a problem.  You will know and understand why we are saying that it’s worth having used a spray gun for any painting when you will use it by yourself.

Conclusion

We have explained each thing regarding the usage of oil-based paint in a spray gun in this article. We hope you can now use oil based paint in a spray gun by following our easy steps. We can assure you of getting the perfect painting if you do things just as we mentioned and follow the pro tip.

The time has come to take a leave, but before going, we have one more little piece of advice for you; if you use the spray gun for the first time, make sure to test its performance first.