5 TIPS on airless spray Tips.

So, before we jump into when you should replace your tips, this video is brought to you by Lindbid Scrapers, the scraper that makes scraping fun again. We love this thing. You should have one of these in your pocket along with a 511 tool. You can find them on our tool store at the idaho.com. So, now let's talk about your tips, how often you should replace them, and why you should replace them when they need to be replaced. So, a tip itself, the inside of a tip, it's got a carbide material, the little orifice right there. And we talked to one of the major manufacturers that manufactures these tips. They did some studies on these tips. And with a lot of different paints and products in all the tips across the board, at about 20 gallons, a 515 tip became a 517 tip. And that was pretty standard with all the tips. So, what this is telling you is the Orphice is getting bigger really fast. So after 20 gallons, a 515 is now a 517. And so it was rapidly wearing the tip out and then it kind of started to taper off, you know, and didn't wear it out as fast. But after about I think it was somewhere around 60 to 80 gallons, it was like a 519 tip. So that orifice is getting bigger and it's changing the pattern of the the spray pattern of the tip. Right. Yeah. And what's nice about that research is it kind of confirms what we've seen in the field, right? You've kind of got this early on stage when you've got a new tip where you got to slow down. You got to watch your angles. All of that because not as much is coming out and then you've got this sweet spot of about 40 to 60 gallons and then after that you're done. Yeah. You're done. And then the tip is just starting to get too blown out and as the orphice starts to get bigger and bigger, the droplets are getting bigger and bigger and then you'll start to feel paint raining down on you. What you're feeling and what is actually happening is overspray and fallout. And that's one of the drawbacks to using your tips too long is the liability issue of having overspray and fallout. But as that orifice starts to get bigger and bigger and you're having more fallout, I think there's a cost associated to that. Right. There is. You're going to end up using a lot more product both in paint and in what you're going to have to protect and mask because of the overspray. Yeah. and the the paint you're use you're you're losing you could be losing about a gallon of paint on a whole exterior on a really blown out tip. And if you do the math, a gallon of paint could cost you around $50 for a gallon. And a tip is about 35. And so in all reality, you could be actually costing yourself more money by trying to just extend your life your tips. I know some guys I've heard use them for 200 gallons or more. And at 200 gallons or more, that's an extremely blown out tip. No wonder they're always scared of overspray. Yeah. You And that would cause a really serious overspray issue. So the the paint itself, the paint is going through this orifice and and paints, cheaper paints are going to make the the um tip wear out faster because cheaper paints have more clays and and they're more abrasive. So it acts like sandpaper and it's just wearing that tip, you know, as the longer you use it and the more paint that's that you are running through it. So now let's talk about fine finish tips. So the paint's going through there and as soon as you start spraying paint, the paint acts as a sandpaper. It starts wearing on the orifice. It starts getting bigger and bigger. We talked about it. It changes the pattern. So instead of having this really nice flat fine finish pattern, it's going to start to get more circular, but the droplets are going to get bigger and bigger. And what is that doing to your finish? You're definitely not going to get nearly as fine of a finish. And then you're going to have inconsistencies, which typically with a fine finish, you're pretty worried about getting just the right amount of paint on. Too much, you get runs. Too little, you get flashing. So, how often do we typically replace a fine finish tip? So, we depending on the product, are looking for between 30 and 40 gallons before those things are going out. And then a high production tip. When are we typically replacing those? So, 60 to 80 gallons. Again, it's going to depend on the product you use. If you use a cheaper product, it's going to wear that tip out a lot faster. So, John, how do we typically store our tips in our vehicles? Well, typically in the past, we've gone through this super frustrating process of having an a single empty paint can and filling it about yay high with mineral spirits and then we'll drop all of our tips and guards in there. And that keeps the paint from drying on them. They're nice and fresh for the next time we need to use them. Yep. And you don't want to store them in water cuz believe it or not, even though this is stainless steel and carbide, stainless steels and carbides can rust and corrode. So you want to keep them in some type of solvent. We've have stored them in lacquer in the past. We like mineral spirits. Not quite sure why we like that the best, but it doesn't evaporate as much. Minerals. Here is a handy little device called a tip saver right here. And um it's kind of expensive and I think it runs it's like maybe almost $40 for that. But now you can take pull your tips out and not have to get your hands. They're organized. Look how organized that is. Very nice. So that's the tip saver. There is another device right here that uh we kind of like. They're not that cheap. What was the cost of that thing? These are probably going to retail for 20 to 25 bucks it seems like. And it comes sealed. It already comes with this liquid. It's not It's I think it's a water-based um product inside there. Not simple green like it looks, but some type of product that keeps the tips from drying out and keeps them from corroding. But the hourglass effect when you turn it upside down, all the liquid settles down to the bottom. You'll be able to reach in, pull your tips out without putting your hands in the liquid. Also, it kind of reminds you of your own mortality, how time's always ticking, ticking, just flowing to the bottom. Yeah. or it kind of um reminds you of when you're young and you had that nice tiny waist and you know you're Wow, somebody's bragging. All right, let's finalize this video. John, do you have any final thoughts for our audience? Yeah, I think the big thing is watch the first 20 gallons that you're using a tip because that's when it's going to start going up to that sweet spot. Enjoy that sweet spot from about 20 to 60 or 80 gallons and then really you got to get that tip out of there to save some money. Yep. Stay tuned for our next video. We're going to be talking about in part three, we're going to talk about what tips we use for high production painting. Part four, we'll be talking about what tips we use for fine finish painting. So stay tuned for vid for those videos. Hopefully you've enjoyed this one. If you got anything out of it, anything at all, give Jeremy John a thumbs up. Um, if you got any questions or comments for us, leave them down in the questions and comments below. We love to hear what you have to say. We love to hear your thoughts sometimes, not all the time. But we're going to get out of here and hopefully we'll see you on our next video. Ouch. [Music]