Have you ever wondered what the numbers refer to on an airless spray tip?  It is very simple.  Tips come with either 3 numbers on 4 numbers.  If has 3 numbers the first number is the width of the spray fan at 12” away from your surface.  If it is 4 numbers it is the first two numbers.  So to know the width at 12, multiple the number by 2.  So a 310 tip has a 6” fan at 12” from the surface.  A 1226 has a 24” fan. 

The last two numbers refer to the orifice size.  The larger the number the more paint the tip will put out. The larger the number the harder to control the paint and keep it from running.  However, the larger the orifice the faster you can paint.  Start out small and with practice move to larger tip sizes. 

A Graco great tip with and even number refers to a fine finish tip for painting projects like trim, cabinets, furniture, or any painting project where a fine finish is critical.  An odd number green tip is the small tip size that sprays a standard finish.  Titan fine finish tips are purple.  A Graco blue and Titan red tip spray standard finishes.  For more information on airless spray tips check out my latest video here:

What Tip to Use:  The proper airless spray tip if very important for many reasons including controlling overspray, getting the proper finish, and increasing productivity,  I will give a brief break down of the most common tip sizes we use and why we use them. 

For fine finish tips I like to sizes, a 310 and a 510.  If I could only choose 1 I would pick the 310.  I use a 310 for doors, wood trim work, cabinets, gutters, and furniture.  I would use a 510 in production painting like new construction were we are spraying large volumes of door and trim work cause the spray pattern is wider.

The next tip we use on a regular basis is the 515.  We spray all our exterior homes with this tip size.  I use the tip because it controls overspray in all conditions and applies the paint at a rate that we can control on all surfaces including the house body, garage doors, soffits, and vinyl siding.  To increase you spreed and production you can jump to a 517 but you may sacrifice with some overspray.  A 517 it what I prefer for interior walls.

If we have jobs spraying heavy coatings like elastomeric coatings or block filler, we would use a 619 tip.  Heavy coating require larger tip orifice sizes and larger pumps that can handle the tip.  A 619 tip would be my choice for spraying interior ceilings on a repaint of a residential home, 

New construction is not the type of painting I prefer anymore but when I was working on residential and commercial new construction interior jobs I preferred to use a 1221 tip.  The tip size gave me the ability the spray at production rates keep you competitive in that market.  For new construction commercial exteriors using block fillers or elastomeric coatings I would use a 1224 tip.  In this situation you rarely have to worry about overspray cause job sites are still in the construction faze and there would be no traffic from open businesses. 

When I have new apprentices I am training to spray, I like to have a projects that has closets that I set the apprentice up with a 310 to spray the entire closet and instruct them to always release the trigger so they learn trigger control.  Of course I would not use this tip size cause it would decrease my production by about 75%.  For more details on tips I use watch my video with Journeyman John and I explaining tips: