airless spray gun lube question

[friendly_jacek]

I picked up an inexpensive airless (electric) spray gun at HF. I haven't used it, but read instructions for pre-use, use, and post-use cleaning. A bit confusing and I think this is why a lot of people fail with those and give one star review. Lots of 5 stars too.
Anyhow, they mention application of lube, while not giving one or describing what kind. would light motor oil like 0W20 suffice here?
Thanks!

linky to the product:
https://www.harborfreight.com/5-GPH-Electric-Paint-Spray-Gun-60446.html

 

[928]

Clean the heck out of it until the water is fit to drink, then very light oil or diesel . Hope you dont have high expectations, this type of gun is usually good for low viscosity materials. Good for painting something small, don't expect to do large areas such as the side of the house.

 

[friendly_jacek]

i bought it for doors and cabinet doors painting and for it's price I don't have high expectations. i'm good with spraying, but not so much with brushes/rollers.

 

[friendly_jacek]

never mind, i found my answer. turns out you can search HF reviews. i searched for lube and one of them had the answer:

Quote
This is a really cheap paint gun, but does not come with the best instructions. There are a few things you need to know to get the best results this sprayer can provide. I used this gun for spraying latex primer and latex paint on cabinet doors. The only major problem I found was it dripped from the paint container if you held it at even a modest angle when the paint container was full. Screwing the container on over-tight helped and holding a rag there as a back up worked too... 1. Lubricate the snot out of the sprayer. I used the throat seal liquid for an airless sprayer and it worked great.2. Make sure your material is properly thinned. I used water and Flood paint conditioner to thin Kilz II primer and it sprayed fine. I painted with Bher ALKYD satin paint and did not thin and the well lubed sprayer worked fine as long as you followed #3. The viscosity funnel they give will have you thin things to nearly water, but it will spray thicker material OK.3. Make sure your paint container is always full. When the paint level gets low it splatters a lot. Easily resolved by keeping the container full.


turns out that lube is available in HD: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Graco-8-oz-Throat-Seal-Liquid-206994/100197115

 

[demarpaint]

Throat seal to lube the packings. If you are painting with latex, clean it with soap and water, then water mixed with simple green, then a fresh water flush. Let it pump out as much water as you can, then flush it with mineral spirits and store it with mineral spirits. Do not use the blue stuff they sell that you mix with water to store the machine. Straight mineral spirits works best! If you spray oil clean it and store it with mineral spirits.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Update: U used the sprayer this weekend for trial run and it worked great and put down a great quality (very smooth) of cabinet paint film, even though i didn't thin the paint (it clearly says do not thin in instructions). Being a BITOG member, i'm meticulous about lubing and cleaning and this is the key to success with this tool. Too bad the manual is badly written and doesn't specify type of oil and hence most people skip it or put wrong type of oil. I used the TSL and that seems to be working.