Why is my sprayer "slobbering"?

[Wild Turkey]

I've got an Apollo HVLP sprayer I'm trying to learn to use.

Last week LOML told me Wed that the metal deck chairs needed to be painted and ready for a Bunco party Thursday


They weren't in bad shape so I wiped them down and sprayed them with Rustoleum enamel thinned with acetone (couldn't find my viscosity cup, had to guess) but paint went on well and dried in time for party.

However the sprayer was slobbering paint all over the nozzle, leaving a buildup by the time I finished.  Buildup was blocking the air holes on the air cap and preventing a good spray pattern.

If anything the paint was too thin -- would that cause the problem?

Got a lot of cleaning to do now before I try it again.

And find my viscosity cup

[Rob Young]

Too thin for the needle/nozzle/aircap combo

[Snipe Hunter]

If the spray nozzle is too close to the work, you get "blowback" with a Turbine gun. It makes a mess of the air-cap. It will also blow paint back into the gun between the spray nozzle and the air cap and make a real mess of your gun. That gun should be 10" from your work. If it isn't painting well at 10" you'll need to adjust your reducer or your gun or both.

The other problem might be that you used the wrong thinner. Does it call for Acetone?

If it's like my Apollo, the fan adjustment is in the front of the gun. It's a metal ring around the spray cap. The dumbest thing I've ever seen on a spray gun. Make sure you keep that real clean. Remove it and soak it in acetone or LT and wipe the threads out real good after each use. Also clean out it's corresponding threads on the gun body. If you don't, it will lock up and you'll break off the indexing pin inside the gun, rendering it useless.