00:00A cheap glue gun in your junk drawer is already half a paint sprayer.
00:03The metal nozzle on the front is the same basic shape as the tip on a $160 Ragnar.
00:09You're not missing some magic turbine. You are missing one drilled hole, a pen tube,
00:14and a bottle cap with two holes in it. Today I'm going to show you how to turn a $7
00:18glue gun,
00:18or a dead one you were going to toss into a siphon sprayer that atomizes paint.
00:24How to clear the old glue so it does not clog on the first pull,
00:27where to drill so air and paint meat at the right angle,
00:30how thin the paint has to be, or it just spits,
00:33and the baking soda joint that keeps 30 psi from blowing the nose off.
00:38By the end of this, you will know the two hole cap that stops the bottle from vacuum locking,
00:42the stir stick drip test that tells you it will spray before you waste a cup,
00:46and why you never turn the heater on once paint is in there.
00:49I have run this on fence pickets and a beat up shelf. It is not a whole house gun.
00:54For small jobs, it is almost rude how well a junk drawer tool lays down a film.
00:59Here is why it works. Fast. Because once you see the air trick, you will build it right.
01:05Paint does not want to fly. It wants to sit in a cup.
01:08Fast air moving across the open end of a thin tube drops the pressure at that opening.
01:12Low pressure pulls liquid up the tube the same way a perfume atomizer works.
01:16That is a venturi. The air then shears the stream into tiny droplets.
01:21A store H-Vavi-LP does this with a machined air cap and a needle.
01:26Your glue gun already has a metal nozzle with a clean and round hole.
01:30That hole becomes the air jet. A ballpoint pen refill becomes the paint straw.
01:34Meet them right at the tip and you have a sprayer.
01:37I will show you the one leak that turns a fine mist into wet blobs in a minute,
01:41because that leak is the whole difference between a finish and a mess.
01:45You need almost nothing. One hot glue gun.
01:47A mini arrow at Home Depot is about $7.
01:50A dead one in a drawer is free and often better because you do not care about the heater.
01:55A ballpoint pen you can sacrifice. A small plastic bottle with a screw cap.
02:00Travel shampoo. A clean medicine bottle.
02:02Super glue. A pinch of baking soda. A drill in a small bit.
02:06And the right thinner for your paint.
02:08You also need compressed air. A pancake compressor most garages already own.
02:12A bike pump will not atomize. Canned air dies in 10 seconds.
02:16If you do not have a compressor, this is not your $3 bottle cooler.
02:20Be honest with yourself before you drill.
02:22Unplug the glue gun. You are using the body and the nozzle, not the heat.
02:26Pull the casing and keep the metal nose.
02:29Any leftover glue in the passage has to go.
02:32Warm the nozzle just enough to melt the old stick out,
02:35then a cotton swab with a drop of acetone to finish the bore.
02:38If you leave a skin of glue in there, the first paint load turns into a plug.
02:42And you will swear the hack is fake.
02:44Air goes through the nozzle.
02:46Paint comes in from the side.
02:48That orientation is everything.
02:49Fit an air nozzle or a blowgun tip to the back of the metal glue gun nose,
02:53so shop air blows straight out the tip.
02:55The glue gun trigger does not meter air.
02:58Your compressor regulator and a simple inline valve do.
03:01If air cannot pass cleanly through that bore, stop and clear it again.
03:05Drill a small hole in the side of the metal nozzle.
03:08Close to the tip, not back by the threads.
03:11That hole is where the pen tube sits, so paint meets air right at the exit.
03:15Too far back, the paint dumps into the stream early and you get spatters.
03:19Too big a hole and you cannot seal it.
03:21Pull the ink tube from the pen.
03:23Cut it clean, no crushed end.
03:25A pinched straw gives you a comma-shaped spray, and you will chase that for an hour,
03:29thinking the venturi failed.
03:30Seat the cut end in that drilled hole so the open mouth sits just shy of the nozzle exit.
03:35Not sticking out past it, not buried an inch back.
03:38When air screams out the tip, it should cross the mouth of that tube, not blow down into it.
03:42Now that leak I promised.
03:44Super glue alone stays rubbery.
03:46Super glue, plus a pinch of baking soda,
03:48flashes into a hard ceramic-like plug in seconds.
03:52Dry fit first.
03:53Then a drop of glue, a dusting of soda, another drop.
03:56Let it sit.
03:57That joint has to hold workshop air, not craft project air.
04:00If it wiggles, it will leak.
04:02And a leak here is spit.
04:03Same treatment on every tube joint.
04:05A pinhole hiss is air that is not pulling paint.
04:08Paint cup next.
04:10Take the bottle cap and drill two holes.
04:11Not one.
04:12One hole.
04:13Here's the pickup tube that goes down into the liquid.
04:16The second is a vent.
04:18Skip the vent and the bottle vacuum locks after three seconds and the spray dies.
04:23Drop the pickup to the bottom.
04:25Leave a little gap so it does not suck a skin of settled pigment.
04:28Seat the other end of that tube to the pen line that feeds the nozzle.
04:32Glue both holes the baking soda way.
04:34Hang the bottle under the gun so you are siphoning, not flooding.
04:38Thinning is where homemade sprayers go to die.
04:40You cannot spray paint straight from the can through a pen tube.
04:43Latex wants water, about 10-20% to start, stir, then the drip test.
04:47Dip a stir stick, lift it, and count.
04:50A ribbon that disappears back into the can in about 1-2 seconds is in the window.
04:54A blob that sits on the stick is too thick.
04:57Oil enamel and a lot of rust paints take mineral spirits, not water.
05:01Acetone can thin some solvent paints, but on latex it can make the mix break and go stringy.
05:06Match the thinner to the can.
05:08If the can says water, use water.
05:10If this is the kind of junk drawer fix that pays you back the same afternoon, hit subscribe.
05:15And if you want the printable cap hole spacing, the bit sizes I use,
05:19and the thinning cheat sheet by paint type, that is on the membership.
05:23Pressure and distance change the finish more than a second drill hole.
05:27Start around 25-30 psi at the regulator, not 50.
05:3150 blows a hole in the wet coat and dries the edges into sandpaper.
05:3625-30 gives you a soft fan if the paint is thin enough.
05:39Hold the nose 6-8 inches off the work.
05:42Closer and you get a wet stripe.
05:43Farther and it dusts on dry.
05:46Move your arm, not your wrist.
05:48Overlap each pass by about half.
05:49Two thin coats beat one heavy coat that sags.
05:52First blast always goes on cardboard.
05:54The first half second is richer.
05:56Do not start that on the good face.
05:58The honesty check.
06:00This will not replace a Wagner Flexio for a whole bedroom.
06:04A Flexio 2500 is about 140-160 at Home Depot.
06:09It has a real turbine and it will move a gallon of latex across walls.
06:14This glue gun sprayer is for pickets, shelves, metal brackets, a bike frame, a cabinet door,
06:20the ugly side of a mailbox, small parts, fast coverage.
06:23Almost no cleanup compared with a roller on a two-foot job.
06:27Try to do a room with it and you will hate the pen tube.
06:29Myths that waste an afternoon.
06:31More pressure is not a finer finish.
06:33More pressure is more bounce and more dry spray.
06:35If the pattern is spitting, thin the paint or clean the tube.
06:39Do not just crank the regulator.
06:41You do not leave the glue gun heater on.
06:43Heat cooks paint in the nozzle into a plastic scab you will be digging out with a paper clip.
06:48Unplug it.
06:49Tape the trigger if it still wants to click.
06:51You are using a handle and a metal jet, not a glue gun.
06:54One hole in the bottle cap is not enough.
06:57I said it because it kills more builds than the drill work.
06:59Super glue without the baking soda will creep under air.
07:02It looks stuck.
07:04At 30 PSI, it weeps.
07:06Then it lets go.
07:08Money.
07:09A handheld Wagner is roughly $160 and you still thin paint and you still clean a cup.
07:15Cheap mini glue gun is $7.
07:18Pen and bottle are free.
07:20Super glue and baking soda are a couple of bucks you already own.
07:23If you already have a compressor, you are under $10 out of pocket.
07:27Rattle cans run $6 to $9 each.
07:29Four cans on a small metal rack is $25 to $40.
07:32Plus the leftover wall paint you already paid for never gets used.
07:36Eight fence pickets and a shelf this year
07:37and the glue gun is paid for itself.
07:39The math is not close on small jobs.
07:42On a whole room, buy the Wagner.
07:45Three extra tricks.
07:46Strain the paint through old pantyhose or a cheap paper strainer into the bottle.
07:50A fleck of skin from the can is enough to plug a pen tube and you will think the venturi
07:54failed.
07:55Clean the second you stop.
07:57Drop the tube in the same thinner you used.
07:59Blow air through the nozzle until it mists clean.
08:03Dried latex in a pen tube is a new pen tube.
08:05Oil paint left overnight is a paper weight.
08:08If the spray is heavy in the middle and starved at the edges,
08:11the paint tube is sticking out too far past the air jet.
08:13Pull it back a hair so air crosses the mouth, not the side.
08:17And recut any crushed pen and square before you chase.
08:20PSI.
08:21White glue gun body.
08:22Heater off.
08:23Nozzle cleared.
08:24Air through the tip.
08:25Pen tube in a side hole just shy of the exit.
08:27Baking soda joints.
08:28Two hole cap.
08:29Paint thin to a 1 to 2 second.
08:32Drip.
08:3325 to 30 PSI 6 to 8 inches.
08:36Thin coats.
08:37That is a junk drawer sprayer that actually lays down a film.
08:40If that saves you $160 in a closet full of half-used rattle cans,
08:44share it with the neighbor still buying a new can for every mailbox.
08:48See you in the next one.
