Where can I buy suitable nozzles for my airless sprayer?

Welcome to the Airless Discounter blog! The tip is the cheapest part of your setup… and yet it’s the one that determines the quality of the finish, your product consumption and the speed of the job. A worn or incorrectly sized tip costs far more than its purchase price: touch-ups, overconsumption, extra strain on the pump.

The question “where can I buy suitable tips for my airless device?” is therefore a legitimate one — and the real answer has two parts. First, knowing which tip is compatible with your gun and suited to your product; then knowing where to order it with the certainty of receiving the correct reference. In this article, we cover both points in order.

Before buying: three pieces of information to gather

A tip order goes smoothly when you know three things. Take thirty seconds to note them down before opening the online store:

• The brand and model of your gun (not just the pump): it’s the gun that determines the tip system.
• The gun’s thread: 7/8″ (also called G) or 11/16″ (F).
• The product you will be spraying: wall paint, lacquer, primer, airless filler, bituminous product, wood stain…

With these three pieces of information, there is practically no room for error.

Step 1: identify the compatible tip system

Contrary to a common belief, a tip is not purchased “for a Graco” or “for a Wagner” in general: it is purchased for a tip system, meaning for a tip + tip guard pairing.

The main systems on the market

• Graco RAC X — the reversible standard from the American brand, found on nearly all Contractor, FTx and XTR guns. See our article on the differences between Graco RAC X tips.
• Graco RAC V — historically designed for marking and line stripers; details in our article everything about Graco RAC V airless tips.
• Wagner TradeTip 3 — Wagner’s reference professional system, described in everything about the Wagner TradeTip 3.
• Wagner HEA ProTip — the HEA low-pressure tip, which greatly reduces spray mist.
• Wagner 2SpeedTip — two orifices in a single tip body, presented in our article on Wagner 2SpeedTip 2-in-1 tips.
• Titan TR1 — a tip dedicated to road marking.
• Farbmax Silver Tip — the budget alternative compatible with common tip guards.

The good news: many systems are interchangeable as long as the thread matches. We devoted an entire article to this question: which tip systems are compatible between Wagner and Graco?

Don’t forget the tip guard

The tip guard (or tip holder) is the part screwed onto the end of the gun that holds the tip and its seal. It is a wear part in its own right: a tip guard with a worn seat causes leaks at the end of the gun, even with a brand-new tip. If you’re switching tip systems, the tip guard needs to be ordered at the same time.

Also remember the tip seals, sold in packs of five: this is the least expensive consumable and the one most often forgotten. Our article on adapters and connections for airless pumps details the thread formats found in practice.

Step 2: choose the right tip size

A “suitable” tip is one whose orifice matches the viscosity of the product and whose angle matches the surface to be treated.

Reading the three digits of a tip

Airless tips use a three-digit notation, for example 517:

• The first digit × 10 = the spray angle. A 5 corresponds to 50°, i.e. a spray width of about 25 cm to 30 cm from the surface.
• The last two digits = the orifice diameter in thousandths of an inch. A 17 corresponds to 0.017″.

The larger the orifice, the higher the flow rate — and the more capable the pump needs to be to keep up. This is the point we develop in what is the flow rate of an airless tip? Our airless tip size chart covers all the correspondences, from 0.007″ to 0.071″.

Guidelines by product type

These values are starting points, to be adjusted according to the product’s technical data sheet and the capacity of your machine. For concrete cases, see our article which tip size to choose for painting fences or furniture? as well as tip too narrow? choosing the right airless tip.

Step 3: where to buy your airless tips in practice

Three channels exist, with very different consequences for price and availability.

The online specialist: our Airless Discounter store

We have been a specialized distributor in professional spray technology for 20 years, not a general reseller. Concretely, this means that all tip systems are available in one place, along with the corresponding tip guard and seal:

• Airless tips — all Graco, Wagner, Titan and Farbmax families, in all common sizes.
• Tip guards — in 7/8″ and 11/16″, for each system.
• Tip seals — packs of five, in water-based and solvent-based versions.
• AirCoat tips — for air-assisted setups; see also our article on Wagner AirCoat tips.

The available ranges and their uses

The physical store and phone advice

Our store and workshop are located in Berlin, but ordering remotely doesn’t change the quality of the advice: our team identifies the tip system with you based on your gun’s reference. We deliver throughout Europe, including to Belgium and Luxembourg. The reasons to go through a specialist are detailed in our article why buy from Airless Discounter?

What about other channels?

Large DIY stores generally only offer consumer-range tips, rarely professional sizes and almost never tip guards or seals. As for general marketplaces, the main risk is counterfeiting: a tip with poorly sintered carbide becomes oval-shaped after just a few liters, the spray pattern distorts and you consume more product. For a part whose orifice is measured in thousandths of an inch, provenance is not a minor detail.

The most common purchasing mistakes

• Ordering a tip without checking the thread of the gun’s tip guard. This is the number one cause of returns.
• Choosing too large “to go faster.” A tip oversized relative to the pump’s flow rate causes pressure drops and an uneven finish.
• Forgetting the seal. A crushed seal causes the gun to leak and skews the diagnosis.
• Waiting for failure. A worn tip should be replaced before the spray pattern splits: beyond that, you pay for the extra thickness in product.
• Cleaning with a needle. Scratched carbide is permanently damaged; see how to clean your airless gun tips and unclogging an airless tip.

How many tips should you keep in stock?

A tip is a consumable: its lifespan is measured in liters sprayed, not in years. A minimum stock avoids stopping a job for a part worth a few dozen euros. In practice, we recommend keeping in the vehicle:

• Two tips of the size you use most (one in use, one new).
• A fine tip for finishes and a wider tip for large surfaces.
• A pack of seals and a spare tip guard.

When properly maintained — immediate rinsing, soaking in a suitable product, never using a metal point — tips last considerably longer. Our article how to take care of your airless tips summarizes the method in a few simple steps.

Our conclusion

Buying a suitable tip comes down to a simple rule: start from the gun and the product, never from the listed price. Once the tip system and size are identified, ordering becomes a formality — provided you deal with a seller who stocks all the ranges, tip guards and seals, and who can tell you whether the chosen reference is consistent with your machine’s flow rate.

This is exactly the role we play at Airless Discounter: a complete range of Graco, Wagner, Titan and Farbmax parts, genuine original parts, and a team able to identify your tip system from your gun’s reference alone. If you’re hesitating between two sizes, a phone call is usually enough to settle it.

Buy your airless tips from the Airless Discounter professionals