I take it that Tim is speaking from bitter experience ... (think we've all been there).
On Alan's dowel spraying it's also worth pointing out (as you probably know) that it's worth being extra careful when spraying cylindrical objects. If you're not careful you could get a build up of paint at the point of its circumference closest to you which will then decrease as the spray hits the points of the 180 degree arc. The temptation is then to spray vertically again as you progress round the 360 degrees of the cylinder which will end up with more overlapping of paint (making things worse). I'm sure some of you experts out there have some tips for this. Had similar experience with radiator, which has undulating faces (imagine spraying it horizontally and you'll see what I mean) - trying to fill in the bits that are missed ends up with the bits that are already painted running (that's why I did the back first so that the mistakes are hidden

). As a non regular sprayer I have to deliberably put myself in the mindset of (1) keeping the spray nozzle parallel with the surface being sprayed (2) remembering that it's not a paint brush so that you can't spread the paint around once its on the surface and you can't lay off the finish with a final flick of the sprayer.
Let us know how you get on Alan.