Mother of all Airbrush threads

[ProfessorM]

All the time. Most of being a machinist is winging it and painting yourself into corners. You basically become a good machinist if you can get out of those predicaments. I screwup everyday, I just know lots of different ways to get out of them. Problem is when you think like I have to every day for 30 years it is hard to do things half assed. I sometimes envy people that can just say %$%$%$%$ it and do it just good enough.

[Bernzy]

I have 4 Iwata's, a Paashe VL, a Richpen Spectra and 2 Peaks.
For me, the Iwata's and the Peaks are interchangeable. Both fine brushes with the Peaks being more affordable.

They are all good brushes, but the best of the bunch might be the Richpen. It has some weight to it and feels good in my hand. It also has a pre-set feature that allows you to set your spray pattern as fine or as heavy as you like.
It also has a removable thumb screw on top for cleaning. I really like that.

For cleaning I use 25% Windex, 25% Simple Green and 50% water.
I mix 1 gallon at a time. I always flush with plain water after cleaning.

For paints, I use them all. I custom mix most of my paints. As Numbskull said "Get a color wheel".

For thinning of thicker paints like Delta Ceramcoat or Golden I use approx. 50% water and 50% liquitex airbrush Medium to get your paints to a milk like consistancy

Hug your airbrush today!!!!!

Bernzy

[Diggin Jiggin]

I'm pretty boring when it comes to painting. Most of the colors I spray are straight out of the bottle createx.

I do mix 3 colors. White pearl with a few drops of opaque red makes a nice pink pearl, I like to shoot this down the side of a pearl white plugs.

A couple drops of red in opaque yellow gives you a nice school bus color that I really like on topwater and danny's.

A few drops of black in some yellow gives you an olive.

I have one brush, an iwata eclipse bcs. For cleaner I just pour about an inch of windex in a empty gallon water jug and fill up with water. I break the brush down and try and clean it pretty well each time I use it. I try to organize a few groups of plugs so that they are primed at the same time so I can just get the paint stuff out once and then paint em all in one marathon session.

When painting I keep one of the bottles with a blast cap full of the cleaner. I set an upside down trashcan lid on a 5 gallon bucket where I paint. It catches the overspray and its where I spray water when I clean the brush by spraying the water between colors. In between colors I spray the water, then remove the water bottle from the gun, put my finger over the tip and shoot, and that backflushes the color out of the port and into the lid. Then i do the water again. Do this 2 or 3 times, takes like 20 seconds, then start with the next color.

I haven't been thinning the paints. My yellow and pearls are sometimes thick and don't shoot well. Old paint also tends to get thicker. When I spray thicker paint like those I back the nut off that holds the needle and I slide the needle back from the cone a tiny bit and tighten it back up. This makes a wider opening so the thicker paint shoots ok at a lighter pressure.

When the gun gets gunked up in the middle of a session, I just put the water bottle on and crank the pressure up to like 40-50 lbs, and spray the water till it comes clean, then backflush it a few times, it usually only takes a few seconds. if the tip gets gunked up, I have a coffee can of water next to me and I just submerge the tip and blow bubbles. That seems to help too.

I have a regulator right at the end of the hose where I work, when I change colors I turn the pressure down and just turn it up until it sprays that color ok. Seems like different colors sometimes need more or less pressure and I make less of a mess when I use low pressure so I start low each time...

[Rockfish9]

I hate painting... one of these days, I'm gonna stop painting and just seal 'em!


I have 3 Brushes... The "starter" brush I bought when I decided to give up rattle cans, is a Badger 350...I like to lay a white base over my primer ( Binz shelac based) to start the process...I still use this for that.

I have a badger Anthem 175... It's a good gun, a little heavy but it will do fine detail, it's biggest draw back is the external needle point.. the damn thing always finds a way to find a hunk of clothing or your hide, thus bending the needle...if paint begins to dry on the tip, it's a simple matter to "pinch " the paint ball off with your finger nail...

My third brush is a Badger 150, it's OK but extremly fussy about paint mix.. the other thing I dis like about it is the "O" ring that seals the tip... too easy to loose....

I run an Ingersol Rand pancake compressor, I have built a sound reducing box around it and hooked a computer fan into the pressure switch, when the compressor turns on, so does the fan, fresh air is provided by a pair of screen/filters in front to the box, it is hard piped through the shop, there is a water trap ( never an issue in the winter) mounted on the wall... at the painting station, there are two regulated ports, run through true pressure regulators ( no drop across the control ports).. atached to each of these is a disposable . micron filter... over kill but I get them from work

For paint I use mostly Delta Ceramacoat, I've marked all my paint jars with tape, I use a 50/50 mix of paint and water, I've never had a real issue witht the plain water... I think I have every color Delta makes( always looking for the perfect color).. but pobably use maybe 6 different ones...with pearl white and black the most popular.

I keep a bucket of warm soapy( lemon Joy) water near the bench
this is for rinsing the paint cups and jars, final cleaning is with the lemon joy and fresh water......

[patswin]

I would like to thank Tagger for recomending the Peak air brush to me, I spoke to you at M&D's one Sat morning in the fall and you recomended the Peak air brush. It is a cool little brush now I need to stop painting my bench and finish some plugs so I can paint them.
Thanks again.

[Mugz]

Wow.......great thread.

[WoodyCT]

TTT