My New Airbrush Setup

[HellfireJack]

I just purchased my first airbrush. I needed it to be as quiet as possible and also be as portable as possible so I decided to power it with CO2. It took me some digging to figure out what I actually needed so I figured I'd post everything here in case others were interested in the same. I purchased everything online except for a couple of adapters.

The airbrush is a Badger 155 Anthem. It's a double action with internal mixing bottom feed. It says it can spray everything. It cost me about 80 dollars.

The tank and regulator were both purchased from a brew store. It's a 5 lb tank and it cost about 60 US. The regulator cost about 50 US. The tank cost about 20 US to fill. I hear you can also do exchanges at some brew stores as well. I have links below to exactly what I purchased.

http://www.beveragef...ks/co2/C5.shtml

http://www.beveragef...regulator.shtml

After that I only needed to remove the brass hose fitting at the bottom of the regulator and replace it with a male to male compression fitting that I purchased for 3 bucks at my local hardware store.

That's about it. For less than 200 US I have a whisper quiet 100% portable and electricity free airbrush set up. The only thing I plan to add is a quick connect for the airbrush so I can snap it on and off easier.

Edited August 17, 2012 by HellfireJack

[TwinOaks]

Don't plan on spraying anything that can freeze. Because your releasing a pressurized gas, you'll see the results of the Joule-Thompson effect......it'll get a lot colder. Add to that you're already using CO₂, and you can expect the rig to chill or even freeze anything water based. Back when I played paintball, (ah, the good ol' days) we'd occasionally get "snow" from rapid shots. Regular airbrush compressors usually have a water trap "in-line" because the expansion of the compressed air gets cold enough to cause condensation of any water vapor in the air ...all inside the air hose.

While using CO₂ should eliminate the issues of trapped moisture, it will also be much colder. The results could be icing of any H₂O, or gelling of any alcohols.

Maybe you have all that worked out already....... Please let us know how it turns out.

[HellfireJack]

TwinOaks, There is zero difference between releasing CO2 from a tank and releasing air from an air compressor as far as the Joule-Thompson effect goes. As long as it comes out at the same pressure the temps will be the same. Naturally I could tip the tank and allow liquid CO2 to course out (the snow from a paintball marker is usually caused by liquid CO2 hitting the air by the way) but then that's not the Joule-Thompson effect cooling anything.

Paintball guns don't have a regulator. The regulator will not allow it to release quickly. This means the tank and hose will only change temps by a degree or two at most. I used to manage a paintball field in MN. I was an air-smith for numerous years.

I've ran the airbrush for more than 5 minutes straight with little cooling of either the airbrush, the hose, or the tank. We're talking unnoticeable. I even tested with straight water in the cup. There is no freezing at all.

[TwinOaks]

Well then...Excellent!! Thanks for the refresher in phys. 102.

I guess it speaks to how long ago it was when I played PB ( I still have the Tippmann Poison).

[Cyberthrasher]

Paintball guns don't have a regulator. The regulator will not allow it to release quickly. This means the tank and hose will only change temps by a degree or two at most. I used to manage a paintball field in MN. I was an air-smith for numerous years.

Uhm. it's a little off topic, but I have a wall full of paintball guns with a high pressure regulator in line up to a low pressure regulator - all fed from a regulator on the tank. That goes for both my HPA firing markers and CO2. The only markers that don't have regulators are the cheap beginner Wal Mart guns.

[HellfireJack]

Yep you are correct. I tend to think along the lines when I used to manage a field. They didn't have regulators so much as just a means to stop CO2 from dumping through the gun. The electro-numatic markers they use today do have regulators. The best you got before those came around was the Autococker which I would say was a (PITA) regulator in itself

And naturally any marker running nitrogen is going to need a regulator because you can't be shooting paint at 3000 psi. But suffice it to say any marker that can dump CO2 out it's barrel when held in the wrong position doesn't have a regulator that's functioning.

[TwinOaks]

We never dumped the CO2 by point it down or anything like that, it's just when we'd go rapid fire for most of a hopper, there'd be some snow and the barrel would get a bit frosty. That's why I was suspecting you'd have a massive cooling effect.

Of course, this is in the days when semi auto Brass Eagle Sting Rays were "top of the line".....so it's been a while.

[HellfireJack]

Haha My first marker was a Sheridan PGP. That or a P68 was my only real choice back then. A few years later the SL-68 became really popular along with some other "long ball" pump action markers. Then finally some decent semi-autos hit the market. The Autococker, and the Automag were game changers. All the other semi-autos were either garbage or took a 5 pound pull to release the trigger. Then came the days of spray and pray. LOL. Ahhh... the good ol' days.

[Cyberthrasher]

Yeah, me and my buddy started talking earlier about all the old stuff we have too. He's a pretty big Automag fan and we basically came to the same conclusion that it's a regulator itself. I'm a huge fan of Bob Long guns, so that's what most of my collection is. But, I have a cocker I've been wanting to make a pump out of as well. I've only been out to play once this year since I started getting a lot of orders. It's funny this conversation started up because I've been meaning to get my two 3000 PSI scuba tanks filled up and figure out a regulator system to be able to use them for airbrushing if I get a case of insomnia .

Although, I could use my marker tanks too when I consider that I run through about 100 PSI in 5 minutes while airbrushing. That might give me at least an hour on a 65/3K

[Stella202]

Okay guys, here is my input. I have been running airbrushes and an engraver on CO2 for 15 years now. So I type with confidence. The snow that has been mentioned will never come from an airbrush. I have run mine from 15 psi to 60 psi for usually 3 hours at a time. And this three hours is practically continuous operation. My engraver can ice up the tank and the gauges because of the power needed to engrave aluminum and steel. I solve that problem by focusing a couple of desk lamps on the gauges. I have often been able to write my name in the frost that can form on the tank. It does not affect the tool I am using at all. The only problem with the gauge freezing, is that it can freeze closed. I have also learned the hard way not to lay the tank down while you are going to use it. The flow of the liquid gas froze and busted my hoses. I do not use a water trap or filters on my hoses and I get my gauges from welding stores and the beverage factory.

You just have to understand that a gauge can not always accurately tell the amount left in the tank. You will know best by weighing it. There is a great primer - http://www.cornelius...nual/002811.pdf - (since some replies went off on a gun tangent) - http://www.odcmp.com...S%20drawing.pdf - ( and anyone who likes beer might be able to follow this discussion) - http://www.homebrewt...uestion-334663/

I run 10# and 20# tanks, I have used single action, double action, bottom feed and cup feed airbrushes from paasche, badger and iwata just in case you thought I might not know about your particular setup. I have also engraved 20 - 30 names an hour for up to 5 hours straight on co2.

I better stop now, because I am starting to sound like a know-it-all, but I really am just trying to be helpful.

Stella

[HellfireJack]

Thanks for the input Stella. I already knew not to let the tank lay on it's side while in use. Right now it's chained to the leg of my workbench I'm considering making a stand for it. So far I've only used it to practice with on scrap and I have to say I LOVE it. There's no way I'll go back to using daubers to apply dies and finishes.

At my current amount of usage I don't think I'll ever have to worry about freezing the guages.

I actually thought that if I didn't like how CO2 worked with airbrushing then I'd use it for a home kegerator system.

[weaselrunner]

I dont know if it might be a cheaper easier way for you , but what about a large air tank for tire inflation with a combo filter / dryer / regulator hooked in line. I use a conversion kit on an old 20 lb freon tank for that and as a portable air source. I f you dont have a compressor, hit the closest gas station and fill er up.

By the way anybody ever play with an old NELSPOT 007 marker gun. Thats back when paintball was first starting out. Made for marking cattle and telephone poles........

[HellfireJack]

CO2 seems to be working fine so far. I have no complaints at all. Maybe if I increase my production I'll consider going to a larger system.

I never used an nelspot 007. A friend of mine had one though. How about the NSG Splatmaster? Just as old and twice as ugly. It was a green plastic handgun looking monstrosity that was front fed via tube and cocked by pressing a plastic piston on the back of the marker. I played a few games with those things. Man they sucked.

[Dogface]

Hellfire, I like your CO2 set up...don't much like the noise of a compressor. I just ordered the WD 180 from PEC in Hong Kong. We have a good compressed gas place nearby. Got some good info from the YT vids by Chuck Bauman. Now I can do flames on my jeep...LOL...

Mark