Airbrushing Leather (Buying An Airbrush)

[20benji]

I'm looking to buy an airbrush for single color sprays onto leather. The one airbrush that seems to be the best fit for my work (cuffs, belts, and other small items) is the Thayer & Chandler T89K Omni 4000 http://goo.gl/MCGpT. With this I plan on using fiebings leather dye http://goo.gl/K59Ut. If someone can confirm this as the correct choice or point me in the right direction that would be great.

Cheers,

Benji.

[JLSleather]

The Fiebing's dye is pretty good, lots of folks around here using it.

The airbrush is a quality tool. It will work for small projects,but if you think you'll be doing larger projects in the future, you might consider a siphon feed model. The gravity feed will not hold much dye, and you may find yourself filling it more than you wanted to.

Whichever way you decide to go, consider a strainer for the fiebing's dye -- you can spray without one, but it'll save you some headaches in the long run.

[20benji]

Thanks for the help.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Check Craigslist, thrift stores, etc. I found a nice Paasche complete with compressor, and a milk crate full of stuff for $60 at a flea market, and another at a thrift store in the box for 99 CENTS! . Found an Iwata w/comp for $50 at a thrift store. Get quality, and stay away from Harbor Freight.

[20benji]

Harbor Freight really is bad... thanks for the advice.

[Gump]

I purchased a touch - up paint gun, about a 4 oz. resovoir hold enough dye to do 4-6 belts at once. Cost $25 and will run fiebings with no problem. I have a Paasche high end airbrush but it is to fussy to use and hard to keep clean and the siphon jars are a nuisance. JMO Gump

[Art]

Chuck Baumann on airbrushes:

I didn't believe so I got a few of the different Veda brushes, they are very very good.

If you do large areas, a siphon model like the 134 (a 130 with a side sucker, which can be either gravity or siphon) might be a better investment. You can buy all three models and still stay under $100. When I got mine, they paid the shipping, maybe still.

http://www.pecoglobal.com/category_s/48.htm

Using Fiebing's Pro or spirit dyes, you need to cut them half and half at least with DEA, you can always add color, but you can't take it away. Fiebings is known for putting more dyestuff than will go into solution so don't be afraid to dilute.

Art

[20benji]

Thanks for the help.

Edited January 5, 2013 by 20benji

[Art]

As far as air hoses go, the airbrush uses a 1/8" coupler and the compressor is usually a 1/4" coupler. If you get an Iwata hose off of Amazon it will work. I like the thin hoses as they are lighter and don't restrict the airbrush as much. You can find all manner of hoses at Dick Blick or on Amazon. Just don't get a Badger hose as they are 1/4" -- 1/4" and you would have to get a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter to solve that problem.

Art

[Cozee]

I know this thread is old, but just in case someone is searching the site about airbrushing, I will add this. I have been airbrushing in one way, shape, or form for 40 years. I have supplemented my income with the airbrush and for a handful of years, lived off my brushes. With that i am going to step up and say that i know a little something about airbrushes. High dollar airbrushes are awesome, but if you are simply spraying color, the HF airbrushes that seem here to get a bad rap will work great. In fact, with a little experience, they can come real close in giving you the detailed work of a high end airbrush. I had always been one to promote the use of quality brushes, mainly because anything less was pure junk. I hang out on a chopper board where low cost is the theme, including tools. I decided to try the HF brushes to see if they could do what some were looking for so I started playing around. The pic below is of a t-shirt design I did earlier this year to put the HF brush through it's paces. It is done on a pellon with a Harbor Freight double action brush I got on sale for $17.99. After completing this design, and a few others, I went back to the store and bought 2 more just to have them around!!!

Edited January 6, 2013 by Cozee

[Cozee]

Found a few more designs made with the HF brush . . .

One more for the goat lovers out there . . .

[Blackie]

Beautiful work cozee! I hope HF is giving you a piece, im sold!

[Waylon1977]

Harbor Freight gets a bad wrap, but i think their tools have a place- some of them suck, but some that io have gotten have worked really well!

[Art]

If you are spraying spirit dyes, make sure you have teflon seals in your brush, NOT rubber. Ribber goes all gooey (a chemical term) when it has interaction with the alcohol. However, if the price is right, you can just replace the airbrush (although the seals would be more economical) when they deteriorate.

Art

[club49]

Thank you for your input. I just purchased a HF air brush set, it coast me $89. I am going to use it for dyeing leather only. I will be using Fiebings oil dye. Do you cut it 50/50 with Fiebings reducer? Can you use any alcohol? Thank you all for the info.

Jim

[retiredff]

Club - I use a Master G22 and I have a Veda WD-180 airbrush (AB), both were <$40 and both spray dye, acrylic finishers/resists just fine. When I spray dye or the resist (pro-clear) I cut them 50/50 or 1:1. The master brush came with 3 needles, a .2, .3 and a .5. I use the .5 to spray the dyes and resist/finish and the veda for detailed stuff with acrylic paints (Angelus and createx). I'm just beginning to learn spraying with acrylics so I'm not alot of help there. I would save my $$$ until u are sure a high dollar brush is what you need. I also invested in a California Air tools quiet compressor. I had a 5 gal tank that I AB with but that grew into a PITA going to the garage to refill it especially in the winter and It's quiet enough to use in the house. I bought the 4610A.

http://www.californiaairtools.com/ultra-quiet-oil-free-air-compressors/1-0-hp-air-compressors/

Tony

[Billsotx]

I know this is old; hope someone sees it. I tried spraying Tan Kote with a HF air brush, no luck. I believe the TK is too thick. Any suggestions for diluting finishes like, Tan Kote, Resolene, Bick 4, etc. and spring them through an air brush would be appreciated; are these finishes consider acrylics? Acrylics means water soluable, right? (I didn't see any sense in starting another air brush thread.) Thanks in advance for replies. ~Bill

[CrazedLemming]

Any suggestions for diluting finishes like, Tan Kote, Resolene, Bick 4, etc. and spring them through an air brush would be appreciated; are these finishes consider acrylics? Acrylics means water soluable, right?

Resolene is an acrylic and can be cut with water. I don't know about the others you listed.

My first tests spraying diluted resolene the other day went well except for some chunks clogging the airbrush. I'm going to try filtering the finish on my next attempt. I was using it in one of the ultra-cheap HF brushes. The $10 plastic one that comes with a bunch of jars. I wouldn't use it for coloring, but I think it'll work well for shooting acrylic finish across a whole piece once the blobs are filtered out.

[retiredff]

You probably need to thin it with water if acrylic, it should say on the bottle or ask where you bought it. Find the specs on your harbor freight airbrush, f the needle is .2 anything you spray will need thinned, .3 less thinning and a .5 for dyes probably not, but finishes like tan note and bicks will need thinned. I thin dyes 1:1 because I can control the color better.

If the airbrush is spitting, skipping or not spraying at all it could be the media is too thick. If it has been thinned then raise the psi. A top feed (gravity) requires less pressure and a bottom feed requires more pressure. Alot of airbrushing is practice and testing then remembering what works with what. Practice spraying dyes on scrap (maybe light brown), when dry spray black along the edges for a sunburst. With very little practice that is quite easy.

Tony

[retiredff]

CrazedLemming - I put my finishes, paints (Angelus) and dyes (Fiebings) in a bottle that have been thinned. I use my wifes old hose stockings to filter it into a dropper bottle, coffee filters in a small funnel may work also.

[CrazedLemming]

I use my wifes old hose stockings to filter it into a dropper bottle

Yup. That was the direction I was headed - though I'm single so I had to buy some stockings myself...

1. I stumbled across these storage bottles at HF ( http://www.harborfreight.com/pack-of-3-8-oz-storage-bottles-with-twist-caps.html )

2. Grabbed some cheap pantyhose at a dollar store

3. Mixed resolene and distilled h2o in a bottle

4. Added the fabric while screwing on the cap like this guy does with regular paint bottles

5. Filled the airbrush from the filtered bottle

I ran about an ounce through the brush without any clogs.

[retiredff]

I saw the same video awhile back. I have no idea what people did w/o youtube or web sites like leatherworker.net.

[Billsotx]

Many thanks for the tips.

[club49]

I purchased the HF brush, it came as a kit. I was using resolene cut 50%- 50% with H2O. I didn't have any problem spraying it. I didn't clean it the right way, when I tried to use it again, it was clogged. I put the tips in windex and soaked them, then it was fine. I read another post that said you are better off putting the finishes on by hand. I only spray the dyes, it is to much of a hasel cleaning it after using any of the finishes.

Jim

[retiredff]

well, using an airbrush (AB) requires cleaning after using. Since my first post I have upgraded my AB. I dumped the VEDA, it wouldn't spray anything without spitting, and I tore it apart and thoroughly cleaned it, still no luck. So after watching ebay and reading alot of posts on AB forums I bought an Iwata eclipse side feed and a badger Spirit, also a side feed. What a huge difference especially when doing fine detail! I still use the Master AB but mainly for finishes, it does fine for that with a .5 needle. The Badger is a .3 and the Iwata is .3 also. Both spray dyes and thinned acrylics great. I did have an issue with Angelus silver metallic and switched to a createx pearl acrylic, when I have time to test it I'll post info here.The pearl's are suppose to be ground finer, hopefully they will work. The main thing I have learned from using an AB is it takes practice, practice and more practice. When spraying dyes vs a dauber, I can control the lighter color darkness much better than with a dauber, and painting flower leaves etc takes practice but can be done. I have found that when spraying dyes, to clean the leather with alcohol before spraying also helps the dye (fiebings alcohol based) absorb more evenly.

Edited February 5, 2016 by retiredff