Air Brush Help

[Chief31794]

I guess I'm too old school. I've been admiring the dye jobs achieved by air brushing so I bought an air compressor and air brush and read the directions well. Here's my problem, the air brush works well but the coverage is very small like it's for writing or fine detailing, I'm looking for something that can dye an entire guitar strap or gun belt with maybe a 1" spray pattern that I can overlap like spraying paint on a car. Should I be looking more at a "Spray Gun" as opposed to an "Air Brush" and keep the airbrush for fading on edges etc and use the spray gun to dye the leather? I have found one, very reasonable, that is called a "Detail Spray Gun", it has a 4 oz capacity and is more designed for doing detail work on larger projects. Cost isn't an issue, I'm just not sure what I need to buy for spray dying.

Chief

[paprhangr]

I'm no expert. Got air brush last year. Happy with the way it works, You might try a different size tip, my paasche VL siphone fed came with 3tips, I use the bigger one gives a more broader spray when I back off some. It came with 2oz bottles, hobby lobby has 4 oz. the air brush does a good job of spray dyes and resolene, and fading is easy. I clean up with denatured alcohol after every use. No problems.

[JLSleather]

Yeah, we've used the VL for years. They just re-designed it recently, so it's a bit different than mine, but likely not much. For what it's worth, I use the #1 tip MOST of the time, with pressuer between 20 - 25 lbs of air.

They come with a 1/4 oz cup. Just to give an idea, I think she used about 1 ounce of dye to do the brown background and lettering on this binder, all with the #1 tip (it would have been a bit faster to use the #3 or #5 tip, but then you'd have to clean more than one tip and needle, so not really faster). I have several of these, so I just leave the #1 tip in that one, #3 in that one .. etc. I have several not because I'm saying it's THE best one, but just so when I pick up the next one, it works the same way as the last one ...

Still, a #1 tip is certainly large enough to do straps / belts in not much time. Seriously -- 4 ounces is a LOT of dye for a strap. You didn't say which gun you bought. Some really ARE for extremely fine detail (only). The Paasche AB got very renouned for it's use in medical drawings (someone used it - maybe the 80's - to make a painting of the human eye, complete with blood vessels, etc. === That was AMAZING artwork).

Oh, forgot .. this binder is about 13" x 13", and the back is colored solid brown same as the front color.

Edited February 22, 2014 by JLSleather

[Chief31794]

Yeah, we've used the VL for years. They just re-designed it recently, so it's a bit different than mine, but likely not much. For what it's worth, I use the #1 tip MOST of the time, with pressuer between 20 - 25 lbs of air.

They come with a 1/4 oz cup. Just to give an idea, I think she used about 1 ounce of dye to do the brown background and lettering on this binder, all with the #1 tip (it would have been a bit faster to use the #3 or #5 tip, but then you'd have to clean more than one tip and needle, so not really faster). I have several of these, so I just leave the #1 tip in that one, #3 in that one .. etc. I have several not because I'm saying it's THE best one, but just so when I pick up the next one, it works the same way as the last one ...

Still, a #1 tip is certainly large enough to do straps / belts in not much time. Seriously -- 4 ounces is a LOT of dye for a strap. You didn't say which gun you bought. Some really ARE for extremely fine detail (only). The Paasche AB got very renouned for it's use in medical drawings (someone used it - maybe the 80's - to make a painting of the human eye, complete with blood vessels, etc. === That was AMAZING artwork).

Oh, forgot .. this binder is about 13" x 13", and the back is colored solid brown same as the front color.

Thanks to both of you, I'll take a look at it.

JLSleather, very nice looking work, I'm looking for just overall dying but it looks like this brush would do it really nicely.

Chief

[JLSleather]

As far as spray patterns, I think you could get about 3/4" wide out of the small tip (not including overspray), and I think twice that wide from the larger tip.

Check Ebay, sometimes you can find them brand new for LESS than in the "box" stores. Not sure why, but there they are. I know you said cost not an issue, but if you're like me you don't spend $75 for what you can just as easily get for $50!

You can get less expensive models, but I like that parts for these are everywhere. I can go to the hobby store right down the hill and replace a needle if I need to.

[Chief31794]

As far as spray patterns, I think you could get about 3/4" wide out of the small tip (not including overspray), and I think twice that wide from the larger tip.

Check Ebay, sometimes you can find them brand new for LESS than in the "box" stores. Not sure why, but there they are. I know you said cost not an issue, but if you're like me you don't spend $75 for what you can just as easily get for $50!

You can get less expensive models, but I like that parts for these are everywhere. I can go to the hobby store right down the hill and replace a needle if I need to.

Thanks, I bid on a VL on Ebay earlier this afternoon. We'll see.

Chief

[Chief31794]

I got the Paasche VL in this afternoon, hooked it up, tested it on some leather and it is exactly what I needed, thanks for all the great advice.

Chief

[BigJake]

Chief,

You can get a wider pattern with the Paasche airbrush with more air pressure. I use a #3 tip and 40 PSI when spraying oil dye of 50/50 acrylic top coat. This setup works well for dye but is lacking using Resolene or some of the other acrylic top coats. The issues I've experienced have become apparent on the second coat of acrylic top coat and any additional topcoats. The design of the Paasche does a poor job of atomizing. I use the #3 tip on the Paasche and those with a smaller tip may have a different experience. It's definitly workable but I recently purchased an Iwata airbrush and the atomization of the sprayed product is night and day different. Superior in every way because the design is totatly different than the Passche. The Iwata airbrush is a professional tool, no question and the only issue is the cost. You decide, but if I'm lying you can send some of your homeboys to pistol whip me.