airbrush

[leatheroo]

just bought a vl paasche on ebay for $51US and $15 delivery. i consider this a bargain as they sell for $140AU here in australia. cant wait for it to arrive. i think i will buy a H paasche as well for larger areas that need spraying.

[tazzmann]

Steve,

I use Airbrush City(http://airbrushcity.com/abk1/) airbrushes for my leather work which are all dual action (and pretty cheap on e-bay). I have one airbrush that is gravity feed (the GD100) that I do all my dyes and acrylics with and one that is siphon feed (the 1104) that I use for the Super Sheen as I have a cap that fits on the Super Sheen bottle nicely.

The gravity feed has a smaller needle in it (.02) and I can get a pencil line or a line as big as 1 1/2" out of it with good coverage.

The Supersheen requires a larger needle (.05) to spray on effectively. You don't have to push as much air with a larger needle and you don't have to dilute. I do dilute my Super Sheen with a little water just to thin it out a touch as I am running a .03 needle. I had to experiment a lot to get the correct ratio. In the jars I use (1 oz), I fill the jar up to just over 90% with Super Sheen and then put in enough water to bring it up to the bottom of the neck of the jar. This ratio seems to work good for me and my set up, but you might need to play with that ratio a touch depending on your airbrush and needle size.

As far as cleaning goes, I spray a lot of different things through my airbrush (I am even playing with spraying a mixture of water and Lexol onto the leather to case it before carving. I have been getting some interesting results.) and it depends on what I am using as to what I clean my brushes with. With any Acrylics or Super Sheen, I use airbrush cleaner or acrylic paint thinner to clean.

With the automotive paints that I use on motorcycles, I either use a solvent for cleaning larger paint guns or reducer, if I don't have any of the other available. A word of caution: a lot of airbrushes have rubber o-rings and seal. Acetone, reducer and paint gun cleaning solvent will DESTROY these parts. If you intend on using these products, do what I did and replace these parts with nylon versions.

Also, once a week or so (depending on how often I use my brushes that week), I will completely disassemble the brush and thoroughly clean and lubricate it.

I hope I explained everything well enough. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Edited January 24, 2008 by tazzmann

[steveb]

taz - thanks for the insight...i use an 03 needle for the most part and i have a little pancake compressor...i dont know that the airstream is consistent enough with that little stinker to push a bigger needle..might need to upgrade that unit to make the most of the brush... i use isopropyl , warm water and pipecleaners to clean my brushes and use a drop of lily white sewing machine oil every now and then to lube, i disalsemble an clean after every use....I have a great trick that i will share at some point when i remember to take some pics in my shop of how to spray belts w/o making a mess w/an airbrush

methinks if i am going to spray finishes, i wil get a dedicated VL jsut for that, they are cheap enough

steveb

[tazzmann]

Steve,

What is the max PSI for that machine? I have a 150 PSI 20 gallon compressor from Sears with filters and a precision regulator (not the stock one). I usually run about 15 PSI for my .03 needle. I would think about 8 PSI should be enough for the .05 needle depending on the CFM.

Also, make sure that any lubricant you use does NOT contain silicone. It can mess up your spray. I use airbrush lubricant. It is cheap and I KNOW I won't have problems with it.

Eventually I will get a Paasche or an Iwata to do my dyes, but for now the cheapo ABC airbrushes work well enough.

I would love to see how you do your belts. I use frisket film to keep my stuff from getting messed up from over-spray, but always looking for other (and maybe even better) methods! :D

[skip]

Thanks for all who posted the great information, I will look into getting a good airbrush for futire work in leather.

[mliebs8]

I use an Iwata Eclipse BCS and am very happy with it, I'm using it for the final finish on my hoslters and it's always flawless. Now if I could just get my leather work flawless I'd be set.

[LarryB]

About nine years ago I got this Badger 150 with 3 heads to it, fine, medium, large. I have used it for spraying my first coat of super sheen on my projects. I have used it to spray a few projects but I would like to get one that does finer and add that to my shop. I am far from a pro at using this.. I could use a lot of lessons on how to use one but I do enjoy using it and it will give a nice coat without any brush marks.

Enjoying this thread.

[TomBanwell]

I am using an Iwata HP-C which I bought almost 30 years ago. Has the technology changed at all since then? I'd be happy to buy a newer airbrush if it would work any better. I'm pretty happy with the Iwata, and am spraying mostly dyes now. I'm just wondering what I might be missing.

[leatheroo]

hey tom, i am waiting delivery of a new airbrush iwata hp cplus, the guy at the airbrush course used this one with amazing ability. he could get really fine lines, try unscrewing the tip, you should get a finer spray this way.

[TomBanwell]

Caroline, I took the tip off years ago and just don't use it. I think I want to buy a siphon feed airbrush so I can switch out colors faster. For painting masks, which model of airbrush does anyone recommend? Thanks,