Air Brush Questions

[Vikefan]

I am looking at possibly purchasing an Air Brush to dye and finish my pieces.

Could anyone out there give me some pointers on what brands or what specifics I should be looking for in a spayer?

Thanks,

Vikefan

[DavidL]

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=58233&hl=

To sum it up.

Figure out if you want a HVLP sprayer (shoots more material but needs a more expensive tank) or LVLP sprayer (shoots paint slower and needs less PSI, less overspray). LVLP shoots at lower PSI and needs a 20 gallon tank at minimum, 6 gallon may do for very small pieces as the tank needs to refill more frequently. Price for LVLP and a tank is 200 for a cheap 20 gallon tank and 50 for a lvlp gun, grizzly gun was highly recommended. Spray guns can do very large pieces like entire hides.

Airbrushes can do artwork and small pieces well but takes longer than a spray gun. you can also achieve fades better because of the accuracy. Price is around 50-100 for a airbrush and 100 for a compressor. Iwata eclipse is a good gun, siphon feed or paasche talon with the fan tip. Both can spray 1 inch to 2.5 inch patterns. If you need to do a base coat on a messenger bag it will take a while. On an entire hide you might as well just get a sprayer or dye the whole thing.

You can also get an electrical sprayer that isn't as durable. According to the user in the link, it works fine.

Both will need a mask, spraying outdoors or spraying some sort of clean air unit like the type for airbrushes that you can find on amazon.

[slipangle]

I use an older Iwata brush. Good quality but some can be very expensive. I would check out the Aztek air brushes offered by Testors. Reasonable price and you can get extra tips for them, to adjust your pattern. Then you will need a small compressor and a water trap with pressure gauge attached. These can be found for little money. You need a pressure dial and regulator on the water trap, or inline, so can tweak your input pressure way down to operating pressures. I run my Iwata with as little as 10 to 14 psi sometimes.

[Colt W Knight]

If you aren't doing artwork, a cheap air brush works just fine to apply finish to smaller pieces. However, cheap air brushes are cheap, and they will break easily.

But it is good way to try an airbrush without spending much money.