KennethM Report post Posted May 31, 2020 Was thinking about starting to airbrush my leather wallets,want to get fades. Seen Weaver Leather has a airbrush kit but I'm not sure if it's worth it? Don't know much about airbrushing and wanted to hear from the pros Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted May 31, 2020 a. you'll need a good compressor b. a gravity feed airbrush will need less free-air and lower air pressure from a compressor c. on a gravity feed a/b you want as large a cup as you can get, some a/b have interchangeable cups and you can buy bigger ones d. needle size; a 0.2mm will be good for fine work, 0.5mm will give faster coverage over a larger area. get an a/b from a maker who supplies different sizes of needle sets. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuck123wapati Report post Posted May 31, 2020 I just ordered a 2 gallon Air compressor from harbor freight fortress brand I believe. I had a small compressor built for air brush but it didn't have a tank so it wasn't very smooth at laying down paint. Gonna give it a try myself but now i'm having a blast just painting with it. I have a pasche vl it was given to me but it comes with three size needles and tips and sure seems to work well for the limited time I've been playing with it. Haven't tried any dyes through it yet however. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scootch Report post Posted June 1, 2020 I have an air brush from Hobby Lobby but haven't used it yet. Adams leather works made a spray booth out of a chest box fan and some cheap air filters. Just put the filters on the suction fan and spray your work infront of the filter. Andrews leather uses his airbrush to apply Resoline finish. Scootch Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grumpymann Report post Posted June 1, 2020 For the last few weeks I have been airbrushing dye exclusively. I'm using an airbrush set from harbor freight. I'm happy, I had to pick up a few things, a quick connector with a regulator, larger bottles that I could store the dye in and an inline secondary moisture trap. All and all another 20-30 $ US. But the set only cost me $90. For compressor, hose,1 brush and a c,leaner pot. If your going to do more than one color I'd suggest another brush but you can get them from harbor freight for $20.00 a pop. They are all syphon feed, meaning the dye is pulled from the bottle that sits under the airbrush. Dubble action, meaning you can adjust the amount of paint as you paint. I am not a pro. But I have used it a lot as of late. I don't know what Weaver's set is like but I'm sure it costs more than the one I have. Look in to it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KennethM Report post Posted June 1, 2020 6 hours ago, Grumpymann said: For the last few weeks I have been airbrushing dye exclusively. I'm using an airbrush set from harbor freight. I'm happy, I had to pick up a few things, a quick connector with a regulator, larger bottles that I could store the dye in and an inline secondary moisture trap. All and all another 20-30 $ US. But the set only cost me $90. For compressor, hose,1 brush and a c,leaner pot. If your going to do more than one color I'd suggest another brush but you can get them from harbor freight for $20.00 a pop. They are all syphon feed, meaning the dye is pulled from the bottle that sits under the airbrush. Dubble action, meaning you can adjust the amount of paint as you paint. I am not a pro. But I have used it a lot as of late. I don't know what Weaver's set is like but I'm sure it costs more than the one I have. Look in to it. Cool I'll have to check it out. I have a whole sale account,so the weaver one to me is only $50 shipped. It's gravity feed,dual action..looks tiny but think I'ma just give it a go..don't know much about all the connectors,etc so kinda want a all in 1 kit..will def be doing multiple colors so I'll have to learn that Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted June 1, 2020 1. When you get the airbrush, check any hose supplied with it. It might be just a basic hose. Replace it with a fabric braided rubber hose. It really helps with the airflow 2. when sorting out the connectors for a/b to hose and hose to compressor get a quick release set for the a/b to hose end. A q/r is handy for changing a/b quickly, or just taking off the one for cleaning and packing away 3. get a set of a/b cleaning brushes, only cost you about $3 but worth it for really cleaning the a/b Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
keplerts Report post Posted August 8, 2020 The one you are looking at from Weaver I bought a while ago. It never really worked very good from the start. Inconsistant spray pattern. Now it just spits a splattered spray all over. Not usable at all now. I would save my money and get something better. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted August 8, 2020 2 hours ago, keplerts said: The one you are looking at from Weaver I bought a while ago. It never really worked very good from the start. Inconsistant spray pattern. Now it just spits a splattered spray all over. Not usable at all now. I would save my money and get something better. a. check the needle tip. rub it down with some fine grade wet & dry paper. it may not be needle sharp, it may have a slight kink in the very tip b. clean out the nozzle cups, there maybe a speck in there. It doesn't take much to make a spray brush go wonky. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grumpymann Report post Posted August 8, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, fredk said: a. check the needle tip. rub it down with some fine grade wet & dry paper. it may not be needle sharp, it may have a slight kink in the very tip b. clean out the nozzle cups, there maybe a speck in there. It doesn't take much to make a spray brush go wonky. Really sucks that cleaning an airbrush is part of weekly shop maintenance. An end of use simple blowout vs. a full brake down and clean. And I thought it was supposed to save me a lot of time! (In truth AB save lots of time. You can do some great effects, even delve into AB art. Drying time is about 5 to 7 minutes if that much. On smaller projects it's dry before I do a simple blow out of the AB. More consistent color throughout a piece. The color I use is so much closer to the color advertised, no more darkening a project beyond recognition trying to even out the color. And I end up using less dye.) All and all I call it a win. Edited August 8, 2020 by Grumpymann Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billybopp Report post Posted August 8, 2020 Every time I use my airbrush I clean it after using a cheap ultrasonic cleaner that I have. Some airbrushes are a pain to disassemble, others not so much. Thankfully, my Paasche and Iwata are both reasonably easy. Never a problem! - Bill Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
keplerts Report post Posted August 9, 2020 20 hours ago, fredk said: a. check the needle tip. rub it down with some fine grade wet & dry paper. it may not be needle sharp, it may have a slight kink in the very tip b. clean out the nozzle cups, there maybe a speck in there. It doesn't take much to make a spray brush go wonky. Thanks, I will give the sand paper on the needle a try. The cup seems pretty clean. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted August 9, 2020 4 hours ago, keplerts said: The cup seems pretty clean. also clean the nozzle cups at the nose. You should have two; an outer and an inner one. One of my airbrushes was splattering and I got out of the inner one a speck the size of this . which was the problem. Get a a set of the fine airbrush cleaning brushes. They are worth the couple of $$ they cost Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grumpymann Report post Posted August 9, 2020 20 hours ago, billybopp said: Every time I use my airbrush I clean it after using a cheap ultrasonic cleaner that I have. Some airbrushes are a pain to disassemble, others not so much. Thankfully, my Paasche and Iwata are both reasonably easy. Never a problem! - Bill Never thought about that! My next shop buy. Thanks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
keplerts Report post Posted August 10, 2020 On 8/9/2020 at 4:36 AM, fredk said: also clean the nozzle cups at the nose. You should have two; an outer and an inner one. One of my airbrushes was splattering and I got out of the inner one a speck the size of this . which was the problem. Get a a set of the fine airbrush cleaning brushes. They are worth the couple of $$ they cost Will do, thanks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mocivnik Report post Posted January 10, 2022 (edited) Anyone would reccomend a good one for a beginner? Edited January 10, 2022 by Mocivnik Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted January 10, 2022 3 hours ago, Mocivnik said: Anyone would reccomend a good one for a beginner? What price can you afford? If I had a guide on that I could recommend something Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites