Air brushes and Paints questions

[Mac_Muz]

I have never had any type of air brush, and I have thought about buying one..... I want to use it for motorcyles and maybe car work.

So I would be interested in a decent tool for a beginer.

Also I know squat about paints.. Are what is sold for air brushes ok for this type of work? Mac

 

[abkrdude]

I bought an air brush while I was browsing at a pawn shop. Picked up the compressor and air brush for $75. It's a Badger double action, medium head. I would recommend you go to Badger's site, or some of the other Air Brush sites, and read up on the different type of Air Brushes (can't recomend one until you decide on what your main use will be for?). As far as paints, I am experimenting with the Testors model paints still. Once you get the brush, I recomend practice, practice, practice with the starts and stops, along with fades and lines. I haven't got the knack of it yet, it's art!

 

[RAD Airbrush]

I bought a bunch of VEGA2000 double action airbrushes from BearAir.com Pretty good price on beginner set. Air compressorsare another story. Sears has some pretty good deals.

 

[Nate Hansen]

I would recommend iwatas, I have two of em myself. They're spendy, but well worth it. You're gonna want to send it to coast airbrush to get it set up with solvent proof teflon needle bearings. I have a Thayer and Chandler (which is owned by Badger, so quality will be similar) and an Aztek. The Aztek is crap, I wouldn't recommend it. The T&C is a decent gun, but doesnt have the precise feel and spray of an Iwata, although Badger's customer service is the best you'll find. Use acrylic airbrush ready paints (Createx, com-art, etc) and practice on paper and t-shirts. shirts are the most forgiving because there is virtually no overspray and you can spray at high pressures because the shirt soaks up the paint. practice simple stuff and move on from there. you'll know when yer ready for the auto stuff (sadly I'm not there yet, so cant help ya there). Hope this helps

 

[Mac_Muz]

yes I have read from some sites about the brushes... it seems the water borne paints can be uses on automotive finishes, as well as model paints which I have been using from the cans. I read of one guy that has a system to drain the cans to collect the paint, and he lets it gas out in a jar..

I have a 6 horse air compressor for driving tools, and hope to step down the pressure and use that. It runs fairly quiet chuging along, and is about brand new. I have a water trap as well, and can get inline regulators.... Please go on..... Mac

 

[ezrider]

I have a Badger 175, it has quick change heads small, medium, and large. its not bad at all. i am not an artist by any means but it is great for auto motive(motorcycle) custom paint, high lighting and ghost flames and so on.i bought it as a kit from the sears catalog,i am not sure if sears still carries them but its worth a try

 

[guest01]

I just bought a Paasche Millenium brush kit for my son from Dixie Art Supply (off of Internet) for $79 w/free shipping. Then I bought a small airbrush compressor from Harbor Freight for $99. Nice setup. We will use it for custom graphics on motorcycles using House of Kolor auto paints. Check them out. Cheapest I found.

 

[Nate Hansen]

your harbor freight compressor may be a bit on the small side. is it just a motor with no tank, or does it have a tank? with just a motor you can experience pulsating, and really hot moist air (had one, albeit a paasche, and it sucked). if its just got a small tank they suck too. I have a small aztek compressor similar to those cheap hobby ones. takes about 5 minutes to fill the tank to 30 psi (which is max, it has an auto shut off at like 32) and only like 1 minute spray time, and by the end of the minute the pressure is down to only 20. maybe you haven't had any of these problems, but it's just my experience.

 

[guest01]

I bought a Campbell Hausfeld from Harbour freight for $100. It has I believe a 2 gallon tank and it builds up 100psi and it has an adjustable pressure gauge. It actually works pretty good! I fond the exact same compressor at wal-mart though for the same price. harbour Freight takes forever in shipping. I also bought my air-brushes from Dixie, haha. I got an Iwatta and a Paashe. The Paashe set was only $50 free shipping and Iwatta was $89 I believe. The exact same Paashe was $89 at local paint supplier.hehe Love the Internet!!!!

 

[guest01]

A good source for Campbell-Hausfeld is thier web site. I don't have any painting equipment (maybe someday!) but I did buy a pressure washer from there. They have a huge list of remanufactured equipment for great discounts. Most re-maned stuff you see is still more expensive than a new one on sale, but I got a $180 washer for $99, and still haven't seen it below $140 from any other source. They had similar deals on compressors and stuff.

 

[Flyer]

I have a paasche double action airbrush and it works great. You have to have the right tip for the job though. I have found that the small very fine tips clog easily even with really fine pearl. I use the same air supply as for my other paint guns, just reg the pressure down a bit.

I have used the Dupli-Color Mirage paint from a can, just sprayed it into the jar and shot it with the airbrush. Believe it or not, it worked great. The tanks were dark metalic blue and I used the Mirage blue/red (new colors) for the flames. That one turned out so good it got me a few more jobs.

 

[trans damm]

whats the matter with the aztek? i just bought the a4709 kit with the wooden case, it looks cool, i got a good deal 80 shipped. its my first brush and i thought it would be good but now iam haveing second thoughts.

 

[Big Chicken]

You need something that will not splatter, and something that can handle hostile reducers. I use all Iwata now. The badger had a big problem with splatter and line definition but it was easy to get parts. I have also gone through 2 Thayer and Chandlers (omni 3000 and omni 5000) because they could not handle the reducers.

 

[trans damm]

big chicken. i have an aztek a470 i know its not the best brush but it splatters alot. is there anything i can do to get a straighter line?

 

[Big Chicken]

I think paint viscosity is the most important thing. As far as I know aztec brushes are for delicate watercolor art on paper. Water colors are basically water, thats thin. If you are trying to push oils or urethanes through that you will have to reduce alot which affects your opacity.

 

[Nate Hansen]

actually the aztek's supposed to be good fer any paints, uros included. Personally I don't think it would, I don't care how tuff the plastic supposedly is. You should have several tips with the brush, you should try the blue (high flow), or the grey (general purpose). If your already doin that thin the paint with a compatible thinner, and if that doesnt help, up the pressure. Aztek's still suck though, I would suggest an Iwata Eclipse to start out with, they're a great gun. Hell, if ya sell the aztek you could pretty much cover the cost of the Iwata (I think they're like 80 bucks too)

 

[Jim]

I am useing a Paasche double action. I bought on ebay,Has 3 tips and bottles,it was new and never used for $25.I'm doing flames on a harley and spraying House of Kolor Base and Clear coat thru it.I was cleaning with reducer and now,laquer thinner.I haven't had any problems with it yet.It sprays and cleans up well!I'm gonna post some tips for spraying too.

 

[JAMMINJ]

I JUST BOUGHT AN IWATA ECLIPSE CS. IT WORKS NICE AND IT'S VERY VERSATILE. IT SPRAYS FROM A FINE LINE TO 2" SPRAY AND HAS A LARGER TIP THAN USUAL (0.35MM) SO IT WILL SPRAY THICKER PAINTS AND PEARLS. I BOUGHT IT AT DIXIEART.COM FOR $89. I ALSO SPRUNG FOR THE PRE-SET HANDLE FOR $20 SO IT SPRAYS MORE LIKE A PAINT GUN, LIMITING THE AMOUNT OF PAINT DEPENDING ON THE POSITION OF THE SCREW IN THE BACK OF THE HANDLE.

 

[Flamin Everything]

I have been using a paasche as well. I have been spraying clear and base coats with it.. though the airbrush doesn't quite spray wide enough for the clear. I rather use a jam gun or touch up gun for the smaller jobs. No point in wasting clear on little jobs.

 

[american dreamer]

This may be a little late ,but do not try the createx airbrush paint on anything non-absorbent. It won,t stick! not even to primer.
That is how I lost my first design on this helmet. I explained to the guy that I was not proficient enough with this badger yet to paint what I had designed . He insisted I could do it and agreed to a hand painted( 1-shot lettering
enamel) design. Being a cover up, I sanded down to the fiberglass to remove the decal and tried to cover the base in black createx.
It seemed to work so i proceeded to the 1-shot. after completing the graphic I called to tell him I was done and would be delivering as soon as I cleaned up the tape residue on the rubber.( He was going to have it clearcoated elsewhere.) As soon as my wet rag hit the black , it began coming off and didn't stop until it took all the 1-shot and everything with it. Hence began my lessons with auto paints.

What started as a $150 job for a friend is now over $250 in materials alone and 0 in my pocket.
Leave the Createx for T-shirts and possibly leather.(actually, acrylic ceramic paint works super on leather,but Thats a different forum

)
You see why I am so glad to find this site.
All of you are truly a blessing.