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Ok, so, alot of people seem interested in airbrushing. Its not a cheap portion of this hobby-a quality brush can run upwards of a few hundred bucks, ditto for an air source.

I've talked about affordable quality brushes in other posts. Today, Im going to help with the second part- the air.

Some people swear by the little air pumps that the air brush companies sell. And sure, they can puff air out and make the brush work. But, like many things, you get what you pay for. The drawbacks of the entry level units include a pulsing air flow. Whats that? Well, basically everytime it the diaphram inside pushes air theres a push, then when it goes back down- no push. Its not much of an issue at lower pressures, since the hose will absorb most of that energy. If you start getting close to the lil compressors rating though, the pressure fluctuates a bit and gives the pulsing effect. If you're attmepting some fine finish sort of effect the pulsing can screw up the results you want.

Some of these lil compressors will list two numbers. Peak Airflow/pressure. And Continuous airflow/pressure. Peak airflow isnt really important on a practical level, but the continuous air flow IS. Continuous is how much air it can pump out all the time while you're spraying. Most of the affordable AB compressors like this, get up to around 25-30 countinuous PSI.

Another aspect of these lil compressors- some are noisy. And they tend to vibrate alot- so if its sitting on your desk or table, its going to shake things a bit. For the quiter ones that vibrate less, you're again adding cost.

So- I'll stopping pissing on the little AB compressors now. They'll work, but they arent cheap and they can only do one thing - work an air brush.

Now comes the useful part- the alternative to the noisy, rattling over priced AB Compressor.

The portable air tank. Think of it like a Mime thats good for something. Its quiet, and it blows. It doesnt vibrate, no pulsing air flows. Sure, its a little bigger than the AB compressor, but you dont have to plug it in either- so you can pretty much take it and use your AB anywhere you like. These tanks arent very expensive at all:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=portable+air+tank&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-
8&cid=9696546949054867991&ei=-YDLS7z4LJOmswO1r7yYAw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB8Q8wIwAA#ps-sellers

So, it wont work by itself- you need a pressure regulator- so you can dial in the proper amount of out going pressure:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=36797&xcamp=google&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cpc&zmam=13262200&zmas=12&zmac=112&zmap=36797

Thats about as cheap as a regulator gets, but you dont need a super precision piece, so its good enough. Now, Youre also going to need some connectors & fittings.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91860

Now, you have everything you need for the tank- minus a couple wrenchs to assemble it. Which is easy. Righty tighty, lefty loosey. The stubby little hose that comes with the tank is removed. Thats where the pressure regulator gets screwed in- make sure to use the white teflon tape on the threads- otherwise it will leak. Once you get the regulator attached- you connect one of the female couplers to it(it has another hole for the outgoing air) again, use thread tape.

After that done- all you have to do is play with the various connectors to get you brush set up and connected to the tank. But- we still have one more step!


We gotta air it up and make sure it works. Now- some of you are now thinking "Wtf!? I dont have an air compressor!!" Thats ok Heres a list of where to find air compressors-
1-Your parents garage. Go hang out with mom & dad for a lil while- so they dont feel liek youre jsut using them for the compressor
2-Your redneck neighbor thats always working on his cars- pretty good chance hes got a compressor.
3-Local gas stations- that tire filling station will fill your air tank. If you look around a bit some of them even have free air. Truck stops in particualr are good for this- since their compressors have more pressure for the truck tires. It might cost a dollar in change, but 80 or 90 psi in a 5 gal tank will last you quite a while (mine will run my brush at 30 psi for 40 straight minutes).

Once you find an air source and air it up- get it to about 80 or 90 psi. Theyre rated for 125, but airing it up that much wears it out faster, and isnt really needed. One its aired up- watch the pressure gauge- and see if its losing any air- check the valves and make sure theyre all off. You can also spray some soapy stuff on all the joints- if theres any bubbling thats where the leak is. Take that joint apart- add more thread tape- reassemble- and try it again

Other benfits of this tank- if you get that full connector kit- when your freinds have a flat- your portable tank can be used to rescue them and get them down the road without having to use that ridiculous donut tire.

And last resort- it will also inflate the chicks for the bachelor party

Parts list:
Portable Air Tank-25-35$
Harbor Freight Regulator-7$
Fittings & Connectors- 20$
Total- 50-55$ (not counting tax of course)

Compare that to 8.25$ that Gw sells a can of propellant for their crap sprayer- and you're coming out ahead after the first hour of spraying.

Well you are like 6 months too late heh.
My smartjet seems to do the job, but that's all I know, and it wasn't exactly cheap. Great post though.

I don't want to derail your thread, but I also wanted to hear your thoughts on airbrushing metallics. I just bought lots of vallejo air gold and silver but I'm weary to try them.

Im having good results with the Vallejo Air metallics, and have used the regular VMC metallics for several years now.

The air metallics can actually LOOK like metal. I think LBursley might have done some on one of his tutorial vids if you want ot see for yourself.

Mistress: Great solid information in your article (again). As a suggestion you might make a few comments on how to STORE your pressurized air container. I know that in Scuba (basically the same thing) a falling tank and snapping regulator is a special kind of dangerous.

Another good airbrush thread MoM, cheers.

Andrewdrexler does raise a good point on the keeping of compressed air. Certainly on my construction sites we have to [by law] keep cylinders upright in locked cages until use and then back in the cage. MoM are there any particular precautions to take with the portable air tank in a domestic situation?

I've been putting off getting an air rig because I didn't really want to have a presurized vessel in the house and a prying toddler. Too paranoid?

You could always do your airbrushing at the senior center /grin plenty of air tanks floating around there. Great job putting up the tutorial, we could use more general hobby advice.

notprop wrote:Another good airbrush thread MoM, cheers.

Andrewdrexler does raise a good point on the keeping of compressed air. Certainly on my construction sites we have to [by law] keep cylinders upright in locked cages until use and then back in the cage. MoM are there any particular precautions to take with the portable air tank in a domestic situation?

I've been putting off getting an air rig because I didn't really want to have a presurized vessel in the house and a prying toddler. Too paranoid?

Safety concerns are always valid

But these tanks are no where near the safety issue of a SCUBA tank, or something the size of an oxy/acetylene cylinder. The pressures involved are vastly different. A little tank like mine maxes out at 125 psi. A scuba tank can go up too 4,400 psi. So, if you broke off the regulator on my kind of tank, there may be a scary whooshing noise and some pieces tumbling about- but its not going to turn into a missile and shoot through walls MythBusters style.

And Silverdaemon- the tanks at old folks homes arent air tanks- theyre oxygen tanks :p And I dont think the connectors are the right size...

Would you mind putting this in the painting and modelling tutorial forum?

That section has less traffic so this thread would stay on top longer

I really should know how to get a MOD to move something, but I seem to have forgot!

Mods, pretty please move this to tutorials?

What an awesome post. I'm definitely going to explore this further.

I'm going to toss in my two cents...

One thing to remember about air tanks is that they are metal and they will rust. Any air you put into them is going to have some moisture and that moisture will collect and settle to the bottom of your air tank. Eventually that will cause rust and it'll begin to eat through the bottom of your tank. When you get done using it, always open up the valves to release the air and leave them open so they can dry out. Most tanks have a release on the bottom of them that will let any water that has accumulated drain out as well. Take care of your tank, and it'll last for a long long time.

Another adapter you can pick up for your tank is a moisture trap which will help collect any moisture in the tank before it enters the airbrush. Water moving through the airbrush can cause splattering while your painting. For the most part, if you're tank isn't too large, you shouldn't have a problem, but if you do a lot of airbrushing over a few hours, it will begin to collect moisture and can cause some problems.

One last suggestion. The first compressor I used was a massive, 20 year old piece of junk. It was loud and vibrated so bad that it would 'walk' around on the floor and at one point pulled the airbrush right out of my hand. I eventually had to use some old sofa cushions to set it on to keep it from moving. When I started to have concerns over my hearing being effected - yes it was that loud- I came up with a different solution. I went out to my truck, pulled my spare tire, fully inflated it, and then hooked my airbrush up to it. It worked perfect as a compressed air tank. Just make sure you put it back into your vehicle before taking a drive.

jester1525 wrote:I'm going to toss in my two cents...

One thing to remember about air tanks is that they are metal and they will rust. Any air you put into them is going to have some moisture and that moisture will collect and settle to the bottom of your air tank. Eventually that will cause rust and it'll begin to eat through the bottom of your tank. When you get done using it, always open up the valves to release the air and leave them open so they can dry out. Most tanks have a release on the bottom of them that will let any water that has accumulated drain out as well. Take care of your tank, and it'll last for a long long time.

Another adapter you can pick up for your tank is a moisture trap which will help collect any moisture in the tank before it enters the airbrush. Water moving through the airbrush can cause splattering while your painting. For the most part, if you're tank isn't too large, you shouldn't have a problem, but if you do a lot of airbrushing over a few hours, it will begin to collect moisture and can cause some problems.

One last suggestion. The first compressor I used was a massive, 20 year old piece of junk. It was loud and vibrated so bad that it would 'walk' around on the floor and at one point pulled the airbrush right out of my hand. I eventually had to use some old sofa cushions to set it on to keep it from moving. When I started to have concerns over my hearing being effected - yes it was that loud- I came up with a different solution. I went out to my truck, pulled my spare tire, fully inflated it, and then hooked my airbrush up to it. It worked perfect as a compressed air tank. Just make sure you put it back into your vehicle before taking a drive.

All good points- however-

The tank doesnt compress air- which is what causes condensation. So, it is a valid point if you dont know the quality of your air source(like a filling station compressor) But these tanks all come with instructions and warning labels about how to purge any condensate that may make its way into the tank. A moisture trap for a tank isnt nearly as necesarry as it is for a compressor.

It is also common for a bit of oil to make its way into the air steam if using industrial air compressors. It could be worth your time to make sure that the compressors you are using at gas stations or in other places have an oil filter on the line.

Or maybe get a small oil/moisture filter for your airbrush line too. Much cheaper than replacing an airbrush.

vitki wrote:It is also common for a bit of oil to make its way into the air steam if using industrial air compressors. It could be worth your time to make sure that the compressors you are using at gas stations or in other places have an oil filter on the line.

Or maybe get a small oil/moisture filter for your airbrush line too. Much cheaper than replacing an airbrush.

Air brushes are designed to spray paint which can be caustic like enamel paints. Almost every brush maker now uses teflon seals for that reason. Some oil/moisture in the line wont ruin your brush- jsut the paint job when your brush 'burps' and the paint spatters rather than flows

Re: grandma's oxygen tank

I think that would be unwise. Oxygen is dangerous because it makes things burn much easier and faster. If a full tank (of this type) leaked out into a room I think you might manage to increase the oxygen level enough to be a serious fire hazard.

I just follow the same procedure we used at work with our big industrial compressor for my little one.

Drain the lines and vessel and also drain the moisture trap daily (after each use for the airbrush compressor). Empty tanks don't need anywhere near the same safety precautions of full ('charged') ones.

A 1.25l soft drink bottle can hold more pressure than the limit I use my compressor/tank at.

cosmid wrote:Re: grandma's oxygen tank

I think that would be unwise. Oxygen is dangerous because it makes things burn much easier and faster. If a full tank (of this type) leaked out into a room I think you might manage to increase the oxygen level enough to be a serious fire hazard.

I only found one mention of an oxygen tank being mentioned in the thread- and it was obviously in jest.

The sort of tank I use (IE the one in the pics) isnt explosive or even dangerous unless you drop it on your foot. Watch some mythbusters and look at all the steps they have to go through to blow up a commercial air/gas tank. Even a propane tank full of flammable gas has to have the safety valve deliberately disabled- then be cooked over open flames to explode. Compressed air just wooshes out if the tank is somehow breached.

I have an Iwata Smart Jet. It's a good little compressor. Jaime Rodriguez (google him) is a professional ab artist and he uses a Sprint Jet.

Good suggestion on the portable air tank though. Makes a cheap alternative to an air compressor, just realize that if you spend enough on a AB compressor it'll work just as well if not better than a shop compressor or tank (that and most of the quieter ab compressors are about as loud as a refrigerator hum decibel wise).

I use my 2G shop compressor for most AB duties because I'm out in the shop most the time so noise isn't an issue but if I lived in an apartment or did most of my work indoors I'd solely use my Smart Jet.

Ive actually met Jamie back when he was doing t-shirts at one of the malls in Phoenix. He's got alot of talent,

The smart jet is a nice piece of kit, but its not cheap(like at least 225$). I dont see it ever working better than a good shop compressor, but it mostly comes down to the regulator quality to maintain smooth airflow. Im glad my 200$ compressor will run real air tools and fill the tires on my car- the smart jet wont do that. Conversely, the smartjet fits in a backpack.

And for people in an apartment or with room mates- the air tank it totally quiet- just the lil hiss of the brush.