Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I recently got into airbrushing as the results you can get are amazing. It was all going well until yesterday when for some reason my airbrush started playing up. I have limited knowledge so am looking to call on you guys.

Yesterday I was airbrushing away and then started losing pressure coming out of the airbrush till there was almost no pressure at all. At this point I took the whole brush apart and cleaned it all. When I put it back together it worked ok but the pressure still seemed a little bit low (maybe my imagination) then it started to clog again but no loss of pressure. The paint in the cup was starting to bubble and then the paint came out all splattered (image attached). This was with the trigger at full pull back and it was coming out so slow.

I have no clue what I am doing wrong or how to fix it.

My brush is an iwata revolution br and I usually spray at about 25 psi with Vallejo model air paints.

Any help would be appreciated

It looks like the paint isnt thinned enough or it needs to be mixed a LOT more. If you put your finger over the tip and then try and paint, that will back flush everything back into the cup, which is what the bubbling is. If the tip gets clogged up bad, it would do the exact same thing as that.

I would have to agree with cp66701 it sounds like you may want to make sure you paints are thinned quite a bit and clean your airbrush then see how it works with nicely thinned paints. For me nicely thinned is about 1:1 and I use Windex watered down just a bit to thin my paints.

Do the vallejo model air paints need thinning too? I have used about half a bottle of the black with no problems of clogging before

Shurley wrote:Do the vallejo model air paints need thinning too? I have used about half a bottle of the black with no problems of clogging before

I couldn't say about vallejo but I have used Createx airbrush paints and I still thin them.

Since you are using Vallejo model air I don't think paint is the problem. They don't normally need to be thinned down unless you have a very old and dried bottle. It is however still recommended by Vallejo that you add a few drops of thinner but I would expect it more to be a problem with smaller nozzles.
Now the bubbling you describe seems to be very similar to the problem I got when I first start airbrushing and was easily fixed by tighten the nozzle tip. The problem is if this is not tight enough pulling the needle will have no effect and paint will simple move around by gravity. Are you sure you have everything tigthened and well assemble? Don't try to overtight though, just make sure everything is tight

I don't know what he internals of the revolution looks like, bit it sounds like a clogged nozzle/mixing chamber. I suggest taking it apart, soaking it for a few hours in airbrush cleaner, then going at it with a toothpick and a pin, to try to clean it.

I agree with Horst. Sounds like you've got paint dried in the nozzle and/or mixing chamber; can you see the needle sticking through it? If not, the nozzle is possibly blocked. Ensure you've not damaged the needle tip (VERY easy to do - you do NOT want to bend it). Is the needle action free?

I use the same airbrush, it sounds like you haven't cleaned the nozzle properly, you have to soak it for ages and then use a very fine tool to clean the gunk out.

Or sometimes removing the needle, upping the pressure to say 40psi and blasting through a cup full of cleaner can do the trick.

Vallejo model air should spray fine without thinning, but give it a good shake in the bottle before using it.

I thought I had cleaned it all out thoroughly as I thought the problem was clogging and I used them wire brushes you get with the airbrush and cleaned all the parts. I did not try it since I have done this but at the moment I have it all soaking in airbrush cleaner and will leave it in there all day before trying again. Hopefully that will solve the problem

I spray a lot of GW paints and even thinned I get this problem a lot - you are getting paint drying in the nozzle. It is actually amazing how much paint builds up inside over a session of spraying.

You can get an ultrasonic cleaning bath for around £25 online which should clear out pretty much everything inside the harder to reach sections of the airbrush - a good investment if you do a lot of spraying. Just put the components in the bath, switch it on and come back half an hour later, reassemble and give it a few sprays to make sure everything is flushed through and you are good.

SilverMK2 you just read my mind I was about to ask about ultrasonic cleaners. What do you soak the airbrush in?

Shurley wrote:SilverMK2 you just read my mind I was about to ask about ultrasonic cleaners. What do you soak the airbrush in?

You can get ultrasonic cleaning fluid, but you can just use water from what I understand. I would imagine any degreaser type cleaning fluid could be used in addition to the water, but it would be better to check by comparing the ingredients with the cleaning fluid you get with the US cleaner

But I'd imagine that you can re-use the cleaning fluid quite a few times on something reasonably clean before having to refresh/replace it.

You can think you've got everything clean but still have a gunked up nozzle, I was cleaning mine just before reading this thread for the first time actually!

I've seen lots of people using windex in ultrasonic cleaners, I wonder if car screen wash would work well?