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I'm looking at buying one of the following compressors today.

Paasche D3000R

Master TC-20T

California AIr Tools 1650A or 1610A

I'm very very new to airbrushing. I bought a Iwata Neo brush and blue Aztek/Testors compressor a couple weeks ago.

The Aztek compressor is inconsistent with air flow which is causing a bit of splattering, so after a bit of research I came to the conclusion that I needed one that had a tank on it. The only other requirements are that I want it to be QUIET and under $300. The Aztek is quiet enough that my kids aren't woken up when I'm painting at night. I don't have any type of decibel meter so I'm not sure how "loud" it is in comparison to others.

Does anyone have some experience with one of those models? Enough to say whether they are decent quality or that you'd be willing to run it with a sleeping child in the next room? I'm not completely tied to the ones I've found so if you don't like those is there another you'd recommend?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

First of all, any one of them will solve the pulsation issues you are having now since they have a tank. That also means that they will not be working all the time but only when the tank is out of air. This means that a larger tank will provide a longer painting period without the compressor kicking in.

I have the TC-20T compressor and I can say that it is pretty quite. I don't have a kid but my fiance can sleep in the next room while I airbrush and I haven't heard a complain till now. I imagine that since all of them are of similar design they are equally quite. The California Air Tools ones have an aluminum tank so you don't have to worry so much about rust problems inside the tank. Also keep in mind that all these are oil free compressors so prolonged use makes them overheat and became a little bit louder.

I don't know if I have been of any help but all of them seem like a valid choice.

My first airbrush/compressor kit was KMS Airbrush Kit AS186 AS 186 with Compressor from amazon for £73.

The airbrushes were pretty poor and I replaced with a Harder and Steenbeck ultra. Of the problems I have had with airbrushing none of them have come from the compressor (cracked nozzle mainly, too high a pressure setting and blockages from not watering down paints enough). So I would guess that just about any tank compressor would do, I mean all it has to do is pump up a tank and control the flow of air which are presumably industry standard kinds of things to do. It's the airbrush where the technology/machining/preference really comes in as far as I can see.

But I've only been airbrushing for about 11 months.

Get the California compressor, it is the only one that has a CFM rating high enough for the airbrushes you listed. If you are going to be doing short(>10min) sessions of air brushing, them any of the others would be fine. But for any consistent airbrushing for longer of periods of time will reduce the life expectancy of your compressor. CFM's is something that rarely gets talked about around here and is even less understood.

A.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I should have specified he 1650A is what you want to be looking at. Home Depot.com has them for $186 shipped in the US right now.

Thank you everyone for your recommendations.

I ended up going with the Master TC-20T. I also picked up a Iwata Eclipse HP-CS so that I have both a top and bottom feed.

The TC-20T is pretty quiet; I can have a normal conversation with my 2 year old while it's on. It's also quieter than the Aztek compressor I had.

So far I'm happy with both of those airbrushes (HP-CS and Neo) and the compressor.