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So I got this for christmas
http://cdn3.volusion.com/akeaq.xvhmh/v/vspfiles/photos/9986-2T.jpg?1407840849
The paint comes out sporadically and sometimes not at all, It uses the propellent alot and I ran out with practically no projects done.
Any tips? And dont say get a better one, not an option

Siphon air brushes do have a higher air consumption than gravity, your going to want a compressor really.

It probably down to a lack of air pressure, and the paint being a bit thick for it.

HairySticks wrote:
Siphon air brushes do have a higher air consumption than gravity, your going to want a compressor really.

I fiqued that sadly. time to look for some good ones


Automatically Appended Next Post:

HairySticks wrote:
Siphon air brushes do have a higher air consumption than gravity, your going to want a compressor really.

It probably down to a lack of air pressure, and the paint being a bit thick for it.

I was also using the premade paint for it.

Sorry its late,I couldve gone into a fair bit more detail.

Because the airpressure from a propellant can is probably lacking, and gets lower as you use it, the paint thicknes is likely an issue. If its acrylic water can thin it, theres a lot of better option than water mind you, but in a pinch a couple of drops of water can make all the difference.

My personal fav is Vallejo airbush thinners, but the forum will likely way in with a lot of suggestions for an airbrush thinner.

Compressors, AS186 is a very popular model that is made by a few manufacturers for a modest price.

Welcome to airbrushing, its a bit finicky, but once you get the hang of it its great.

Ditch the canned air...

That should sort it all. I haven't actually used one of those brushes (nothing on it for me to fix) - but I have seen a few of them. There really isn't anything on the "brush" to not work...at least without being actually broken (that is broken in half or whatever).

The issue with canned air is that the pressure will drop quite quickly once you start using it. No regulator and the can freezing up. With a regular compressor - you will have a steady supply of air. The hard bit about that is getting an adapter. If it were me - I would just snip the end and put on a standard fitting on the supply end of the hose (barbed fitting - inserted into the flex hose).

Here is a bit of an illustrated article that demonstrates the drop due to temperatures:

https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/air-hose-loss

Anyway...hook it up to a compressor, spray some water. Should go just fine at around 30 PSI. In a pinch, you can test it out using a regular garage style compressor without the moisture trap and all that. Just be sure you can dial the air supply down to around 30-40 PSI. At the max output of some garage compressors - you could probably blow that hose up like a balloon.

I think the problem was the canned air was freezing the tip, so no paint. I followed the direction and put it in a pan of hot water and I didnt have a problem with pressure dropping

Heating the can is good logic, I've never used a propellant can, but I do that if using rattle can's of paint. Always run under warm water for a little bit inbetween shakes until the can is staying warm to the touch (with paints this is...not air, cant imagine how shaking air is worth doin?) and most common paint defects are avoidable.

I've never airbrushed with canned air, but in general when it comes to canned stuff you want to have multiple cans sitting in warm water, when one starts to get a bit cold, return it to the warm water so it can heat back up and grab another can. When people spray cars and whatnot with rattle cans that's what they do, buy half a dozen cans and alternate between them.

But yeah I totally recommend buying a compressor.

I don't know what that specific airbrush is like, but in general there's nothing wrong with siphon fed airbrushes, the main downside is that you need to use enough paint to at very least fill the siphon tube which can be inconvenient for miniature painting as we typically only use very small amounts of paint to begin with. You'll often just want a few drops of paint to do something, which is fine in a gravity fed brush because the paint sits right on top of the needle, but in a siphon fed brush even if you only want a few drops of paint you have to mix up enough to partially fill the cup so that it can be sucked up the tube.

That's why miniature painters will always recommend gravity feed brushes. Scale model painters, car/bike airbrush artists and in general artists who paint larger works tend to not care as much whether it's gravity feed or siphon feed.

I tried a similar kit once, I think by badger -- propellant is a pain in the rear. Basically, you need to keep your spraying to short bursts. The propellant also is not cheap, so just a few cans will cost the price of an entry level compressor.

Frankly, I think the testors, badgers, and previously, citadel propellant airbrushes are a cruel joke to give us the worst of both worlds -- all of the disadvantages of rattle cans and airbrushed, with very little of the advantages of either.

I do think it is a propellent issue. that thing is so cold, it hurts my hand to use

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I do think it is a propellent issue. that thing is so cold, it hurts my hand to use

Yeah, I'd think you'd want to use multiple cans if you were wanting to go down the can road... but compare the price of cans to the price of a compressor and you might find it's not only practically better to just get the compressor, it may also be financially better.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I do think it is a propellent issue. that thing is so cold, it hurts my hand to use

Yeah, I'd think you'd want to use multiple cans if you were wanting to go down the can road... but compare the price of cans to the price of a compressor and you might find it's not only practically better to just get the compressor, it may also be financially better.

IIRC, they're in the neighborhood of $10-$15 (CAD). In my opinion, even the crappiest compressor is better than a can of propellant, and since you can get an airbrush + mini compressor from Amazon for less than $50 or a Masters bundle with a few airbrushes and a normal, piston style compressor with a moisture trap and regulator for less than $100 -- well, you can probably guess where I'm going with it

I believe someone linked an Master brand compressor with tank, plus hose (but no airbrushes) for less than $100, too. The photo even looked half decent.

Yeah - canned propellant cans get cold with use and they drop the relative outbound pressure with that. The condensation that forms will also make it cool faster, thus worsening the effect.

Either let it warm up again, or have a secondary can on standby if using cans.

Where I'm from, the "non gravity fed" brushes are referred to as "syphon feed" (the airflow pulls the paint out in its wake). We also have sprayguns in gravity fed and syphon options (mate's brother is an auto-detailer, they use airbrushes AND sprayguns when detailing cars - including custom paint jobs on them.