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Hey guys, I just moved into a new place a few months ago, and i finally got around to breaking out the minis. In my old house, I had a huge workbench area that I was free to go nuts in: noise was not an issue, paint spatter from the airbrush was not an issue, leaving dozens of semi-painted minis out to dry for a looooong time was not an issue. Now all of those things are issues, and today I want to rig a quiet solution to the airbrush.

I know it is possible to get a tank of compressed air and hook the airbrush hose directly up to that. I know that this will also require a pressure regulator. My questions for you are: what specifications am I looking for in these products? And where is a good place to shop for them? And what else will I need to get everything working?

PS I know the tank will have to be filled, there's a gas station down the road with free air.
Also, if it matters I'm using an Iwata HP-CS and one of these compressors

Any sort of pressure vessel can serve as a reservoir for storing the compressed air so the compressor doesn't need to run during certain times of the day (or night as the case may be). Larger the better in terms of how long you will be able to paint from it and not have to refill.

The gas station with free air may or may not be a good choice for filling up from. You will want to check to see if the pressure is regulated down (often they are to prevent people from blowing up their car tires...). If it is regulated down - you can fill a larger storage tank easily enough using your airbrush compressor, it will just take awhile.

All of that out of the way, you can get cheaper 5 gallon tanks from companies like Harbor Freight, Northern Tool or even Sears for around $25-30. Rated at 125 PSI, if topped off close to that - you should be able to paint for close to a full night without refilling. For increased capacity you can hook more than one up in series.

Home Depot sells a 10 gallon one (Husky Brand IIRC) for just a bit more as well. Again, should carry a 125 PSI rating. Harbor Freight might have a larger one as well...memory is a bit foggy though.

In any case, once you have figured out your tanks - you will also want to take a look at plumbing them. The same basic rules apply - regulator, filters and fittings. The only difference of course is that if you do plan on filling them outside your house - you will want to keep an eye on portability. Building your rig mounted onto a cart makes it nice and easy to get it out of the house and filled up then back into the house. Should be able to source most of those fittings at a local hardware store - along with wheels to make it mobile.

Another option, since you already have the compressor is to build a cabinet for it. You have to watch your heat build up - may need a powered fan with that particular model to blow air across the cylinder head. Pretty simple stuff, if you keep it simple (can get complex if you decide to get into actual acoustical insulation and decoupling layers...). Build a box, line the box with egg crate (MDF is a good material to make the box from due to the mass). Make sure the box has baffles for air intake/exhaust and to prevent the noise from getting straight out... Mount compressor in the box.

You can find a lot of info on different designs if you look into the guys who are running full sized compressors in basement shops. A pretty simple cabinet can drop your noise in half. That can take a 59 db compressor and put it down to a whisper.

Would 5 gallon really be enough for a full night of painting?

I was looking at a 20 gallon one and was worried it wouldn't be enough, based on my compressor with a gallon tank that seems to fire up after 2 seconds - I suppose it is the actual pressure inside that makes the difference.

kb_lock wrote:
Would 5 gallon really be enough for a full night of painting?

I was looking at a 20 gallon one and was worried it wouldn't be enough, based on my compressor with a gallon tank that seems to fire up after 2 seconds - I suppose it is the actual pressure inside that makes the difference.

By full night, I don't mean 8 hours. Most the people I know who use compressed air tanks say they get somewhere between 2 and 8 hours off from a single charge on the tank (100+ PSI). Their tanks range from 5-10 gallons in size. A couple of the T-Shirt shops who use CO2 get about 3 days worth of work out of 15 lb tanks - and those are spraying plastisols at 50+ PSI (can't really make a direct comparison there due to the gas/liquid issues with carbon dioxide and pressure vessels...).

Comparing it to your compressor with the one gallon tank (probably with a 50-60 PSI auto switch) you are looking at less than 1/2 cubic foot of free air. A 5 gallon tank at 125 PSI has about 5.5 cubic feet of free air (with 4.5 above 20 PSI). A 20 gallon tank would give you almost 23 cubic feet of free air (with about 19 of that being above 20 PSI). As the air is consumed through the brush - the pressure will drop along the way (since the volume remains the same). A one gallon tank at 50 PSI should last about 3-5 minutes depending on pressure and how much air you are actually using to spray with. Without working the hard math though - a gravity fed, double action brush should provide over an hour of continuous spraying with the 5 gallon at 125 PSI. Siphon feeds need a bit more air though, might only get half an hour out of them.

Also, keep in mind that when the compressor kicks in - the tank isn't empty. It just dropped below its low pressure level. To see how much you can actually spray with it, let the compressor fill up the tank and shut off. Turn the power off on the compressor, fill your airbrush and spray till it no longer sprays well (or watch a pressure gauge at the brush). Should be in the 3-5 minute range provided I am remembering my math correctly.

We also don't normally hold the trigger down the whole time we paint. Little burst, adjust, little burst, adjust. Next thing you know, it is time to clean up for the end of the night.