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I have a H&S Ultra Airbrush and noticed that sometimes bubbles appear at the front, where the tip connects to the body of the airbrush.
I made a test and put the tip underwater and let some air flow and noticed, that 1/3 - 1/2 of the air actually leaks at the sides. Screwing the tip tighter does not help.
This happens with both my needle sets (0.2 and 0.4)
Is my airbrush broken? What can I do to fix it? Or is this completely normal? Only bought it half a year ago, so I don't want to get a new one just yet...
Is there a small gasket or o-ring that maybe fell off when cleaning? If you have a parts diagram with your instructions it may show if there is supposed to be something sandwiched between the parts to seal it up.
If not, try a little rubber cement in the area and crank it down. Although I have not done this on an airbrush, I have done this hack a few times on other items where a bad gasket or o-ring was not sealing properly.
So you're talking an air leak out the base of the air cap? I tried to find a diagram of your airbrush and it doesn't seem like there's a seal there in the first place.
I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that it doesn't matter if a small amount of air leaks out the side of the air cap. People usually don't notice air leaking from there unless they're too vigorous with their cleaning and leave liquid on the threads which causes bubbles to form there.
But still just give the air cap a good cleaning to make sure there's no blockage in the annulus of the air cap as that would cause more air to pump out the base of the air cap.
If there's not supposed to be a seal on the base of the air cap anyway, don't put one there, it's important the aircap seats itself at the correct height so that the nozzle protrudes the correct amount through the air cap. If you throw a seal in that's not supposed to be there that's, say, 0.2mm thick, then the air cap will end up offset outward 0.2mm and thus the nozzle will be recessed 0.2mm in to the air cap..... this will affect spray quality because where the nozzle sits affects the paint atomisation. FWIW my airbrush doesn't have a seal at the base of the air cap, but I've never bothered to check how much it leaks.
I have heard of people putting beeswax on the threads to stop leaking, no idea if that works or if it's a good idea, never done it myself.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/04/14 02:19:43
I am talking about the very end on the left. There is indeed a ring and ( I am not sure though) it looks slightly damaged. there are some scratches from cleaning etc on It and I guess that helps the air escape. Maybe the Glass cleaner I cleaned my airbrush with was a little too aggressive and I damaged those rings.
I could try getting new rings, since every part is available separately (one of the many reasons I decided for H&S ).
Will also try the beeswax tip. If I can find any beeswax ;-)
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/04/14 08:11:19
So you mean it's leaking from the base (threaded part) of that?
If not maybe just grab a snapshot and draw an arrow in paint to where it's leaking.
I don't see any separate "rings" on the air cap that you're talking about, I think it's just a machined face that seats against the face of the airbrush body, so you'd have to buy a whole new air cap if it's damaged and leaking (or try the beeswax trick maybe?).... unless I'm completely misunderstanding what you're talking about.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/04/14 13:18:47
Yeah that's the nozzle seal, it's probably a teflon seal. That shouldn't cause air to leak out of the side of the brush, it might cause bubbles in the paint cup as that seal keeps the air out of the paint, not the air inside the brush itself. The paint is in the central passage, the air is at a higher pressure in the annulus around the outside of that seal, so a damaged seal will allow air to travel up the paint passage and give bubbles in the cup.
If that seal is damaged you can replace it, but it won't change the amount of air that leaks out the side of the brush.
Automatically Appended Next Post: It's entirely possible the amount of air leaking out the side is normal.
It's possible that as you tested it by placing the tip under water, you basically flooded the air passages, so the air is going to find the quickest way out which may be through the side of the brush rather than the tip. As long as the leakage isn't excessive during actual spraying it should be fine.
When you clean and reassemble the brush you should keep the threads of the air cap dry and that'll stop bubbles coming out the side of the air cap.
I found the video I was thinking of earlier, the first 1:30 is just the dude waffling, so fast forward to 1:30 to hear the actual "fix".
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2017/04/14 14:54:52
Yeah that's the nozzle seal, it's probably a teflon seal. That shouldn't cause air to leak out of the side of the brush, it might cause bubbles in the paint cup as that seal keeps the air out of the paint, not the air inside the brush itself. The paint is in the central passage, the air is at a higher pressure in the annulus around the outside of that seal, so a damaged seal will allow air to travel up the paint passage and give bubbles in the cup.
If that seal is damaged you can replace it, but it won't change the amount of air that leaks out the side of the brush.
Automatically Appended Next Post: It's entirely possible the amount of air leaking out the side is normal.
It's possible that as you tested it by placing the tip under water, you basically flooded the air passages, so the air is going to find the quickest way out which may be through the side of the brush rather than the tip. As long as the leakage isn't excessive during actual spraying it should be fine.
When you clean and reassemble the brush you should keep the threads of the air cap dry and that'll stop bubbles coming out the side of the air cap.
I found the video I was thinking of earlier, the first 1:30 is just the dude waffling, so fast forward to 1:30 to hear the actual "fix".
Thanks for posting this video. I have just started expiermenting with an airbrush and had seen this happening with mind and was curious as to the cause and the potential effects.
"Preach the gospel always, If necessary use words." ~ St. Francis of Assisi
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