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Lo folks, I aquired myself an airbrush earlier this year but since I could not afford a compressor at the time I got pressurised gas instead. Now a friend moved and he gave me an air horn he for some reason had. I have very little use for an air horn (in fact I dread that someone will find it during a party or something) so I was thinking: Could I use the propellant from the airhorn for the airbrush? The coupling seems to be the same, the conetent of the air horn propellant is a mix of propane butane and isobutane.
I would not do that for a variety of reasons. Admittedly, I am not an expert, but there's no way of knowing how the butane / isobutane would affect the paints.
Either buy airbrush specific propellant, or get a proper compressor.
I've heard of people using those camping gas bottles as propellant for airbrushing, I've never tried it myself though. I think that's basically the same stuff, a propane and butane mix. Many aerosol cans use LPG as the propellant (I think the GW sprays use LPG?) which is also a mix of propane and butane.
As far as I'm aware, many of the canned airbrush propellants are simply LPG as well, though I don't have any on hand to check.
Soooo.... I imagine you could use it, I have no idea what it'd do to your paints, whether it'd react with them, or how dangerous it might be. So I'll put a little disclaimer here saying I in no way endorse or recommend using it because I myself have never tried it
Well technically it shouldn't do anything to the paints since the gas doesn't actually carry the paint, it merely creates a vaccum that suchs the paint forward.
You can also use a propane (BBQ) tank filled with air, with a regulator attached. At the end of the day, the pressure vessel doesn't matter as long as it can constantly output air at PSI exceeding what you want, and in a stable fashion (the regulator will restrict the output).
But just because you can doesn't make it a good idea. Cheap compressors are pretty cheap, and filling up pressure vessels seems to be way more effort than it's worth, plus you need a bunch of adapters, none of which are cheap.
Considering that an airbrush compressor cost 799:- at clas ohlson or 749:- at biltema (both complete with regulator and water traps) I would save up for those instead. The adapters for using the air horn propellant are not free, and it doesn't take many bottles of pressurised air to cost the same as a cheap compressor.
Talys wrote: You can also use a propane (BBQ) tank filled with air, with a regulator attached.
That's not what the OP means I don't think. He's talking about using an air horn (which is powered by compressed propane and butane) and using that as the source of compressed gas (not refilling it with air, but rather just using it as is).
Having a look at Testors propellant (which is rebranded rustoleum) the contents are isobutane (75-100%) n-butane (2.5-10%) and propane (2.5-10%). So it sounds like the airhorn is likely filled with the same gas as the Testors brand airbrush propellant.
Hey pal, this could definitely work out but the lack of being able to control the pressure coupled with it varying as the can empties means it probably wouldn't be that good for any detailed work!
Buying aircans is fine and dandy but the cost does add up, you can get a decent compressor with tank and pressure control for around $80 on ebay and the difference in results will be super clear once you use it.
I'm not talking about buying aircans, I'm talking about using materials that has happened to come into my possession. I'm also pretty sure the screw on for the cans I have are the same so no additional purchases will be required. If that's not the case then I guess i throw the air horn away, just seems like a waste. But it's better than keeping a thing like that around.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/08/01 22:12:57
