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Which brand name airbrush?


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Yet another "which airbrish" post

 

Some background;

 

Ive been airbrushing for most of my modeling life and have yet to find an airbrush that can last longer than a couple weeks to month. Well tips/needles to be specific.

Ive used the following with varying levels of success;

 

Aztec

Tips wear out inexplicably, usually good for one model

 

Some cheapy off Ebay

Trash

 

Another try with Aztec

More of the same 

 

Some other cheapy from Ebay

Same trash

 

Badger 150,

Tips wear out after a couple weeks of use. Used for years, but spent a metric ton on replacement parts

 

Harbor Fright brand

Had for maybe 4 years and it work great right up until it didnt. Bought a replacement and it conked out after the 3rd or 4th use

 

Transitioned to Paasche Talon. Worked about as well as the 150

 

After its failures i decided to buy a Pinkiou brand(Amaozon sheapy) Same as the others, but it had a 1-year warranty which i had to take advantage of 4 or 5 times... It still works fine, but the warranty is over and its only a matter of time before it takes a dump.

 

Oh and throw in a couple Neo's in there. Those were complete junk

 

So can anyone out there recomend an airbrush that i dont have to replace tips etc every other week. 

 

Also, i clean my airbrushes thoroughly so I'm pretty sure thats not the problem

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I always have a spare needle and nozzle because they're fragile. I've only gone through about 2 for my Iwata HP-TH and Iwata HP-CH airbrushes. Always due to my error. That is, I dropped the needle or damaged the nozzle by pushing too hard on the needle. I went through 3 needles and/or nozzles on my Badger 360, but that was my first decent airbrush and I was even more of a klutz then. It was quite a good airbrush. Not as nice as the Iwatas, but quite good.

 

Knock on wood, the current needles and nozzles in both Iwatas are about 3 years old. I routinely clean the airbrushes after each session. And do a full break-down about twice a year.

 

Ignoring the Aztec. You cite "tip wear out" for the Badger and Paasche Talon as well as the various "cheapy" airbrushes. No cause cited for the Iwata Neo. What does "tip wear out" mean to you?

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1 hour ago, dnl42 said:

I always have a spare needle and nozzle because they're fragile. I've only gone through about 2 for my Iwata HP-TH and Iwata HP-CH airbrushes. Always due to my error. That is, I dropped the needle or damaged the nozzle by pushing too hard on the needle. I went through 3 needles and/or nozzles on my Badger 360, but that was my first decent airbrush and I was even more of a klutz then. It was quite a good airbrush. Not as nice as the Iwatas, but quite good.

 

Knock on wood, the current needles and nozzles in both Iwatas are about 3 years old. I routinely clean the airbrushes after each session. And do a full break-down about twice a year.

 

Ignoring the Aztec. You cite "tip wear out" for the Badger and Paasche Talon as well as the various "cheapy" airbrushes. No cause cited for the Iwata Neo. What does "tip wear out" mean to you?

To be fair, i can only assume the tip wore out. Spatter or little to no paint would pass thru... the needles always looked fine. The neos just sucked right out of the box. 

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1 hour ago, goondman said:

To be fair, i can only assume the tip wore out. Spatter or little to no paint would pass thru... the needles always looked fine. The neos just sucked right out of the box. 

That could be a blockage, especially given the multiple instances, which suggest a problem beyond the airbrush itself.

 

Don's Airbrush Tips is an outstanding and authoritative source of information on airbrushes as well as their care and feeding. In this case, take a look at his Troubleshooting page.

 

FWIW, I always thin paint to the consistency of 1% milk. See more complete info here.

 

HTH

-- 

dnl

Edited by dnl42
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How do you mean the tip wears out? 
What do you do to the needle that means you need to replace it so often?

I have an HP-SBS that must have a good couple of hundred hours trigger time on it and its nozzle is tight and the needle is ok. Not perfect but the pattern is more than ok to use.

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2 hours ago, dnl42 said:

That could be a blockage, especially given the multiple instances, which suggest a problem beyond the airbrush itself.

 

Don's Airbrush Tips is an outstanding and authoritative source of information on airbrushes as well as their care and feeding. In this case, take a look at his Troubleshooting page.

 

FWIW, I always thin paint to the consistency of 1% milk. See more complete info here.

 

HTH

-- 

dnl

Thats what i ways figured, a blockage. But there are also occasions when there seems to be a phantom blockage. I can see daylight thru the tip, but it acts like its blocked. I thin my paint the same way and usually just spray lacquer. Then use hardware store lacquer thinner for clean up. 

 

Thanks for thinks!!!

Kurt

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In all my years of airbrushing, I have had one needle that I had to replace when I dinged it and bent the hell out of the tip. So, I too am wondering what you mean when you say you "wear out tips".

Plus, just about all the airbrushes you have tried are cheap, relative low quality airbrushes except the Iwata Neos though they are at the bottom of Iwata's airbrush lineup (I've never used any Badgers so I can't comment on those). I used an Aztec for years and while not a high quality brush it gave me relatively good service. From there I went to Paasche, Iwata and Harder & Steenbeck (H&S). I consider the Iwata and H&S brushes to be high quality brushes and they are a pleasure to use.

All that to say that I don't believe in skimping on tools. You get what you pay for. If I were you, I would consider investing in a good brand name airbrush. Then review how you use the brush in terms of preventing clogging and splatter. Needles should give you years of good service, unless bent or dinging the tip. Same goes for the nozzle (the part the tip of the needle seats into), which is also often a fragile part but with proper handling should last years.

Is there anyone local to you that works with airbrushes and could review your procedures when using an airbrush? There may be something that you are doing that is the cause of the problem. I know that's not a nice thing to hear but if you have the same problem with many different airbrushes, one must wonder if it it is a "user error".  Additionally, if you have not already, there are many YouTube videos about using and cleaning airbrushes. I would check those out.

Edited by Mstor
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goondman,

 

I am someone who has had a long history of poor experience with airbrushes, and with that in mind, I am probably not the best person to provide advice about how to address your problems.  However, if you're willing to take into consideration my experience, you may gain some insight.  As several others have already mentioned, it seems VERY clear to me that the needles in your airbrushes are not causes of the problems you are experiencing.  I, too, have had what I considered poor performance from a variety of airbrushes, but I have learned that in every case, this poor performance has been due to inadequate cleaning of my airbrushes.  In particular, what I have learned, and have recently had very good performance with a Mr. Hobby Procon Boy FWA Platinum PS270 0.2MM airbrush, is the result of VERY thin paint, combined with a very thorough cleaning after a painting session.  I have used both acrylic and lacquer paints in my latest airbrush, and I have not yet had to disassemble the airbrush for cleaning, rather, I am EXTREMELY careful in thinning any paint I use so that the airbrush internals do mot get coated with thick layers of paint, which may result in difficulty in cleaning the airbrush when I'm done painting.  Further, as you may have experienced or read, with too much thinning, paints can have a tendancy to 'spider' or make made splotches of paint.  In my experience, this means, that in addition to the need to thin the paint, perhaps even more than manufacturers or other may recommend, in order to avoid these less than ideal spots of paint, you need to be VERY careful in reducing the amount of paint that you spray, that is, apply VERY thin amounts of paint, and, perhaps contrary to what you may think, you may need to increase the pressure you use, combined with that very limited amount of paint applied.  It has been my experience that all of these details, in combination, result not only in outstanding paint application, but also mean that you avoid the need to tear down your airbrush for cleaning.  You DO need to do very thorough rinsing of your airbrush, though.  Be sure that you have plenty of Q Tips (cotton buds) to wipe out the inside of your color cup, and have plenty of appropriate thinner/cleaner available.  For lacquer paints, I use hardware store lacquer,  and run, perhaps, 6-8 color cups full of lacquer thinner though the airbrush before I feel I'm done cleaning the airbrush after a painting session, and for acrylics, such as Tamiya, Mr. Hobby Aqueous, etc., I use water and Windex (with ammonia) and/or Simple Green, and do similar 6-8 runs through the airbrush, and in all cases, when I'm done with the cleaning, I always run a few color cups full of water through the brush.  To this point, with my Mr. Hobby 0.2mm airbrush, which I have performed maybe 25-30 sessions of painting of various acrylic and lacquer since it was brand new, I have yet to take the airbrush apart for cleaning.  One other thing you can do to give yourself some confidence, is that towards the end of each cleaning session, you can remove the needle from the airbrush and gently draw the needle through a soft cleaning cloth and make sure there is no residual paint left on it.  You MUST be extremely careful, though, when reinserting the needle back into the airbrush so as not to damage the tip.

 

I'm sure that many folks do their cleaning in many different ways, and perhaps some will not consider my methods optimum, but I can tell you that I have have had good success.  And, for what it's worth, I live in Las Vegas, where the heat and lack of humidity could be considered to be an enemy of ideal model spray painting.  But, it seems to work for me.

Edited by Curt B
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  • 2 months later...

Maybe the problem is just that, you clean your airbrushes thoroughly and in the process damage the tips. It takes an eagles eye and a cats paw to smoothly insert the needle back into the body. I think the trick is being on top of your game and not let anything dry inside your airbrush and spray a lot of thinner through it after you have used it to clean the insides eliminating the need to open it up and clean it. I know many make a mess here. Just my thoughts. 

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I still dont know what he means when he says the tips and needles wear out after just one use. Or a few weeks.

I dont know any piece of metal that is so poor wearing...

 

There is no none epoxy based paint on earth that can ignore cellulose thinners.

For those using 2Pack, epoxy based etc etc paints then acetone, acid based, RPDE etc etc (If you use em you know em) cleaners.

 

I mean dont get me wrong a needle will "wear out" in time and change the pattern of spray but not after one single use, not even a $5 airbrush from China will only last 1 use. Their steel is just about as poor quality as it gets but even then it lasts longer than that.

 

Nozzles will last too but if you shove the needle down to hard it to splay the nozzle open. On that basis a new unused nozzle wont last even if its never been used, only cleaned.

 

Even the Aztec, which was always a bit toy like even 20+ years ago protects its nozzle.

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  • 1 month later...

I think it's very easy to do if you don't seat the needle properly after disassembly.  I always use the method that I show in this video so that you don't flare the tip or cause wear to the needle.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulWFoG5Inmw

 

 

Edited by Paul Budzik
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The point of the video was ... to not be continuously "stripping" the airbrush ... as lead Iwata tech Kirk Lybecker says in the beginning of this video ...

The point of the response was how to seat the needle without damaging the nozzle.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCsWug3n2U4&feature=emb_logo

 

Paul

Edited by Paul Budzik
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  • 1 year later...

One tip I can offer is to leave the needle chuck on but slightly loose. It provides a guide to insert the needle back into the body without hitting the inside of the airbrush. Also, if you are still looking for a good airbrush that won't break the bank, I highly recommend the Procon ps270 and ps274. Both wonderful airbrushes that are around $90-100. I buy most of my airbrush parts(and airbrushes as well) from Spraygunner. 

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