Airbrush for fancy pieces

[Band Saw Box]

I'm not sure if I've asked this qestion before or not but here goes. When I'm doing small pieces with beads and coves it hard to do the wipe on WTF. I want to try airbrushing and I need some advice on an inexpensive one. Maybe one that might use the canned air at least to start. I do have a porter cable pancake compressor but I'm not sure if that would work. I dont want to put out lot of money and find out my idea does not work as I'm hoping it will. Thanks for the help.

 

[mredburn]

Your Port a Cable compressor will work fine. Air brushes take very little pressure or volume.
I understand HF has an airbrush set but maybe a used set off Craigslist locally?

 

[plantman]

Dan; If your not going to do T-shirts or vans, you might also look into Harbor Freight's Quick Change Airbrush Kit # 93506 $10.99. You get 5 cups, suction hose, 6' air hose, 1/4" adapter, and it has a smaller 0.0275" nozzle. Pattern is adjustable, and you can change materials or colors by just changing the cup. No need to flush the gun between changes. Runs at 15-50 PSI. At a cost of $7.50- 15.00, with 25% off coupon, I would buy a new kit. Airbrushes can be a pain if not properly mantained or have had heavy use. Jim S

 

[KenV]

Dan --

Congratulations on moving your turning ahead from "wipe on" or "friction applied" finishes.

Your world just grew a different dimension.

I suggest you not use the air brush much on the lathe. Overspray gets on every thing.

I started with cardboard boxes as spray booths. Good lighting help greatly.

It is fun to try things with color and different finishes.

 

[Tony Pridmore]

I'll second plantman's suggestion regarding the Harbor Freight quick change airbrush. It does a decent job as long as you don't need to paint thin lines. Here's a link to it....

Quick-Change Airbrush Kit

If you try this kit and don't like the air hose that comes with it, then I highly recommend replacing it with this hose.

10 ft. Braided Nylon Airbrush Hose

KenV is absolutely right in that overspray gets everywhere. When I turn flowers at club outings and spray on the lathe, I use cardboard to block as much as possible, but it still makes a mess. Fortunately the fun makes up for the extra cleanup work.

 

[mikespenturningz]

A well done friction polish will stand up to other finishes for beauty and elegance.They are also quite durable. I would not say that other finishes are necessarily a step up at all.

 

[Band Saw Box]

Thanks so much for all the replies. I think I'll go to Harbor Freight and check out what they have. I'll also need to get an adaptor to hook up the hose to my compressor. I also have an idea to handle the over spray.

 

[duncsuss]

I believe it's worth adding a regulator/filter in the line. This one is very similar to the one I got. Keeps the pressure into the airbrush constant and is much easier to fine-tune than the control on my compressor.

 

[frank123]

For experimenting, the HF ones are just fine (actually their higher end ones are pretty good air brushes), They have some very cheap ones that go on sale for only a few bucks once in a while, certainly not the best but they work (they're cheap enough that I sometimes buy them on sale to use to apply firearms finishes that need special solvents to clean out since it is cheaper to just throw them away after use than pay the price of the solvent -that ends up thrown away- to clean them).

As long as you have a decent pressure regulator on your compressor it will work fine, it doesn't take much air volume or pressure for an airbrush (You could also charge up a portable air tank if you have one and use that. It would be sort of like a very large can of compressed air and much quieter and convenient to use indoors than a compressor.)

An in line drier of some type is a must for most paints and finishes if you live in a moderately or higher humidity area, otherwise you end up with little tiny drops of water spraying out and ruining your work. A charged up air tank, left to set for a while so the water condenses and goes to the bottom, seems to alleviate that problem (at least in my experience, but it isn't very humid where I live).

 

[stonepecker]

An inline Regulator/Filter will help you to keep the pressure where you want it. It will also help to remove any water in the line from getting in whatever you are spraying.
When detailing models I use the "tank" method for silent work. When in the shop....I use the little compressor.

The box is a great idea. I also have a furnace filter in the back of mine with a box fan to draw any spray/fumes away from my face. Your dust collector will do the same thing. My 'paint booth' is an old wooden frame from a cabinet oven. I had a sheet metal man build me a 'cone' for the back, that the filter fits into. I vent right out a window or door when the weather is nice.

Be sure to show us your work.