My Anthem 155 airbrush seems to be working fine however I can’t get really small lines.
The Patriot 105 however is behaving strangley.
I have completely disassembled the patriot 105 and rebuilt it 3 different times.
When I turn the air compressor on air will continualy come out of the Patriot 1.5 nozzle and will not stop.
I am using windex as a medium to spray with and it seems to spray just fine. Its just the flow of air that doesn’t stop. Sometimes when I press down and pull back on the trigger and release, the air flow will stop. However that seems like a waste of paint, to do that every time I want to stop painting.
I have watched most of the Patriot 1.5 videos on ebay and I can’t find anything to help me with this.
It sounds like you have a sticking O-ring in the air valve assembly. This can happen because of paint leaking back into the air valve, which is rare, or cleaning solvent finding its way back into the air valve.
If you soak the body of the airbrush in a solvent when cleaning, never immerse the air valve. This may cause the O-ring to swell, causing sticking. If you have access to some Badger regdab lubricant, remove the air valve from the airbrush body and apply a little to the O-ring. Alternatively, a little silicone lubricant will also do the job.
EDIT: Don’t use a mineral oil based lubricant (eg. 3-in-1 oil) as this will cause the O-ring to swell and/or degrade.
Second trying the lube on the air valve. I had an incident with my new airbrush when some IPA leaked into the air valve area causing it to stick really badly. Panic rather quickly set in thinking I had totally ruined my brush [:'(]. A drop of paasche lube onto the air valve was enough to solve the issue.
The guys have given you good advice. If the O-ring has swollen from solvent, let it air out a couple days and it may shrink back.
Concerning Chuck’s Iwata: The Iwatas have an O-ring in the body that the trigger pin passes through. They need a tiny bit of lube once in a while or they will stick. Remove the trigger and use a toothpick to put some Regdab or Superlube in there. You shouldn’t have to do this too often.
There is some bum dope on YouTube. I once saw a guy use vice grip pliers to pull a stuck needle out of an airbrush. In one, a woman pulled an airbrush completely apart to soak it after every use.
I wouldn’t soak an airbrush in Windex. If it contains ammonia, it will eventually damage the chrome. Rather than soak, you would be better off just to take the time to clean the dirty parts. It really doesn’t take that long to do a proper job.
Use a small allen wrench to disassemble the air valve. Don’t lose the little spring. Clean the inside of the valve body with a pipe cleaner and solvent or airbrush cleaning solution. Let the pin sit out in the air for a day or two, then try it and see if it works better. If it doesn’t, you probably will have to replace that little O-ring.
I think I figured it out. You’ve lost a very small spring that hides within the hose valve assembly. Without the spring, the valve doesn’t close. I just figured this out after mine was doing the same thing. I disassembled it, dropped a small bit, and found the spring in the process.