A while back I purchased an Abest airbrush from Amazon. This was the first double action action airbrush that I’ve ever had. When I got it, I mixed up some black paint and tried it out on white card stock. This was with the 0.2 mm needle. I got nice fine lines as well as wider lines and the airbrush looked good. I put it away and some time later I tried to use it to paint some fine details on a Harrier kit that I was building. I used white craft paint, but I messed up and used straight rubbing alcohol for thinner. The paint kept drying too fast and clogging the airbrush. Finally, I gave up and cleaned it and put it away. Today, I took it out and was going to spray some primer but when I pulled back the trigger, all I got was bubbles in the cup. I tried cleaning but nothing changed. I finally decided to try running only thinner thru it and got the same result. Then I put in a 0.3 mm needle and tried again but got the same result. Then I installed a 0.5 mm needle and this time, there were no bubbles and I got spray out of the tip. I looked at about a dozen videos on fixing bubbling problems but none of the suggestions helped. The only difference that I saw between the three needle sizes was that the 0.5 mm needle was noticeably harder to insert than the 0.2 and 0.3 needles were. Can anyone offer some suggestions that I can try to get this fixed? Thanks in advance
You mentioned that you tried cleaning your airbrush, but if I may ask, did this include the areas in the tip, ie the nozzle cap and needle cap? Since you are now experiencing the problem even with thinner, something is not allowing the air to get through the brush it seems. Another possibility is that these caps have not been reinstalled properly.
Also, while I don’t have one, the airbrushes I’ve seen online with multiple size needles also had matching nozzles to be used with each. That may explain the tightness you are experiencing, or there is still cogs to be cleaned out.
Good luck!
It may be hard to offer advice unless we know how your airbrush is designed – there are many different styles. Can you post a photo, or a link to the purchase page?
I agree with @gfran that it sounds like there is some dried paint clogging the nozzle. This can be really hard to remove from such a tiny part. They make small reamer/scraper tools just for this problem, or you can try soaking the nozzle in a strong cleaner/solvent.
And also, as mentioned, different needle sizes require different nozzle sizes, and using the wrong size could damage the nozzle. But again it depends on the design of your airbrush.
Your airbrush is plugged up. Buy the cleaning brushes and wire brushes. They can be purchased here; Amazon.com: ABEST 3 Set Airbrush Spray Cleaning Repair Tool Kit Stainless steel Needle Brush Set : Arts, Crafts & Sewing
Take your airbrush down completely with the exception of the air valve. Soak parts in either airbrush cleaner or alcohol. Clean thoroughly. If you have one of those “sonic” tanks use that as part of the cleaning process.
When done, use a very little bit of machine oil and VERY lightly oil the parts that screw together. Use bees wax on the needle. Very little is needed…
Stick with proper acrylics not craft paint.
Use only Vallejo, AK, Mig Ammo or Tamiya paints.
Craft paint is way too thick and are not designed to use in an airbrush.
There are other acrylic paints out there than just those. Createx and Mission Models are just two examples.
Craft paint can be used through an airbrush. You just have to make sure that you strain it and thin it correctly. Of course, you should be doing that with any paint that you run through an airbrush.
I recently dragged a spare airbrush out of the stash which was a cheap Timbertech model. I only bought it because unlike the (also cheap) Royalmax AB-30 I’ve been using to date, you have a choice of needles and nozzles whereas the Royalmax has me married to 0.3mm
When using the 0.2mm needle, I noticed I can still maintain fine lines under high pressure but the needle tip protrudes a long way from the end of the nozzle. This seems to provide a lot of surface area over which paint can accumulate during use and produces varying results (potentially leading to blockage) without regular swabbing to clean.
Can’t say I’m too comfortable with the idea of handling the needle tip as often as I am - Is this higher maintenance just inherent to smaller needle tips, or did I just happen to get what what I paid for?