Hi all,
Just want to get a idea of what psi is good for a nice smooth finish. I usually use Tamiya acrylic paints and have been airbrushing small parts at 25 psi. I thought this was okay until I tried airbrushing a large area in white and clouds of paint went everywhere and the finish was far from smooth so I guess it was too high. I’m on a tight budget and don’t want to waste loads of paint trying to find out the hard way what works and what doesn’t. So if anyone can give me any advice from experience that would be fantastic. Just for your info I use a badger 200 single action airbrush. [:)]
For general purpose coverage I usually use about 15 psi. If I need to paint fine detail I’ll go down to around 8-10 psi.
Also, I mention this frequently but this seems an appropriate place to mention it again, there are three things that are related: Pressure, Paint Viscosity, and Distance From Surface. If you change one you’ll probably need to change one or both of the others. If you reduce the pressure, for example, you’ll probably need to thin the paint more. If you try to get closer to the surface you’ll probably need to reduce the pressure more.
There is no magic to thinning paint. Thin it enough that it sprays at the pressure that you want to spray at. If it sprays at your desired PSI right from the bottle then it doesn’t need to be thinned. If it doesn’t, add some thinner until it does. Try not to go too thin or it will be difficult to get coverage.
I agree with Scott. I usually spray at about 20 psi, but it depends on how much you thin the paint & how far from the model you want to spray & whether you have a gravity feed or syphon feed AB. I can spray at somewhat lower pressure using my Iawata HP-CR than I can with my Paasche H, for example.
Regards, Rick