Badger 150 airbrush woes

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I decided to finally take up airbrushing, and since last night the experience has been miserable. The airbrush is a Badger model 150.

Yesterday, I finally bought a compressor (Badger 180-1) and gave the brush a test-go using pure water. It worked like a charm; it behaved normally, no problems. Last night I thought I learn to disassemble it and reassemble so I’d learn the ropes of how to clean it.

That led to an adventure of having to place the back lever back into the airbrush shell. After a thousand attempts and accidentally disassembling the needle tube, I finally managed to get it all back together (I think.)

So I gave it another go with water. Problem is, now either the airbrush will spray just air (if the needle is protruding from the needle slightly), or by adjusting the needle towards the back somewhat, it will spray just water regardless of how I’m holding the trigger. So even if I push it in just to release air, a large mist of water will shoot out at the same rate as it would when I push it back.

I’m guessing I really messed up when I disassembled the whole thing, which I’m more than slightly regretting. Can anybody help me? The pressure from the compressor seems normal, it’s just now the airbrush is acting up.

2

It sounds like the needle chuck isn’t tightened correctly - which means that when you pull the trigger it isn’t acting on the needle.

If you watch the needle tip when you trigger, can you se it move?

3

[dto:]

Or maybe the needle isn’t seated. If the collar for the chuck is tight then loosen it and gently push the needle forward till it stops and re-tighten. The backlever can be tricky but you’ll get the hang of it. And [Y] for taking it apart to see how it works.

Tony

4

It may be a combination of the above, plus one more thing. When you removed the needle tube, did you screw it back in far enough? If you didn’t, it may not be in far enough to engage the mechanism when you pull the trigger back.

From your description it sounds as if you’re moving the needle manually and it’s not moving when you pull the trigger.

Note that before you adjust the position of the needle tube, you MUST loosen the needle chuck to avoid damaging the needle and/or nozzle.