help Air pressure

just got my compressor and would like to know what is the use of setting the compressor to a high pressure ( 30-40 PSI) or low pressure (20-30 PSI).

And how does different in air pressure affect the look of the paint. It is because the look of my paint using a badger 150 with medium tip at a pressure of 22psi looks very rough.

Thank

20-22 psi is a pretty safe range for most airbrushing. Higher pressure settings tend to lead to more spattering. Are you using enamels or acrylics? Are you thinning your paint before use? What do you use for diluent, if you’re diluting your paints? Quite a few variables come into play here. Glad to help if I can. I’ll follow this thread with you for a while :slight_smile: [:D][8D][:D]

I usually use lower pressure, as I think I get better control, and more consistant coverage.

For a gravity feed I use 10-15 psi – 8-9 psi for lacquers.

And for a syphon fee (like with a 150 or 155) I use 15-17 psi.

I thin a bit more, but I think the overall results are better. [:D]

I’m using tamiya acrylics paint and i thin it using isopropyl alcohol. ( i think it is quite pure about 99%, manage to get some from my work place) thin it to a ratio of 3:2 , paint : IPA.

Actually the higher the pressure the better the paint atomizes, but as was already said it is much harder to control especially on a hard surface such as plastic and metal. When T-shirt artists paint on textiles they spray anywhere from 60-100 psi, but the absorbent nature of the material makes that possible.

Mike

Bird, take the advice here and experiment with some scrap models. You’ll get the feel for it and the results will be fine.

ok, will try different pressure out tonight. should there be any trouble hope that will let you guys know.

Thank for the advice

Bird,
not sure what you are using for a brush, but i shoot mostly Tamiya acrylics mixed around 3:2 (anywhere between 2:1 and 1:1 depending on how it is behaving, which may be heat and humidity factors)
i use the (very unpopular on this forum) Aztek, w/ the tan nozzle mostly and 20 psi.
runs like a clock.

ed.

thx for all the advice.
think i found out what cause of my problem. Think i didn’t thinned the paint enough, i tried thinning it even more and spray it on a small side mirror of my model it gave me a very smooth and gloss look ( i’m using tamiya gloss paint). Will tried it out more extensive over the weekend and see how it goes.