The summers here in Toronto are humid and it’s giving me some problems with airbrushing.
I have an Iwata Sprint Jet compressor, which already comes with a moisture filter. However, these couple of days the air is so humid (upwards of 90% relative humidity) that even with the filter, I’m still spraying water droplets out of my Eclipse airbrush. I checked the filter and there’s a lot of condensation. Hence it looks like the filter is doing its job but the air is simply too humid for it to filter 100% of the water.
I am already running the air conditioning at full blast. So what should I do? Should I get an additional moisture trap? If so which one is best for the Iwata Sprint jet? I don’t think I can go an entire summer without building a model.
use acrylic? could do a second moisture trap. or buy a dehumidifier. but I heard acrylic wasnt affected as much because it will just be thinned by the water.
i am using gunze acrylics which is thinned by water, but the globs of water droplets still ruins the paint job. I guess i’ll need to find an additional moisture trap?
yeah; itll be the cheaper solution if it works. a dehumidifier is the end all solution for you; but they can be pricey. depends how big the area you paint in is as to how large a unit you’d need.
I use two moisture traps with my airbrush system - I have a large moisture trap/regulator mounted on the side of the bench (got it at Harbor Freight and will hold about a quart of water if I were to let it get full). In addition, I have a disposable water trap which is installed in the airbrush supply line between the line and the quick disconnect fitting. It’s a plastic ball about the size of a tennis ball and has tapped holes on opposing sides of the ball to install it in the airline. I get them at the local auto supply store in packages of 2 for aprox 10 bucks. If it’s very humid, I drain the large trap at least once a week and swap the balls out about every two weeks - under normal conditions, draining the large trap once a month and replacing the balls about every 6 weeks seems to work out well.
I temporarily solved the problem without spending a dime. i needed to do 2 things:
1 - unscrew the moisture trap’s plastic transparent case and wipe the inside dry.
2 - use the rubber coil air hose that came with the compressor instead of the threaded one that came with the airbrush.
when i do these 2 things, the globs of water is gone from the spray. however, i’ll still need to re-do #1 every 30 min or so 'cuz the condensation builds up quickly. yeah it’s THAT humid here. urgh…
You’re most likely still getting moisture in your hose. Hang it up when you are done and let it drain good. If there is a place in your house that is less humid store your hose there so it can dry out between uses. Like Qmiester I’d also recommend an inline filter as close to the airbrush as you can get it
that sucks man; I donno anything about toronto but they dont call it hotlanta for nothing; we get full saturation of the humidity basicly 100% of the time; never noticed any problems with it htough; only have one moisture trap; and I never see anything in it. Ive painted in a fog before, outside. sure the compressor isnt waterlogged somehow?
I do the same thing you do Terry, which is wipe out the moisture trap every now and then and keep spraying. On really humid days (not all that often where I live) I just avoid spraying at all.
If the area you live in is consistently humid, then you probably need to pick up a second moisture trap and put is as Music said as close to the airbrush as possible.