Greetings everyone, I am running into an issue in which I am not getting any paint coming out of my airbrush when the pressure si set belwo 30psi. I am using Model masters acrylics thinned with a Paasche H and a Badger 180-1. It dawned on me that I may have to thin it some more, yet even when the paint cup is not atatched, i am not feeling air coming through when it is set below 30 psi.
Has anyone run into this issue before or am I missing a step?
Do you happen to have an adapter from your Paasche/Badger AB to an Iwata/Grex or similar hose? This happened to me with a Paasche H to Iwata hose. There’s a tiny O-ring in the adapter that was being squashed and limiting the air flow. Careful centering of the O-ring and screwing the adapter back on solved the problem.
The hose came with the airbrush which is conencted to a 1/4" connector to the regulator. Iw ill check to see if it is squeezing the o ring when I go home tonight. Currently it is a Badger 180-1 airbrush connected to a Master Airbrush Requlator (with guage) then connected to the Paasche hose supplied with the airbrush. Teflon tape was sued on all of the conenctions. the only annoyance was I had to tape over a small hole on the regulator just to get the air flowing.
If you check the Paasche H instruction manual, 30 psi is the minimum pressure recommended for acrylics and other paints. You can use less pressure with water color or ink etc. The pressure setting also depends on the needel size and the nozzle setting.
So the 30 psi is normal. However, you do have a problem because the Badger 180-1 compressor is one of the lowest powered unit that may not be able to supply 30 psi at the flow rate that Paasche H needs. The 180-1 does not come with a regulator/gauge. How do you know the pressure? If you set the Badger 180-1 to 30 psi statistically, you may get just 10 psi when you push the airbrush trigger.
It is an unfortunate fact that when using a low cost external mixed airbrush, you need a more powerful compressor. If you get reasonable atomization and good even paint layers, you are fine within the limit of what you have. That’s what it counts. When budget allows, you may consider replacing the 180-1. You can get a decent one at under $100 which will be a great improvement over the Badger.
Hold on… I was expected to read the instruction manual??? I was able to spray just fine. I purchased the regulator and gauge seperately which is how I was able to see how much pressure it was putting out. it did do a good job with spraying black paint on my test model. I am under the impression that I am not going to be doing any pre shading unless I thin the mixture some more. Then again, that is what a test model is for. Thank you for the heads up.
Keilau,
I agree with you on the need to use 30 PSI or more to get good atomization with the Paasche H but I was focused more on this statement
I thought that if no air is coming through the AB at 30 PSI something else is amiss. Even with the 180-1 he should get air through though it might not be perfect for spraying. Any ideas?
Good observation. Yes, insufficient pressure may not suck up paint, but he should still feel the air. No idea what was going on.
Didn’t get the chance to check on the airbrush last night, so I will try to get to it tonight. Hopefully i will eb able to determine if air is coming through or not. Thanks again for all of the ehlp everyone.