MikeV, you might have some good perspective on this…
Has anyone ever ‘polished’ the piece of their airbrush. Would this ‘hurt’ anything?
Specifically, I have a Paasche VL and I’d like to polish some of the inside pieces. Specifically, some of the threads on the aircap, the ‘seat’ where the nozzle meets the airbrush body, and possibly the needle itself. Thinking about using just regular old metal polish…
I noticed one day that my color cups are not as ‘smooth’ inside as they are outside. The bottom of the cup didn’t seem to not have the same ‘chrome’ finish and it is harder to clean out stubborn paint. So, I fired up the old dremel and polished 'er up a bit. Looks really nice now, and the paint doesn’t stick to the bottom of the cup as much. Just wondering if there’s any advantage to doing this to the components of the airbrush itself?? However, I am very conscientious of doing anything that would ruin it in any way…
An “airbrush wizard” here in France told me to polish my needle instead of putting any lube on it, as the result was the same and no foreign product was miscing with paint; I feel the same but I have no personal experience of it.
Murray,
I’ve never done what you are suggesting, either, but it sounds like you already have the tools available. Just thinking that you could take your Dremel, put a polishing wheel on it, find a little jeweler’s rouge, coat the polishing media and go to it. A second option: There is also a company called “Happisch” (I hope that’s the right spelling) that makes a material called “Simichrome” polish. It is one of the finest polishes I have ever worked with. I don’t think it has any abrasive properties (something to be concerned about when dealing with close tolerances like your brush) like some other polishes on the market. I use it on my pocket knife collection, and on other metals like rings, bracelets, etc. with no visible scratches, and all polish residue and oxidation comes off really easy. I’ve used an old t-shirt and q-tips for application with successful results.
Not sure this is the answer you were looking for, but I hope this helps–knock on wood (For some strange reason, MY head is starting to hurt!!)
Gip Winecoff
Another thing I forgot : as to polish needle, don’t use an old Tshirt, only use a cottonball as the T shirt fiber could give inverse effect of what you want, er is it could “scratch” the needle (well, sort of)
The way I see it is if you go and polish the needle then you would have to make sure the inside of the airbrush was also polished or else it would scratch that polished needle once it was removed or inserted. I think it is not necessary to do any polishing as the airbrush works fine the way it is from the factory. Some needles are of higher quality than others but they all spray well enough for this hobby.
If you want to experiment that is another thing. [:D]
I just don’t think it will improve the airbrush that much.
Using Medea Super Lube on the needle and trigger will make it feel like a polished airbrush without going through all of the work of polishing. [;)]
That’s my $.02 for what it’s worth. [:)]
