A look at Rick's G86SB - troubleshooting

DaveG

Airbush Analyst
Because of my familiarity with them, @Rick Martin sent me his Master G86SB to have a look at, to see if anything was amiss that would cause some of the trouble he was experiencing trying to learn using it.

Rick, to help ease your mind, I will say - yes. I will also tell you that it is already working like a charm :)

The first thing I check on these brushes is nozzle alignment. The easiest way for me to see them is to just photograph them using a macro lens, and then zooming in on the image. Ricks sample is significantly off center -
nozzle-off-center1.jpg

Rather than mess around trying to center it up, I opted to reach for the parts bin, and see what I might have to help the situation -
heads.jpg

I checked a few spares the same way, by photographing them, and doing a visual check - I chose one to test with.
nozzle-check1.jpg

Mounted, it looks much better than the first one - but does it work?
nozzle-centered1.jpg

Well, yes, it does. I used Golden High Flow straight from the bottle to test. It will pull a line easier, and finer than the first head - but, we are not done yet. I am going to press a bushing into this brush body (for Rick), just like I did on my own, so that Iwata color cups can be used. I tested the brush simply by adding a few drops of paint into the side feed opening to get a feel for what it was going to do. The original head was indeed erratic, and would produce a line that was taller than it was wide, due to the nozzle being so far off center. The new one is much better, but I will see about tweaking the center just a tad more to keep it dead on. I'll check in the lathe in the morning to see where to go from there.

Another issue I found was that the seal around the base of the head assembly was leaking badly, which never helps anything. Snugging with soft jaws did not cure it on the original head, but worked fine on the replacement. I would try to inspect the original seal, but it is really not worth the effort...
 
Great work @DaveG and thanks for doing the SBS to allow us better understanding of what to look for.
 
an extra ditty for anyone interested - On a whim I pulled a Badger brand Aztek Color Cup adapter for the Omni series of brushes out of my parts bin, and it fits the 86SB side feed hole like a glove. I got it from Coast Airbrush pt# T893 for under $3.00 - Because it is a straight hole, and Rick has already purchased an Iwata cup, I am going to do the bushing anyway, so he can use either the Iwata (which would fall out of the Badger unit) or the Aztek brand with his brush.
cup-adaptor.jpg
 
Wow i did not know this. Still waiting for my iwata cup to get here. If its still not here i have aztec cups i can use until then.
 
Great job Dave and thanks for posting the pictures and descriptions. I'm still learning so much about the tool as much as the techniques to use it. So this is really useful to me.


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Wrapping up - I cut, and installed a Delrin bushing into one side of the side feed ports, so that an Iwata or Aztek color cup can be used on the brush. The standard cup can still be used on the opposing side if need be. I then set about testing Rick's brush with various different paints to see what it would do. I did try changing out the air cap with the one that originally came on the brush, but found it continued to work better with a complete head swap. The hole on the original one was actually larger, so I was curious to see what it would do... I also did a little light lubricating on the brush with K33 Airbrush Balm from Foxy Studio, and adjusted the springs mildly.
bushing-installed1.jpg

First up was Golden High Flow Shading Gray. Worked pretty good, a little better when I added a drop of water to 6 drops paint in the cup. One thing I will mention, and something kind of typical out of these brushes, is that while the line it will pull might not be the finest, the atomization is actually quite good, and doing color blends and fades are very smooth. The spray pattern is nice, and even, with very little graininess or spitting around the edges. Tip dry was fairly prevalent with the Golden - although I did not try adding flow enhancer.

I then tried Createx Illustration, 2 drops trans base, 5 drops 4012, and 2 drops black mixed in the cup. This was the hardest paint to use in the brush. Line work was very intermittent, but once you got to about an 1/8th inch wide, the pattern smoothed out, and gradient was very nice.

Third test was with Com-art transparent black, straight from the bottle. This would be my go to paint in this brush. Nice, smooth line work, around about as fat as a slightly dulled pencil, and very nice gradients, and shading. The spray pattern was even,and well defined with a nice blend dark to light.
paint-samples1.jpg

I consider the action of this brush to be decent. It will not do the finest detail work of some higher end brushes, but will hold it's own against some others. Shading, and texturing will be great with this one,a s well as general purpose work. Now, to get it back to Rick!
 
Thanks for the info Dave. And again, nice going helping out another member! [emoji3]


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Thanks for helping out and pointing out issues you found and mods you made on this airbrush .
It is a very helpful thread and Rick when you get it back you can not blame this airbrush LOL It has Dave's stamp on it that it works.
But when I first bought my micron the head was not centered with the air cap and it would spray to the left. After like Dave taking macro pictures of it I was able to get the issue fixed (warranty free of course) and what a difference having a nozzle centered with the air cap makes.
That is why when someone is having a certain issues it helps us a lot to take pictures.
 
Yeah no excuses except my own ine perience. But no blaming the airbrush anymore. But i knew there was a problem with it i just dont have the equipment to look or to know what im looking for but i did know that it wasnt spraying right.
 
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