Are all needles

beginner-James

Mac-Valve Maestro!
I would like to know if all needles are made equal.

Yep I've just bent the tip of mine while I was inspecting the working of my brush then I just put it down but with out thinking the tip absorbed the weight of the brush and bent the very end I've ordered a new one but while I was on Amazon I noted that their is a large price jump in needles. I'm not to bothered about the needle as it was a 0.2 which I think I should replace with a 0.3 or even a 0.5, as I'm a beginner please advise.



thank you for replying to the post
James
 
Yep, as Andre says, only replace your needle with the original of the same size, i dint know what brush youre using but inky a handful of brushes can accept a larger or smaller conversion set which involves replacing everything at the head, meaning needle, nozzle and and nozzle cap, this can be quite costly.
 
Im looking at a airbrush on amazon
It's a talon or a max-#4 talon is 100.00 ot the max4 is 54.00 your opinion on these brushes please
 
I did mean made of the same quality, hardness

No, they definitely won't be the same quality, that doesn't mean they will all be bad quality, but really cheap ones will be flimsy and bend just by looking them, but some will be brittle and could break rather than bend, also the shaft thicknesses can be different too, simply stick to the original parts for each brush you might have.
 
The old saying is you get what you pay for. While Cheap does not always mean bad it means you may run into more issues with one on getting it to work right. But when you're first starting out you will run into issues with any airbrush. Main thing to look for when picking any airbrush is PARTS!! can you get them quickly? can you source them locally ?
Needle and nozzle are not equal, I have had a lot of issues with the .15 H&S Infinity nozzle cracking for no good reason. One even cracked just sliding in the new needle that is why I switched it out to a .20 and so far no issue with it cracking. While on the other hand on my Micron CM-C+the only issues I have had is human error.
But it all comes down to this , Knowing you budget and staying with in it. Trying to buy the best made airbrush for the money. Learning how to us the airbrush you pick with the paint you pick.
 
IME the cheap chinese needles are about the same toughness as Iwata.....but they have extremely inconsistent surface quality ,some good some horrible, and some even have inclusions so you cant even polish them to the same surface quality because you just run into microscopic garbage thats been pressed into the metal and it rips out as you polish.
If you're looking for the higher end brushes needles to take more abuse....not really gonna happen.....jabbing any needle or putting it down carelessly will damage it and as its been stated some of the better brushes are worse in that aspect, .5's handle a bit more but your not getting much detail from a .5.

If you're looking for a high quality brush for $50 you wont find one....at least not new...and used is just a gamble.
Sparmax from what i can tell is pretty good for budget brushes but not going to compete with other brushes costing $100 besides NEO's. Still extremely useable though so dont feel like you cant do great stuff with one.
At $100 going off of general concensus I wouldnt be looking at a talon. At 100 Id most definitely be looking at GSI's ps-289 or something from badger. Nozzle size .3 (.35) is a good balanced starting point.
I think the paasche brushes have potential...but why pay $100 for something that must then be tuned to be really useable and then re-tuned everytime you need to replace something ......as I hear it.

The last 10% of performance is where 90% of the price and fine points of construction go to.
 
IME the cheap chinese needles are about the same toughness as Iwata.....but they have extremely inconsistent surface quality ,some good some horrible, and some even have inclusions so you cant even polish them to the same surface quality because you just run into microscopic garbage thats been pressed into the metal and it rips out as you polish.
If you're looking for the higher end brushes needles to take more abuse....not really gonna happen.....jabbing any needle or putting it down carelessly will damage it and as its been stated some of the better brushes are worse in that aspect, .5's handle a bit more but your not getting much detail from a .5.

If you're looking for a high quality brush for $50 you wont find one....at least not new...and used is just a gamble.
Sparmax from what i can tell is pretty good for budget brushes but not going to compete with other brushes costing $100 besides NEO's. Still extremely useable though so dont feel like you cant do great stuff with one.
At $100 going off of general concensus I wouldnt be looking at a talon. At 100 Id most definitely be looking at GSI's ps-289 or something from badger. Nozzle size .3 (.35) is a good balanced starting point.
I think the paasche brushes have potential...but why pay $100 for something that must then be tuned to be really useable and then re-tuned everytime you need to replace something ......as I hear it.

The last 10% of performance is where 90% of the price and fine points of construction go to.
Thank you for the advice im just reading some reviews on the
GSI Creos Mr. Airbrush Procon Boy PS-289 0.3mm Platinum this this one or the the neo cn but i can't decide and more advice would be appreciated
 
Thats the one. Beautiful brush...and upgradeable to the highest degree (micron) if you so desire in the future. Bear in mind that hose it comes with is useless proprietary thread stuff, so youll still need a regular 1/8th bsp hose
 
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289 hands down. Thats not even a fair competition except in some hypothetical world where getting GSI parts was nearly impossible

I noticed the parts prices seemed pretty high over at Spraygunner. I was just looking and the front end of that PS-267 (nozzle, needle, cap) is $53 for an $80 brush. That's quite a bit more than what Coast wants for a Revolution front end... which sure looks the same.

Anyways before the sharpenair existed, I ended up buying a few rounds of chinese needles for my microns. The first ones I got were too short. But when I found the right ones, I bought a bunch of them. I've destroyed zero of them so far. They are pretty tough. Also, as @Robbyrockett2 said, the finish isn't all that great. Even polished I could still see some machining rings. Also, they have a wicked long taper on them, and I actually had to grind the very tip back a bit. The paint was almost dry before it even got off the needle it was so long. Also, they were about .001 under the size of an Iwata needle. So I had to tighten up the packing a little bit.
 
I noticed the parts prices seemed pretty high over at Spraygunner. I was just looking and the front end of that PS-267 (nozzle, needle, cap) is $53 for an $80 brush. That's quite a bit more than what Coast wants for a Revolution front end... which sure looks the same.

Anyways before the sharpenair existed, I ended up buying a few rounds of chinese needles for my microns. The first ones I got were too short. But when I found the right ones, I bought a bunch of them. I've destroyed zero of them so far. They are pretty tough. Also, as @Robbyrockett2 said, the finish isn't all that great. Even polished I could still see some machining rings. Also, they have a wicked long taper on them, and I actually had to grind the very tip back a bit. The paint was almost dry before it even got off the needle it was so long. Also, they were about .001 under the size of an Iwata needle. So I had to tighten up the packing a little bit.

I personally wouldnt draw a comparison between the revolution and 270 or 289...they have a completely removable head and use hp+ style nozzles and air caps (interchange with). So I compare to the hp+ series.

The 267 and 274 are closer to the revolutions.
 
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Well the new needle for my wd-180 has arrived so I've stripped the gun down ready for clean and oiling threads ect. Now I have see a video sealing the tip with bee's wax and also airbrush tutor using PTF tape (pluming tape) which one would you recommend also I've seen a video on cleaning a air brush where they use a sonic bath is this the normal practice.
Just a quick sub fact the .2 needle is the same as the .3 or it can be used according to the needle supplier I used again can anyone confirm this.
I'm going to start tracing my first picture to night as now I have all the Art materials required to start and complete the tracing wow roll on tonight.
I think I'm going to start anew thread for this project Journey of a tiger a beginner's tail
that's all for now.
James
 
If your original nozzle had no seal or tape when you got it you don't need bee's wax or tape, these are only used if you develop a problem where the nozzle screws in, if you think it needs to be sealed forget the tape and only used bee's wax or chapstick, tape can cause damage to your your threads if you do it wrong.
 
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