Advice on Equipment

S

Skellington

Guest
Looking for help if anyone could be so kind as to share their experiences or suggestions.

First off, Ive ordered my new airbrush Iwata HP-CS finally, so that's something. :) Can't wait for it to arrive.

However, this weekend using my old cheap brush, I'm getting such irregular paint flow I'm beginning to get really disheartened. I'm hoping some of these problems will be solved with the sparkly new air-brush but I think the tip-dry is probably more to do with the paint.
Tip-dry is just one of the problems I've come across this weekend. I've had spidering (looks like I'm painting small fireworks) and water splatters too.
But now the main thing is tip-dry. I'm just getting constant broken lines (like in the picture below). Literally I don't even manage to paint one line before I need to clean the end of the airbrush.
Problem.jpg
I think it's likely to be the paints (or how thick they are). I'm using Createx but I feel they are much thicker than Com-Art which I started off using. What should I be using to thin the paint? What are other peoples experiences with Createx Airbrush Colours? I've changed air pressure etc but nothing seems to be helping.

Do you think a better compressor would help? I don't think it's the compressor. I'm using an AS-186. It has a 3L tank attached and to be fair it feels like it produces relatively smooth air-flow most of the time. If I were to buy a new compressor I wouldn't know where to start. Is there a suitable Iwata option and can they be bought with a tank already attached?

Sorry for the long post, I've rambled a bit but my mind seems to have tons of problems and questions after today! Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Is this standard createx? If so its very thick paint. Even reduced due to pigment ground it will struggle in your airbrush. Pick up some w100 reducer if your intent on using createx. I also use w100 with com art that stuff is an awesome multipurpose thinner.
Plan On shooting 40 psi or so if using createx regular.
 
Going from com art to standard createx is like going from water to dish soap
 
I personally with stick with the com art paint, unless your doing t shirts then createx is the one to go with. Drop your pressure if your spidering, 20-25psi is a good starting point. Things will get better once your new brush arrives.
We all had the same probs when we started, I still do, with such a steep learning curve for beginners you feel as though nothing will come together, it will.
You may be to close to the paper as well, don't try getting fine detail to begin with just practice larger till you get the feel for it.
 
Thanks Nada for the tip on reducer. Will definitely look for some of that! It is standard Createx. It's not so much that I'm set on using it, it was just the next thing I tried. I found it difficult to find anywhere to buy Com Art. Smiler where do you buy your Com Art? It seems harder to come by than the other brands. I do intend to try different brands and definitely want to try the Wicked range at some point.
I'm currently shooting at 25 psi mainly so probably not enough pressure for thick paint particles, makes sense. But then when I thin the paint I get the spiders. It's very frustrating and yes a very steep learning curve!
Thanks for your comments and help guys.
 
The broken lines look like they are caused by too thick a paint (though a damaged needle might also result in this) with the resulting tipdry. Solutions would be reducing and increasing airpressure.

Standard createx is meant for t-shirts. For that it's probably one of the best paints around for any other application its horrible (realy realy horrible.....did I mention horrible??? :p). The paint is too thick and I couldn't get it to flow nicely through anything smaller than a 0,4.

A new compressor won't change anything, the only thing that needs to do is produce constant pressure which it will probably do.

You mention you paint at a set pressure, remember that the pressure is one of your tools and you shouldn't (atleast in my oppinion :D) stick to one setting. Lower the pressure when close up to the work or working with highly reduced paint, crank it up when doing large area's or painting from a bit furter away. I use a mac-valve and I don't think I ever have the pressure on one setting for longer than a couple of minutes. I constantly adjust it to suit what I'm doing (this will take some practice to get a feeling for it ofcourse)
 
Thanks Haasje. If I reduce, but increase air-pressure I seem to get spiders the minute I apply any paint. Perhaps that is just due to my inexperience though.

for any other application its horrible (realy realy horrible.....did I mention horrible??? :p)
Click to expand...
Haha! I see, thanks for the tip. I shall try something new and save this for when I eventually try a t-shirt! I liked the Com-Art paints much more.

I guess more trial and error is needed with the pressure. I'll get practicing more lines, dots etc at different pressures. When I said 25 I meant on this occasion, as it was quite a small close-up area. I will definitely play around with this more though to learn what's best for what. So much to learn and so many different aspects.

p.s, I absolutely love Grumpy Cat.
 
Hey buddy, you are from leeds arnt you? If 6 ou are looking at a paint for fine art purposes rather than t shirts for e.g get hold of pete at airbushandpaint. Co.uk or get a bulk from marissa and Carlo at foxy studio. Com..... save yourself some time and don't bother with wicked....I.m.o I'm not a fan i used it for a year but it still gives killer tip dry....and you need a stick of dynamite to clean it if it's dry.... go etac!
 
I Don't know if you posted your answer to haasje right but as you reduce/thin your paint you should go lower with the pressure not increase the pressure,
being the paint's thinner it flow's better out the end of the brush ,but it also flows easy on your board/paper so at increased pressure it spiders.Try backing off the pressure till the spidering stops. You might only be spraying at 10 psi But if that's what it takes go for it! As you learn better how to control your airbrush you can up the pressure If you like
 
Hey buddy, you are from leeds arnt you?
Click to expand...
I am!
I'm still learning what's best for what. I'd like to try paint my motorcycle helmet down the line, which is the reason I wanted to try the Createx range including Wicked. In the meantime I'm painting on paper mainly but it's not working out too great!
I didn't realise quite a few people seem to have had issues with Createx. It really is noticeably thicker though. I'll perhaps try Etac for painting on paper or go back to Com-Art.
@basepaint - Thank you for your help. I really do need to lower the pressure, and take it from there, there's more trial and error involved than I imagined.
@jord001 - thank you, that's great.
Thanks for everyone's help, really appreciate it. I need to be patient and keep trying!
 
Nada said:
Is this standard createx? If so its very thick paint. Even reduced due to pigment ground it will struggle in your airbrush. Pick up some w100 reducer if your intent on using createx. I also use w100 with com art that stuff is an awesome multipurpose thinner.
Plan On shooting 40 psi or so if using createx regular.
Click to expand...
W100 has long since been replaced with W500, Standard Createx is design for a .5 needle set up with 60 psi But you can reduce the standard createx and spray it as low as 5 psi with a lot of practice.
 
When you start out spidering can also be caused by moving too slow for the pressure and reduction of the paint. it is all in the learning process and a lot of practice.
 
Thanks Mr.Micron. I am possibly moving too slow aswell then, too much paint coming out on the same spot in one go. It all makes sense when you say it now, but in the moment when you're head is full of paint (like mine yesterday), it was not so clear. I was very clouded with frustration!
I am learning slowly but surely. I just seemed to hit a massive speed bump since I changed the paint. I didn't realise they are not really for what I have been trying to use them on. I will save them for later down the line at some point. :)
 
Standard createx is designed for Textiles . It is not color safe that is why most do not use it for much else the textile work.
Com art is a great paint
Createx WICKED or Illustration paint can pretty much do it all.
Etac is another brand a lot use.
But I always suggest once you pick a paint to work with , Learn it , How it reduces , what pressures it spray best at straight out the bottle (That is your starting point on PSI) then as you reduce lower the PSI , The more you learn the paint you are using the easier painting becomes .
Speed comes with practice , When I first started I thought why can I do not this as fast as the folks in the videos , That is because I lacked the practice time they had into the art.
 
Brilliant, thank you Herb.
I've ordered some Com-Art, as I got on with that initially. So I'll use this for the time being (and definitely to get me through my paint pal!)

I really would like to try Wicked eventually, when I get to thinking about moving onto other surfaces as I think it's supposed to be best for motorbikes/helmets etc? But that's quite a long way off in the future! I've done enough getting ahead of myself this weekend to last me a while yet.

Thanks again.
 
Wicked is great for the applications you have mentioned, it's just not my favourite for fine art...... i.m.o, com art or etac efx/mfx is what you want for fine art (paper card etc)
 
If I was exclusively doing fine art I would probably go with Createx Illustration, but as I like to dabble in multi surface (including quite a lot of automotive), I find Wicked is perfect for me, especially with the W500. Tip dry is negligable, (apart from black for some reason) I hardly notice it. I wondered how it would affect things using the micron, but more reduction and lower pressure and it performs really really well, and with super fine detail. But saying that I have been using this paint for quite a long time and am very comfortable with it. Wicked isn't the best for erasing, though you can do it, and that's the only reason, if ever I was going to do fine art exclusively, I would switch to Illustration.

If you want to try E'tac, I believe the E'tac private stock is similar to Wicked in that it can be used on many surfaces.
 
For the tip dry you can try a couple of things, a medium extender can help (if you over-reduce and want to rethicken the paint it can be a better option at times to add some extender.), another thing is to try add some glycerin to your paint, just a drop or two to a cup of paint (you can also use a wetting agent in replacement), it will have the effect of slowing down drying time of the paint so it tends to keep ya tip cleaner, another way to reduce tip dry is by keeping the tip as wet as possible, ie dont stop painting to much...But yer agree with what everyones saying bout createx, move onto some better paint unless doing TShirts or fabric work, good luck.
 
Thanks for even more brilliant advice from you experienced people. Really helpful. Thanks you all for your help.
My new airbrush has just arrived, so fingers crossed for when I get to test it out tomorrow!
 
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