Dry Tip

S

Sketchy Pete

Guest
I have a tip for removing the dreaded build up at the needle known as tip dry that we will all experience at some point and sometimes quite often whilst working away. This only what I do and I'm far from an artist (unless Bullstoole counts). I'm sure some airbrushes including the fine needled ones this may not be such a great idea to apply but its what I use with my Iwata .35 HPC+ & Eclipse .5 airbrushes and so far it hasn't seemed to do any damage. I generally replace parts from dropping the airbrush onto a hard surface I don't think I will ever need to replace parts from being worn out they don't last that long unfortunately.

In my left hand (my supporting hand) I hold a soft bristled tooth brush. When I hear the tell tale noise or paint stops flowing I AIM AWAY from my peice and APPLY AIR ONLY whilst dragging the needle through the bristles. I find this to be a quick and simple way of removing the build up and quickly get on with my work. Worth mentioning here that I do this with the needle cap off but I guess it may work with it on. I do most of my working with it off.. Hope this helps
 
It's certainly a handy tip, but I do the same with a piece of kitchen roll in my supporting hand, every now and then when doing dagger strokes I accidentally shake some paint out of the cup, I can quickly clean that a away while working, I find I can even wipe my nose if necessary, and all this without having to stop.

Most of the time I work with very little paint in the cup, when I hear the tell tale noise I generally pick off the tip straight away and then a short blow-back, if it becomes persistent I simply ditch the paint run some cleaner through and put in some new paint, I use small squeeze bottles for all my colours with small squares of old pantihose over the necks for filtering.

When I started I got very impatient with tip-dry and other issues, but I've accepted that it simply something that happens and by utilising the steps mentioned combined with over-thinning I have found that it all suits my level of patience.
 
I also use a bristle brush seeing that I have the bad habit of biting my nails. I cut the bristles of a cheap paint brush shorter and just keep it close. It is also handy to clean some stubborn bits out of the cup.
 
I also use a bristle brush seeing that I have the bad habit of biting my nails. I cut the bristles of a cheap paint brush shorter and just keep it close. It is also handy to clean some stubborn bits out of the cup.

I seem to be copying everything you do, lol, I have one too, I use it mostly for cleaning the cups when I'm finished working, because of the poor finish on the inside of my evolution cups, the paint dries instantly so I have you use it also during work

I believe that all of these handy little items for cleaning should be included in the case when you buy a new brush.
 
I use a piece steel wool

I think H&S did that for me LOL

I have a Neo and four cheap brushes, and they all perform better than my evolution, I've never had a problem with any of my other brushes except for tip dry of course, but I've accepted that as part of the deal.

What I do like about my evolution is that I can paint the entire "Morse code" alphabet in one pass, an excellent party trick but it doesn't help at all in airbrushing. lol
 
May I ask .. what do U polish the needle with .. (such as source or product name) .. thank U .. this site is awesome - especially for a beginner !
 
I would like to see that too John, always been a bit scared to try it in case I stuff it up.
 
Sounds like a good idea... Polishing the needle. I am going to take the stock needle out of the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS tonight and put it under the microscope at 200x to see what the surface looks like.

I'll make a how to polish you needle video tonight
 
Here is what the needle looked like under the microscope after I thought that I polished it well. The images are at 50x-200x. Looks like I have more polishing to do and the tip is slightly bent. Note, with the naked eye, I could not see anything wrong with the needle. 50x-A.jpg100x-A.jpg150x-A.jpg150x-B.jpg150x-C.jpg200x-A.jpg200x-B.jpg
 
Here is what the needle looked like under the microscope after I thought that I polished it well. The images are at 50x-200x. Looks like I have more polishing to do and the tip is slightly bent. Note, with the naked eye, I could not see anything wrong with the needle. View attachment 14295View attachment 14296View attachment 14297View attachment 14298View attachment 14299View attachment 14300View attachment 14301


Definitely impossible to see a bent tip with the naked eye. I have a x60-x100 magnifier I use the "try" to straighten my bent needles. I haven't got one perfect yet. I can still spray pretty fine details with the, but they are still slightly bent like yours.
 
So where is it at???? 4/25/2013 ;) just kidding, i know its coming!

Josh
Yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery. Treat today as a gift, because that's why they call it "THE PRESENT!"

Monkey it is not that kind of needle.....LMAO:D
 
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