Grafo works better than Infinity?! Searching for solutions

DaveG

Airbush Analyst
I purchased the Infinity CR+ a couple of years ago, and to be honest, have never really been all that crazy about the brush. Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful - incredibly well made. Small little things I could look past if the brush sprayed well - but my sample has been a bit ambiguous to use. The paint initiation is ambiguous, and at times I need to draw the trigger way further back than others to get paint flow started. It also has a tendency to produce fine bubbles into the color cup while painting, and has not been exactly stellar at working on small details.

I recently purchased a Grafo T1. They too are now made by H&S, and share many of the same parts as the Infinity. The Grafo has been absolutely wonderful. At some point I decided to switch the heads on the two brushes, because I really like the Crown set up on the Infinity. I just feel like it tapers down smaller, and exposes more of the work area while painting. Only problem is, that when I switched out the parts, the Grafo did not work as well as it did with the original head on it. At the same time I tried the Grafo head on the Infinity, and found that the brush responded much better, and was a pleasure to use.

Time to figure out what is different! I ordered another complete Crown head assembly (mine are all in .15) for the two brushes. So, Needle, Air Cap, Needle Cap, and Nozzle come in a small plastic tube, complete with nozzle base seal. This brand new set up did not work as well as the originally installed set up on the Grafo.

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Using Golden Hi Flow shading gray, the line was OK, but nothing to write home about. Paint initiation was a bit ambiguous, and I felt like I was having to pull the trigger further back at times to get things going. I also saw times where I had a blob of paint at the beginning of paint initiation, and then could close the needle a bit, before getting a smooth line. The original set up is much more precise, and easy to use.

When I put the original head back on, using the same paint, I could pull a thinner line, that was also darker in color.

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After some part switching and testing, what I have found is that it is actually the nozzle that is causing the difference in performance, and not the head assembly(s). For what ever reason, the nozzle that came as standard in my Grafo is magic compared to the two others that I now have.

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In the photo below, I assembled the brush with the Crown head set up, with one nozzle. Photographed it, and then assembled it again with the other nozzle to photograph it again. I then stacked the photos to confirm what I thought I was seeing - the needle sticks out further on the nozzle that works better than it does on the other. The needle in the photo's is the same needle - only difference is the nozzle.

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The bottom line is, that the nozzle set up on the Grafo allows me to paint thinner, more consistent lines. In addition, paint initiation is much more predictable and smooth. Now, how to find more nozzles like the one on the Grafo?

I ordered two more .15 nozzles to test, and will come back in an add to this as I have results...
 
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I love that you have the time and resources to do this sort of testing Dave, as always, thank you.
It goes to show that 2 of the same brush will not behave identically, and it can be what you least expect that makes the behaviour different.
I was half expecting you to come back and say you had needle issues !
 
I love that you have the time and resources to do this sort of testing Dave, as always, thank you.
It goes to show that 2 of the same brush will not behave identically, and it can be what you least expect that makes the behaviour different.
I was half expecting you to come back and say you had needle issues !

Thanks for the kind words, JackEb! I had originally thought that it was the air caps causing the difference - but without checking different parts, it was hard to tell. In all honesty, I would love to get the Infinity working as well as the Grafo. It is such a pretty, well made brush, it is a shame that it just sits in the box.

I do have a few needles, but have not felt the need to swap them out yet - although, I did install a new one with the new head set just to make sure I was starting with fresh parts all around. I kept the original Grafo needle with the head set that is now in the storage tube.
 
Dave how long have you been using the nozzzle that sprays good for you? might be its worn on the inside and opened up some?
 
Dave how long have you been using the nozzle that sprays good for you? might be its worn on the inside and opened up some?
the "good" nozzle is new with the Grafo - so, maybe 3 or 4 months now. The Infinity I have had for a couple of years, and it never worked well for me...
 
I wonder if you should send your findings in an email to H&S to see what they say?

I still think you got a magic nozzle :)
 
the "good" nozzle is new with the Grafo - so, maybe 3 or 4 months now. The Infinity I have had for a couple of years, and it never worked well for me...
Looks like you found the needle in the hay stack with that one it has a build in sweet spot!
 
I wonder if you should send your findings in an email to H&S to see what they say?

I still think you got a magic nozzle :)
I ordered 2 more nozzles just to check things out... If I can identify anything specific with my findings, I may drop H&S a line - because I would REALLY like to make sure to get a few more nozzles like the one in the Grafo now.
 
Looks like you found the needle in the hay stack with that one it has a build in sweet spot!
maybe - cause I can say that I REALLY enjoy the way the Grafo works. Beautiful, little details, and very smooth spray. I would REALLY like to get the Infinity working as well without having to steal the nozzle every time I want to use it.
 
maybe - cause I can say that I REALLY enjoy the way the Grafo works. Beautiful, little details, and very smooth spray. I would REALLY like to get the Infinity working as well without having to steal the nozzle every time I want to use it.
Maybe you'll get lucky and find another Nozzle in the bunch you ordered
 
would polishing the needle and slightly changing the taper until the need sticks out like the oem unit work?
 
would polishing the needle and slightly changing the taper until the need sticks out like the oem unit work?
I don't think that would help- the issue seems to be with the nozzle, not the needle. Even if it did work, he would have to polish every needle he has.
 
would polishing the needle and slightly changing the taper until the need sticks out like the oem unit work?

The needle on the Grafo is highly polished. The needle on the Infinity is the CR, and has an extremely hard coating I would not want to risk altering. The nozzle from the Grafo works wonderfully on the Infinity with the CR needle... there is something with the nozzles themselves that I will need to figure out.
 
If the needles are all exactly the same then the hole in the nozzle I'd bigger/smaller then the other nozzle.
 
I remember seeing something similar to this online somewhere- guy had the same thing with 2 of his nozzles. I really believe its just manufacturing tolerances.
 
Wowow, I've got a good one in my evo and was to buy another one! Now I will stick with mine until it brakes!! Thanx @DaveG for your time, money and share your knowledge!!


Enviado desde mi iPad utilizando Tapatalk
 
Hmmm, might not be that easy to see in this photo, but it looks like the nozzle that works better (on the right) not only has a larger hole, but the hole itself is rounder, and more uniform in shape.
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