B
Bethany
Guest
Hi all,
I have been struggling with getting started with a project all weekend, and before I throw my hands up, a friend suggested I post here. I literally have no airbrush experience whatsoever - I cannot stress enough! YouTube videos and reading have gotten me this far but I'm hoping someone might be able to answer some questions for me.
I’m going to be as thorough as I can in the hopes of making myself clear cause I am personally very confused. Basically, I made a project a few weeks ago for a friend involving painted pinecones (cut in half, then painted to look like flowers, then arranged in a frame). I painted them by hand. I got rave reviews on this project from other friends, a number of whom asked me to make one for them – and another friend who has a boutique craft store encouraged me to consider making some to sell there. My plan was to make a few more of these as prototypes to give to friends and to start slowly trying to sell in the store.
Painting by hand was obviously really laborious. A friend who paints Warhammer figurines had a cheap airbrush he’s never used which he effectively gave to me (he doesn’t know much about airbrushing though himself). I’m not swimming in cash right now, and thankfully pinecones, acrylic paints, and cheap frames from Goodwill are easy to come by as the materials for this project – the issue is the tools.
The airbrush model the friend gave me is a Master Airbrush G23. Yesterday I planned to spend the day learning to use this thing… let’s just say it didn’t go well. I was meticulously cleaning it periodically according to directions. It was alright until I tried to change to a different needle to get more of a flow for the larger pinecones. Things went downhill from there—I THINK I might have snapped off part of the screw on the previous nozzle tip. When I tried to replace with another nozzle, it will NOT go in. I thought maybe part of the previous tip got stuck inside, but I see nothing in there with a flashlight indicating any excess materials, and instructions I’ve seen online for troubleshooting getting old stuck nozzle pieces out of there haven’t worked. I seriously spent three hours trying to figure this out (including trying to put other tips in – they don’t ‘catch’ in order to screw in). I also understand this is not a particularly high quality airbrush, and I don’t want to spend the $30 to buy the replacement body of the brush if there’s a tool out there that could do this job more appropriately.
All of this made me realize that I’m honestly not sure that an airbrush like this is what I need anyway – I’m not doing fine details here, and it was taking a good amount of time to finish each pine cone. I really just need to be able to do a base coat. So I did as much reading as I could and went to Walmart, Home Depot, and Harbor Freight to to look for a mini spray gun to use instead with the air compressor. The issue is though the air compressor that came with the airbrush is quite tiny in size (though it goes up to 100 PSI - this is it -
http://www.tcpglobal.com/ABD-TC-20_2.html#.WYfAUkEpCaM
I finally found a mini (4.2 oz capacity) spray gun at Harbor Freight that seemed to need less air compressor power – the guy at HF said he thought that based on the PSI going up to 100 in my air compressor, this would work, so I bought it –
4 oz. Adjustable Detail Spray Gun https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O3AHDGM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_gh8HzbR1T6YKD
Stupidly, it didn’t occur to me that the hose might not connect, so while I’m planning to go back to HF this week, I’m concerned that this air compressor is just not right for anything bigger than an airbrush, and I really can’t stress enough that I can’t invest a ton more into this – maybe another $50 or so right now. When I say 'just not right' - I'm also not clear on what that could mean - the unit just overheats? Only goes for so long then takes a while to refill? I'm not sure of the line between 'not ideal' and 'dangerous' here.
So I’m wondering 2 things –
1)how can I figure out for sure before trying it that this sprayer is safe to use with the compressor I have? This AC doesn’t appear to have a tank on it, so it’s not even a gallon. I’ve been trying to read about PSI and HP and capacity etc, but it’s just not registering for me.
2) For my purposes, would a small electric spray gun work instead? Again, I’m not doing fine detail or anything super-high quality here – I just need to spray lots of pinecones. I’ve been reading about electric sprayers, but many appear to not take acrylic paints (though they might if I thin them). Here's one I was looking at that people talk about on crafting forums, but again, using acrylic paints may not work - Wagner Power Products 0417005 HVLP Control Sprayer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000DZBP60/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Td8HzbC3X5395
I would be really, REALLY grateful for any advice anyone has for this clueless soul ;(
Thank you!!
I have been struggling with getting started with a project all weekend, and before I throw my hands up, a friend suggested I post here. I literally have no airbrush experience whatsoever - I cannot stress enough! YouTube videos and reading have gotten me this far but I'm hoping someone might be able to answer some questions for me.
I’m going to be as thorough as I can in the hopes of making myself clear cause I am personally very confused. Basically, I made a project a few weeks ago for a friend involving painted pinecones (cut in half, then painted to look like flowers, then arranged in a frame). I painted them by hand. I got rave reviews on this project from other friends, a number of whom asked me to make one for them – and another friend who has a boutique craft store encouraged me to consider making some to sell there. My plan was to make a few more of these as prototypes to give to friends and to start slowly trying to sell in the store.
Painting by hand was obviously really laborious. A friend who paints Warhammer figurines had a cheap airbrush he’s never used which he effectively gave to me (he doesn’t know much about airbrushing though himself). I’m not swimming in cash right now, and thankfully pinecones, acrylic paints, and cheap frames from Goodwill are easy to come by as the materials for this project – the issue is the tools.
The airbrush model the friend gave me is a Master Airbrush G23. Yesterday I planned to spend the day learning to use this thing… let’s just say it didn’t go well. I was meticulously cleaning it periodically according to directions. It was alright until I tried to change to a different needle to get more of a flow for the larger pinecones. Things went downhill from there—I THINK I might have snapped off part of the screw on the previous nozzle tip. When I tried to replace with another nozzle, it will NOT go in. I thought maybe part of the previous tip got stuck inside, but I see nothing in there with a flashlight indicating any excess materials, and instructions I’ve seen online for troubleshooting getting old stuck nozzle pieces out of there haven’t worked. I seriously spent three hours trying to figure this out (including trying to put other tips in – they don’t ‘catch’ in order to screw in). I also understand this is not a particularly high quality airbrush, and I don’t want to spend the $30 to buy the replacement body of the brush if there’s a tool out there that could do this job more appropriately.
All of this made me realize that I’m honestly not sure that an airbrush like this is what I need anyway – I’m not doing fine details here, and it was taking a good amount of time to finish each pine cone. I really just need to be able to do a base coat. So I did as much reading as I could and went to Walmart, Home Depot, and Harbor Freight to to look for a mini spray gun to use instead with the air compressor. The issue is though the air compressor that came with the airbrush is quite tiny in size (though it goes up to 100 PSI - this is it -
http://www.tcpglobal.com/ABD-TC-20_2.html#.WYfAUkEpCaM
I finally found a mini (4.2 oz capacity) spray gun at Harbor Freight that seemed to need less air compressor power – the guy at HF said he thought that based on the PSI going up to 100 in my air compressor, this would work, so I bought it –
4 oz. Adjustable Detail Spray Gun https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O3AHDGM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_gh8HzbR1T6YKD
Stupidly, it didn’t occur to me that the hose might not connect, so while I’m planning to go back to HF this week, I’m concerned that this air compressor is just not right for anything bigger than an airbrush, and I really can’t stress enough that I can’t invest a ton more into this – maybe another $50 or so right now. When I say 'just not right' - I'm also not clear on what that could mean - the unit just overheats? Only goes for so long then takes a while to refill? I'm not sure of the line between 'not ideal' and 'dangerous' here.
So I’m wondering 2 things –
1)how can I figure out for sure before trying it that this sprayer is safe to use with the compressor I have? This AC doesn’t appear to have a tank on it, so it’s not even a gallon. I’ve been trying to read about PSI and HP and capacity etc, but it’s just not registering for me.
2) For my purposes, would a small electric spray gun work instead? Again, I’m not doing fine detail or anything super-high quality here – I just need to spray lots of pinecones. I’ve been reading about electric sprayers, but many appear to not take acrylic paints (though they might if I thin them). Here's one I was looking at that people talk about on crafting forums, but again, using acrylic paints may not work - Wagner Power Products 0417005 HVLP Control Sprayer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000DZBP60/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Td8HzbC3X5395
I would be really, REALLY grateful for any advice anyone has for this clueless soul ;(
Thank you!!
Badger makes a 350 model which would probably be a better choice (and not too expensive). The Paasche H (in my humble opinion) is competitive to the 350 and much better made. It's a tank! You won't ever wear it out. If you are a klutz like me, go for the HS model- its the same airbrush but the bottle screws into the brush, so you won't drop it on the floor like I always seem to do. 
