Needle Cap

otpowell

Double Actioner
How many of you guys AB with your needle cap off? Seems like nearly all the pros AB with the cap off. I bought the little crown cap for mine. Recently tried it without the cap, it's a lot cooler cuz u can actually watch the paint come off of the tip. Of course it's more prone to damage without the cap protection. Never experienced the detail my brush was capable of until I tried it without the cap on. I have an extra needle now so I was less afraid of damaging it. Just curious how many people actually AB with the cap off full time and how many people just take it off during detail work.
 
Ed Hubbs showed a video once of with and with out the cap on . for the pros there is no difference . But to us it is a huge difference. Why cause you can see just how close you are from the surface.
That is the way Ed explained it . Me , Ever since I bought my first Iwata , It has never had the cap on when spraying. I have (knock on wood) never bent a needle. But the cap and the rubber protective cap is always on when I store it back in the box.
But like Ed had stated once you get use to the distance you need to be away from the surface to get that super fine detail it makes no difference if the cap is on or off. It mainly comes down to practice.
On my micron I think only when I am using white is it off other than that it is always on. Only reason on the white is tip dry. But since trying the new W500 it can stay on all the time. Think I had to pick at the needle once after shooting white for almost 40 minutes..
 
My grandma always told me not to live dangerously :)
Working with the bare needle is very exciting and easier to remove dried paint with the finger nails etc but it is exposed. Just while moving, if it touches the surface of your work, it will damage the needle tip and in some cases might also damage the nozzle.
That's why crown cap exists and there is no painting difference between them. I have the Krome and i have all the needle caps for both setup (closed and open) i paint only with the open ones but my needles are protected with the two prongs coming out of the cap and i can work with no worries as to damage the needle or nozzle.
Believe me, caps cost less than needles and nozzles...don't live dangerously ;)
 
I take it of very often because of tip dry , till a take a bent needle cup that I have replaced before and cut it in this way :
100_3354.jpg

Now I can reach the tip dry with a tooth brush without taking of the needle cup , I take it off only when I need to go really close.
 
I only have my needle cap on to protect it when it's not in use in case it gets knocked.
 
I do what Squishy does... when my brushes are stored in a case the needle cap is on. If they aren't in a case I'm lucky to find the needle cap again...
 
Depends on what I'm doing. Close-ups the cap is off because it helps with pointing the gun at the right spot. With the crown cap ol my Iwata I can not see the needle. I want to get one of those custom two prong ones.
 
I did take my needle cap off until I bent it a few times.

Now I use a 2 pronged air cap so I can still see the needle and it is protected.

For tip dry I use a soft toddlers toothbrush that I have stuck onto my backing board. I put some cleaning fluid on it at the beginning of a session and I can really quickly stick the tip of my airbrush into the bristles, move it about a bit, blow any excess cleaning fluid off on a rag and get back to painting again. Takes a few seconds, so I don't need to get at the needle to pick off tip dry with my fingers which can also damage the needle tip. Since then I have not had any bent needles so it works great for me.
 
I use a regular tooth brush to clean tip dry off sometimes.. Most of the time I use a little paint brush and a lil Fingernail polish remover to get the dried paint off.
 
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