problem on re-assembly

[mpooley]

Hi all
I Stripped my P550 airbrush down for the first time today as it had some blockage.


I firstly seem to have put the needle back in too firmly and it needed a good tug to get it out again! hope that's not ruined it.

When i got that right and put it all back together, the trigger does not work properly! it seems more floppy than it was before but I am not sure about that.
Also when i pull back for paint it works up to a certain point then the air stops !
I am 'fairly' sure it wasn't doing that before but as I am so new to airbrushing I am not certain.

can someone advise me if this is correct please?


Mike

 

[ranhalen]

been there done that, you probably pushed your needle to far into your nozzel and damaged it,, more than likely:sorrow: if you have a magnifying glass you should be able to tell if the nozzle is flared out, also put some water in your gun, not your squirt gun, your airbrush, and look at the pattern as it comes out of the end of the nozzle, and dont point it at your eye like ii did:stupid:, if your stream leaving your nozzle is erractic and im talking bout your airbush nozzle,you probably have a damaged nozzle, in that case go get some whiskey and watch airbrush tutors videos , he will cheer you up.

 

[Squishy]

Everything ran said plus, when checking your nozzle, double check it's clean, you may think you got it all, but it can surprise you. Also there may have been a tiny amount of paint left on the needle which stuck the needle to the body when it dried, the trigger may move easily, but won't be moveing the needle, and will explain why it was hard to remove. Make sure it is spotless and then lube with a prober airbrush lube. Also I'm sure you did the needle nut up tight enough, but if you didn't it could slip affecting performance. Air cutting of seems like either a blockage or maybe you need to check/clean the airvalve. Don't know what else to suggest at the mo, hope you can get it sorted.

 

[ranhalen]

Everything ran said plus, when checking your nozzle, double check it's clean, you may think you got it all, but it can surprise you. Also there may have been a tiny amount of paint left on the needle which stuck the needle to the body when it dried, the trigger may move easily, but won't be moveing the needle, and will explain why it was hard to remove. Make sure it is spotless and then lube with a prober airbrush lube. Also I'm sure you did the needle nut up tight enough, but if you didn't it could slip affecting performance. Air cutting of seems like either a blockage or maybe you need to check/clean the airvalve. Don't know what else to suggest at the mo, hope you can get it sorted.

at the mo, i like that, ill have to remember that

 

[mpooley]

Thanks to all who responded
I have thoroughly checked and cleaned nozzle now and I found out why the air was shutting off as I pulled back!
All I needed to do was wind the knob at the rear down to stop the needle assembly coming back too far.
seems fairly obvious now .
It seems ok now although ink seems to dry on the needle even when I am keeping a constant flow. Perhaps I need to thin the ink but I am using Rowney FW acrylic ink and I thought i would not need to thin it?

anyway thanks for your help I feel better now that I havn't ruined the airbrush th first time i used it

Mike

 

[Stranger375]

Thanks to all who responded
I have thoroughly checked and cleaned nozzle now and I found out why the air was shutting off as I pulled back!
All I needed to do was wind the knob at the rear down to stop the needle assembly coming back too far.
seems fairly obvious now .
It seems ok now although ink seems to dry on the needle even when I am keeping a constant flow. Perhaps I need to thin the ink but I am using Rowney FW acrylic ink and I thought i would not need to thin it?

anyway thanks for your help I feel better now that I havn't ruined the airbrush th first time i used it

Mike

Glad to hear you sorted your problem out with the airbrush. About the tip dry on your needle, i dont know the Rowney paint, but i can tell you that i have lots of problems too like that with Wicked and also other paints too.
Some paints suffer less from tip dry and others suffer more. Also waterbased colors suffer most of it since they air dry , solvent paints are different there. But on the other side solvent are more dangerous to use.
I heard that from all the waterbased paints the Trident colors are very good when it comes to tip dry, i still have to try them out myself. It will become a natural habbit to clean your needle during the painting quite often as
soon as you realise it wont spray so good anymore.

 

[mpooley]

Ah! Thanks so it's not that the paints needs thinning then? they are really thin already.

mike

 

[Stranger375]

If the spray pattern looks good then they dont need thinning. If you can see a rough spray pattern then you can try to thinn them abit and see if that helps.
Also when you try to spray fine details and the paint flow is not constant or it gives you a splatter all the time next to the line you try to paint then it´s also a sign for
too thick paint.

 

[justme]

f you can see a rough spray pattern then you can try to thinn them abit and see if that helps.QUOTE] Or your pressure is to low try to increase the pressure.

And tip dry is inevitable with airbrushing even with trident paint, that's why they don't use this in there advertising.

 

[Squishy]

Tip dry is the nature of the beast, you need the air to push the paint, but the air dries the paint, it's a catch 22 Lol! You can minimise it though by thinning paint properly (different paints need different amounts of reducing, even different colours of the same brand sometimes, so need to play with mixtures), also lower air pressure might help, and keeping the needle lubed (use proper airbrush lube).

It's all part of the fun!

 

[AndreZA]

I've still got a few bottle of FW that I use and like all acrylics you will get tip dry. Try and get flow enhancer or r e t a r d e r. It must be a clear watery one, not the gel kind. I've started using Com-art Medea's medium and I can go for pretty long before I need to pic the needle clean.

 

[mpooley]

Great
Thanks for your help, very handy to have this sort of advice.

Mike:adoration: