PSI and Paint

[Max Chickens]

hey again guys..quick question about PSI....so all my new airbrush stuff turned up a few days ago...been finding it hard to figure out the right pressure....So am i right in saying that, say im using a certain paint and i hold it as close to the canvas as i can....i press the air down and pull back for Max paint....and if the paint spiders on the canvas AT ALL...i dial down the pressure....do the same....and keep dialing down the pressure till i get no splatter...then viola....thats the right pressure?

been doing the exercises and its going well but every so often i get to close with too much paint and it splatters or even runs.

also as im spraying should the paint appear to be dry pretty much as soon as it touches the paper??? just cause from the videos ive seen it looks like it is....cause as im spraying on top of previously sprayed sections and it has been running..

also im running an hp-cs eclipse, wicked paint reduced 1:1......
Cheers

 

[fer]

Dont know what kind of brand you have, some colors you will have to reduce more than 1:1, like black and white.
I have golden black and reduce it 1:6 the white is from trident and i reduce it 1:4. The splatters are in commen from tip dry, just clean the needel every few minits and play with the reduce of your paint , i had the same problem so i played a bit with the reducing of the paint and wrote it down to keep track.
Fer

 

[airbrushtutor]

Hi Max Chickens - someone might be able to correct me with wicked paints but it sounds over reduced.. You want the same consistency as milk/ baileys irish creme and shoot that through at about 25 PSI. if you pull back 100% close to the paper it should spider like crazy - if what you're spraying onto doesn't absorb paint then it will definitely spider more.
25 PSI when consistency is like baileys irish creme. If spraying onto a non porous surface then water based paints will likely spider! hope this helps

 

[Max Chickens]

hey fer,

the way you've suggested means you've chosen the PSI then you matching the paint to it?..i've always thought it be the other way round (choosing the paint thickness and adjusting the PSI)......so say i have the thickness that i want it....how do i adjust the PSI to suit...rather then the other way round?

know what i mean? by the way mate im a newbie (obviously) so feel free to tell me im doing something completely wrong if i am.
MC

 

[fer]

Hi MC,
I play with the psi also because i have 4 kinds of different brands of paint and each has his one viscositie . And 1 brand of ink Dia dye its photo retoucher ink. Im a newbie aswell and try to airbrush everyday , so a lott of mistake's but on the otherhand i learn a lott. Like that i dont mix ink with my waterbased paint, my worsted idea sofar took quite some time to clean out my ab.
And i try to write down a lott, also the mistake,s i made to keep track of things, specialy tha skin color that took my a long time to figger that out.
Fer

 

[Darren]

About 20 - 25 psi is fine, with the Wicked detail reducing depends on colours as some are a lot thicker out the bottle.

I use wicked detail paint and reduce anywhere from 1 part paint/1 part reducer to 1 part paint/6 parts reducer and sometimes even more reducer if I lower the psi for more detail.

As Mitch said above, thin it down to milk as a general rule and you will be good to go.