I'm using a Paasche Type VL airbrush and an Airmaster Plus compressor. Lately, the paint has been going down as small grits and lumps - very grainy. I checked the FSM airbrushing article (March 2002) and it gave 4 causes: (1) paint not thinned enough, (2) airbrush too far away, (3) pigment not dissolving in the thinner, (4) too much air pressure. (I've been using airbrushes for over 25 years.)
(1) I've thinned the paint to different degrees and it doesn;t make any difference, (2) I know the airbrush is not too far away, (3) I'm sure the pigment is dissolving in the thinner, (4) I don't think I using too much pressure.
If anything, it seems like the air pressure directly from the compressor is low. I don't have a guage to check it, but I have a gut feeling it's too low.
I've tried different pressures, but it doesn't help. In fact, when I lower the pressure, flow almost stops competely. I'm beginning to think that the compressor is no longer putting out enough pressure. Would that cause the gritty effect? If so, what can I do? I don't really want to buy a new compressor right now.