need advise on air compressor!

Yes, something like that I have figured out, away and enclosed is the best way to go for now, it works great and its very exciting. thanks again for all your advise.

Silverbean wrote:

yep, that's the one, men this sucks. ok, so what would be your advise on an air compressor, decently quiet and cheap enough for a beginer like myself? thanks again for all your help.

Can you put the compressor farther away like in the garage and run an airhose to your painting area? I did that for years. Many of the industrial compressors, while being noisier tend to last far longer than many "airbrush compressors" of lower quality. 

The only "airbrush compressors" that last long and are quiet are the silent, oil cooled types such as the Badger Million, Billion and Trillion Air, The Silentaire series as well as ones by Wether, Iwata and others which are pretty much all manufactured by the same company in Italy....Vaninni. 

Silverbean wrote:

yep, that's the one, men this sucks. ok, so what would be your advise on an air compressor, decently quiet and cheap enough for a beginer like myself?

I discussed my recent compressor upgrade in this post. The Paasche DA400 compressor is probably a little more costly than a beginner compressor. You would want a compressor that can supply 0.7 CFM at 40 psi or higher if you can afford it. The noise level should be lower than 59 dBA for use in the work area. You can look at the July issue of FSM for options where they tested 7 popular brand compressors.

If you have one of the gravity feed Badger or Iwata or Paasche airbrush or their clone, you can get by with 0.5 CFM at 20 psi. There are couple of this low power type compressor for $70-80 at Harbor Freight. Unfortunately, cheaper airbrushes usually need more powerful compressor.

yep, that's the one, men this sucks. ok, so what would be your advise on an air compressor, decently quiet and cheap enough for a beginer like myself?

thanks again for all your help.

Silverbean wrote:

My compressor is a Campbel Hausfeld, 100 PSI and I bought it at a hardware store, is this a garage compressor?

Definitely. Campbell Hausfeld does not make airbrush compressor. Is it the one in this web page:

http://www.chpower.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/chPrd_10051_10001_101193_-1

The cheap oilless type pump makes even more noise than the better oiled compressor by Campbell Hausfeld. Since it is only $40, I hope that you can afford to just put it away and get another quieter airbrush compressor for apartment use.

If you got it at Walmart, you may still be able to return it.

Silverbean wrote:

My compressor is a Campbel Hausfeld, 100 PSI and I bought it at a hardware store, is this a garage compressor?

 oH YEAH! Most definately designed for tools. I used on to fill a portable storage tank 7 gal for use indoors for my airbrush when I was younger.  I got an Iwata Smart Jet with the 40% off coupon at hobby lobby. ( Still pretty expensive but it is like going from a Pinto to a Rolls Royce!)

My compressor is a Campbel Hausfeld, 100 PSI and I bought it at a hardware store, is this a garage compressor?

Silverbean wrote:

ok I got the air brush kit with the compressor and its working great, I now understand that I will need a lot of practice to get it ritgh but it is very exciting, now I have a little problem, the compressor is really loud and i live in an apartment building, any ideas or tips on how to reduce the noice? Thanks again to all.

A properly designed airbrush compressor should not be loud for indoor use. And most of them on the market today are reasonably quiet. What make and model is your compressor? A loud compressor is usually a sign of defective item. I hope that you can return it for exchange or under warranty repair before it is too late.

There are many posts on this forum on compressor noise recently including some from me. Do a search on "compressor" to find them. There is a post by GREASY on a cheap Central Pneumatic compressor from Freight Habor just today. You may want to take a look at his comments too.

If you have not read those posts and ended up buying a garage type compressor, they are loud and there is not much you can do. It is not practical to build a noise reduction shroud or use it in a closet. You can buy a larger capacity airtank (7-10 gallons). Fill the tank up using the noisy garage compressor and use the tank for airbrushing. Then, you can at least airbrush in quietness. Another option is to sell the noisy compressor (assuming it is not defective) on the local Craigslist and purchase a quieter one.