Badger 100g problems - no paint....

First off, thanks all appreciated

I think the needle bearing is gfine, the fact it had it on the digagram caused me to think i should see it.

I am using a medium tip.

The water with a tiny amount of paint residue comes through as I would expect the paint to.

Im using 10-15, and I was successully usign this the night before, in fact exact same setup

Ive stipped the tips down and cleaned them. I can see light when lookinh through the tips. All looks ok, so its got to be the paint?

The only thing I can think of is that the  vallejo air and vallejo thinners are now kept in a garage overnight? Could the cold expand the paint sufficiently? The more I think about this, the more Im thinking this must be it?

Another possibility was the teflon washer. this may not of been screwed onto the thread of the tip as securely as Id thought. A you tube video of a 150 badger, same mechanism should me the difference

thanks again

Don't know if I can help you scall but I'll try. Did the water spray like paint normally would or were you just able to get enough water through to see that something was spraying? The reason I ask is that it's possible the nozzle/tip could be clogged enough with paint residue from previous sessions that water could pass but paint pigment would not. If the needle bearing were missing then you would probably have paint or water flowing back into the body of the brush. It's outside diameter is probably close to 1/8 (.125) inch and the needle should be about .047 so if it were missing there would be plenty of clearance for the paint cup to empty into the brush.

Hopefully after you've soaked the tip/head assembly overnite and cleaned it out all will be normal again. If you have the fine tip and needle combo in your brush then that tip is pretty small. I take a sewing needle that will just fit into the nozzle and stick out a little then file down one side of the needle a little so I have a couple of edges. Clean it up with some very fine sandpaper to make certain any burr is gone then hold the needle in a pinvise and gently insert it into the tip just like the airbrush needle would go in and turn it. I get the needle and tip wet with thinner first and then flush it out afterwards. It doesn't take a lot. Wipe the needle on a piece of clean paper towel or tissue to see if it had any paint on it and flush the nozzle over clean towel or tissue to see what you get out of it. If you don't want to use a needle then you could sand down a wooden toothpick and do the same.

Then scrutinize your re-assembly procedure to make sure you have everything right.  Put the teflon washer on the head assembly and screw it into the body of the brush and snug it down lightly with a wrench. If you had the regulator off the head then screw it on and snug it up. Slide the needle in and tighten the chuck Screw on the handle and you should be good to go.

I seal the threads on the head assembly and the regulator with beeswax but I don't know that's necessary, just something I do. I have a 100LG with the fine needle and tip and most of the time shoot at 5-6psi, by my regulator. Some paints require a little more pressure but I never use more than 12-15psi. If that doesn't do what I need then I change to a brush with a larger tip/needle. The fine tip on these brushes is supposed to be .030 mm, don't remember what the medium tip is. The fine should handle most paints just fine, mine does, although it doesn't like metallics or Metalizers.

Tony

Quite the conundrum...

Just a thought - what size needle are you using (fine, medium, heavy?).

I've never used a fine, but i understand that it will cause problems with paint - it's primarily designed for inks.

If it's pulling water through, then it must be clean enough for very thin liquids, obviously the thicker paint is the issue - hence the reason i wonder if you're using a fine needle and tip.

Whilst you've had success before - was that at a higher pressure?

As Phil_H suggested, perhaps increase the pressure until you get it to flow - were you using 10-15psi previously when you had success?

10-15 may be a little on the low side for a B100. You may want to try about 18 or so and adjust to suit.

The needle bearing is not meant to be a user serviceable (or even accessible) part, so its presence is not necessarily obvious. It is located down the threaded hole in the front part of the airbrush body that the head assembly screws into. Under normal circumstances it is not removable, though it has been reportedly been dislodged occasionally through over-enthusaistic cleaning. You should be able to feel it guiding the needle when you insert the needle into the airbrush body. If it's not there the needle will flop around loosely.

Have a look at the cut away drawing on this page to see where the needle bearing is.  You should be able to see it if you remove the head.

Don