Airbrush compressors/tank

Hi Skyy89,

No experience with the mighty mini but after looking at it will offer an opinion. I think it will take a VERY  long time for the mighty mini to fill a 10 gallon tank from the small compressor if it will even do it. Also the compressor is likely to get quite hot - risk damage. I wouldn't try it. If you are concerned about pulsation, even a small reservoir between the compressor and airbrush will eliminate most.

The tanks supplied with many airbrush compressors are in the 2.5 to 3 liter range (1 gal=3.7 liter). My SparMax is 2.5 L and works great. You can check HERE for one that I think might work. For quiet/silent  compressors think lots of money. Reasonably quiet ones are Sparmax Stormforce ($199 no tank) or TCP Golbal TC20-T ($109 with a tank). I don't know how loud your compressor is but do know that most shop size small compressors (i.e. three gallon) are very loud - I have a Husky 3 gallon one from Lowe and it is very noisy but works fine.

Forget about the Mighty Mini which is a complete loss. I suspect it will not compress to much more than 20-25 psi. At that pressure, you will not squeeze too much air into ANY tank.

The airtank pressure should be well above 45 psi to get useful range for the airbrush. In order to run the airtank at any meaningful duration, you need to pump it up well above 120 psi.

"My question is: in order to make the purchase of the mighty mini not a complete failure and waste of money, could I just by an air tank like this one."

The rule of good decision making is not to dwell on the sunk cost.  Don't let your money wasted on the mighty mini force you to make a decision in a less optimal way.  Completely forget about the might mini and start from scratch.

Buy a high quality AB from Iwata, Badger or Paasche and buy a good compressor.   

I had a mini-piston compressor that would walk off the table if I hadn't put it on a rubber mouse-mat, It was too noisy for my tastes & I could not use it at night or when the kids were sleeping.

I then got a Rotring compressor with a refrigerator engine & U handle that acted as the tank, virtually silent, no pulsing & runs fo 20 mins no problems.  very similar to this pic for illustration

Look after it & it's a once-only purchase, but shop around.

keilau

Forget about the Mighty Mini which is a complete loss. I suspect it will not compress to much more than 20-25 psi. At that pressure, you will not squeeze too much air into ANY tank.

LOL. Hadn't thought about that way KeiLau. A 10 gal tank  only holds ~17 gal at at 25 PSI. The only purpose any tank would serve would be to reduce pulsation.

Iwata recently introduced the NeoAir compressor which might be similar to the Mighty Mini. Phil Flory recently reviewed the NeoAir on his site (florymodels.com). It shuts itself off after 10 minutes because of heat generation. IMHO the market for the Mighty Mini, NeoAir and similar is really nail painting/makeup salons.

Skyy89 the AB's you're looking into are all fine. I'm partial to H&S but would suggest you add Grex Genesis XG to your list. Also, Badger and Paasche use proprietary threaded attachment for their hose/airbrush; Iwata, H&S, Grex and many others use a 1/8" BSPP. Many airbrush compressors come with either a 1/4" NPT or 1/8" BSPP output. I wouldn't worry too much about the AB connection because adapters are easily available (I've adapted my Paasche Model H and Badgers to the, now more common, 1/8" BSPP)

The idea of a tank is to fill it with high pressure and use a regulator at the output. If you do not fill it to a high pressure it will not last very long unless it is huge.  So to fill a tank you need a compressor that will put out a hefty pressure- say 40-50 psi or so.  Since you will not be running the compressor while you are painting, a cheap pancake compressor from the hardware store is a good option. I have seen these for around forty bucks when they are on sale (in fact, I bought one at that price at Menards).  However, I did not have a tank other than the tank on the compressor- very little tank and the compressor ran about half the time. It made an awful racket when it was running.  But with a decent sized external tank it should be okay if you do not mind the noise when pressurizing the tank.  I finally opted for a reasonably priced low noise airbrush compressor.

I'm a novice when it comes to airbrushing. I started ABing last year. I researched a lot. The consensus of more experienced people's advice was, "You don't want to keep buying ABs and compressors. Buy the best you can afford."  

I chose an Iwata Eclipse and an Iwata Smart Jet compressor (<-- this one was the sexiest looking compressor in my price range!).  I'm ultra sensitive to noise but have no problem using it.  

I bought my eclipse at hobby lobby using the 40% off coupon that they offer online.  I have the silent scorpion compressor that i purchased at the lhs, but if you have a harbor freight anywhere nearby, they have inexpensive compressors although i dont know how good they are.

I plan on getting the Harbor Freight (Central Pneumatic) airbrush compressor this weekend.  Its around $65 or less if you have a flyer coupon (usually 20% off a single item).  It has mixed reviews, but mostly positive.  (Seems the negative reviews are either operator error or something that can easily be fixed)  It seems to have all the features and claims to be able to pump 50psi max. (probably starting pressure, but should be plenty of working pressure)  Flow rating seems a little lower than others, but I'm not experienced enough to notice any difference.  I'm just starting out and limited on building time so as a starter compressor, its cheap enough where I don't mind throwing away 60 bucks if its crap, but it does have a 90 day warranty, and they'll probably sell you an extended warranty for a few more bucks.  My other options were the Iwata Smart Jet ($235), the Polar Bear 2000 ($170), or dragging a dirty air hose across our carpet from my big compressor in the garage, LOL.

To Orbit!

I plan on getting the Harbor Freight (Central Pneumatic) airbrush compressor this weekend.  Its around $65 or less if you have a flyer coupon (usually 20% off a single item).  It has mixed reviews, but mostly positive.  (Seems the negative reviews are either operator error or something that can easily be fixed)  It seems to have all the features and claims to be able to pump 50psi max. (probably starting pressure, but should be plenty of working pressure)  Flow rating seems a little lower than others, but I'm not experienced enough to notice any difference.  I'm just starting out and limited on building time so as a starter compressor, its cheap enough where I don't mind throwing away 60 bucks if its crap, but it does have a 90 day warranty, and they'll probably sell you an extended warranty for a few more bucks.  My other options were the Iwata Smart Jet ($235), the Polar Bear 2000 ($170), or dragging a dirty air hose across our carpet from my big compressor in the garage, LOL.

I know a couple of guys that use that HF compressor and they are happy with it.  It should work fine. It may be a bit noisier than the Smart Jet, but it is not too noisy.

Don Stauffer

I know a couple of guys that use that HF compressor and they are happy with it.  It should work fine. It may be a bit noisier than the Smart Jet, but it is not too noisy.

I'm a guy who used a HF compressor for over three years before I got one with tank. It worked fine and is still working. As Don says, It is reasonably quiet. Only change I made was to replace the 0-100 PSI gauge with a 0-60 PSI one. Good luck with it!!!

To Orbit!

I plan on getting the Harbor Freight (Central Pneumatic) airbrush compressor this weekend.  Its around $65 or less if you have a flyer coupon (usually 20% off a single item).  It has mixed reviews, but mostly positive.  (Seems the negative reviews are either operator error or something that can easily be fixed)  It seems to have all the features and claims to be able to pump 50psi max. (probably starting pressure, but should be plenty of working pressure)  Flow rating seems a little lower than others, but I'm not experienced enough to notice any difference.  I'm just starting out and limited on building time so as a starter compressor, its cheap enough where I don't mind throwing away 60 bucks if its crap, but it does have a 90 day warranty, and they'll probably sell you an extended warranty for a few more bucks.  My other options were the Iwata Smart Jet ($235), the Polar Bear 2000 ($170), or dragging a dirty air hose across our carpet from my big compressor in the garage, LOL.

Harbor Freight got mixed reviews mostly not due to user error. Some did not pump out enough pressure and some quited after short period of time. Typical Harbor Freight airbrush compressor states a 500 hours MTBF in the manual.  It is up to you to decide if it is worth the $60 gamble. BTW, TCPGlobal on Ebay sells similiar item at same price, but with a 8 times longer (2 years vs. 3 months) warranty.

Personally, I perfer to spend the extra on one with established durability track record because I am in modeling for the long run. Did you look at the Sparmax TC-2000 at Hobby Lobby?

I believe Harbor Freight coupons excludes air compressors. But more often online than in their stores they put them on sale.

I came across an air compressor that is (I believe) originally designed for medical use. It is called a John Bunn 400A. It registers at 49 Db which is the quietest Ive found so far and is a reasonable price on Ebay, but I just need to know if it would even work for airbrushing. This may be a stupid question but if someone could tell me whether or not it works, I might just buy it. Here is a link:

www.ebay.com/.../380581454840

Don't claim to be an expert, I'd bow my head to Don Stauffer on that score, but looking at that you could find it hard to get the connections to fit to a standard airbrush hose. The one I use is similar to the link below.

251115314594?pt=UKCraftsDrawingSuppliesEH&hash=item3a77a39da2

Its a no name brand but I've had mine for a couple of years now and so far, fingers crossed. its not had a problem. I know you can get them with a tank which would probably be better. Its not "LOUD" but thats all subjective

Phil

Skyy89

I came across an air compressor that is (I believe) originally designed for medical use. It is called a John Bunn 400A. It registers at 49 Db which is the quietest Ive found so far and is a reasonable price on Ebay, but I just need to know if it would even work for airbrushing. This may be a stupid question but if someone could tell me whether or not it works, I might just buy it. Here is a link:

www.ebay.com/.../380581454840

Only the seller can tell you. You can google it to find out if you can discover the compressor's original spec, but you still will not know how old this used unit is. Does this used compressor put out higher airflow and pressure than the original spec, or at lease the same?   A compressor is something that sees wear and tear everytime it is used. It will even be worse if it was ever abused, i.e., the former owner forgot to keep proper oil level in it.

Besides, 49 dB noise is NOT really silent. The Silentaire Super Silent 20A is only 30 dB. It is very popular with modelers and cost just over $500 new. Was the 49 dB just a regular oilless compressor measured outside of a enclosed box? If so, the used price is very high.

At 48dBA it's not that quiet, especially considering it's in an enclosure. Between the noise rating & the fact that it uses "WOB-L" piston I'm certain it's a regular oil free piston compressor in a box (The output, size & weight suggest it's a twin piston unit)  - I don't see 300USD as being a bargain.

Spec are 35lpm flow & maximum pressure of 100psi which would be fine for airbrushing, but as has been mentioned without knowing the history (which the seller possibly doesn't either) it's a complete gamble.

"LOOK AT THE PICTURES AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF. BEFORE YOU OPEN A EBAY CASE...." Would concern me.

Spec sheet here;

http://www.grahamfield.com/nosync/productimagesV2/ProductAdditionalInfoItemOriginal1335.pdf

Skyy89,

The 'John Bunn 400A' compressor is available new for $600-$700. Now made by Graham Field. ThisSELLER says 100PSI continuous but doesn't give CFM so difficult to say about airbrush use. Also available from Amazon and some Medical equipment distributors. I think for $300 you could find one specifically for airbrushing which meets your need for 'quiet'.

I'm fairly sure it will be fine. 10W 30 simply mean a multiple viscosity performance oil - 10W viscosity at ambient temp and will perform like 30W as temp rises. It doesn't get thicker, just performs well at higher temps - used by many auto manufacturers in the engines. I wouldln't be afraid to use it but let your own wisdom be your guide. Glad the buy worked for you - enjoy. And, is it quiet enough?

Skyy89

I've finally received my 20a compressor and turned it on. It seems to be working fine and everything is doing what the instructions say it should. However I've come across another thing I am looking for some help with. Does anyone know exactly what type of compressor oil I should use? Should I only use the silent site brand? I've done some research and it says the msds for the oil is 10w synthetic oil. I don't know much about oil but I called the local lowes and they have some cobalt brand 10w 30 synthetic oil but I'm not sure if the 30 part makes a difference and I'm kind of scared to try it. This may seem like a dumb question to some eternal out there but I'm just starting and do not want to risk ruining my new equipment.

Do you mean the Kobalt brand compressor oil at Lowes? If so, it is a good choice.

Do not use automobile synthetic oil (not sure where your 10W30 came from). It is too thick and has detegent which is bad for the compressor.

I'm glad you got your equipment needs sorted, Skyy89. And, good luck with your new tools. Practicing on cardboard is great; try some plastic bottles (milk, soda etc) too! Have fun!!

Skyy89

Yes I was talking about the Lowe's brand Kobalt. I bought a bottle and put it in and it seems to be working fine. Thank you for the reassurance.

And Bick, yes it is very very quiet. I can only really hear it when in making an effort to and it doesn't run a whole lot to begin with. I read a post where someone said it was quieter than their airbrush and its true. My spray booth with one fan is louder than the compressor. So, needless to say I think I'm going to be very happy with it. If only it lasts a long time now. Fingers crossed.

All I've done with the airbrush so far is paint a piece of cardboard. It's a lot easier than hand painting that's for sure. I think I made a good choice with the Eclipse. I think I'm going to keep practicing for a bit before I start putting on my models, just to be safe. But again, thank you guys for all of your help!

You hit the jackpot when you scored a Silentaire Super Silent 20A in good working order for $240. It is a steal from what you described so far. The Iwata is the right choice too.

Enjoy modeling for awhile without having to worry about airbrushing equipment. That's all it counts.