Well,
I just received my much awaited Badger Xtreme Patriot 105 in the mail. I opened the packaging feeling like a kid on Christmas. I have been waiting to see how good of a job the new AB will perform. I am stepping up from my trusty old Badger 150, so I was anticipating a major change.
I decided to take the Xtreme for a quick spin just to get a feel of it. I hooked up my air hose and fired up my compressor. I checked the regulator, head, and chuck, to insure they were secure. The regulator was a little loose, so I snugged it finger tight. At this point everything looked good, so I added little distilled water to the cup and actuated the trigger (which felt great by the way), only to be met with a pulsating stream of mist and air bubbles in the color cup.
I checked the PAC screw, running it through its range, from closed to wide open. The screw has a fairly radical taper to the threads so very little adjustment very quickly left me with a very loose fitting screw. In fact the screw has such a loose fit that it seems to move while using the airbrush. I can see that this screw will eventually fall out unless I apply masking tape to it. I think either the screw was machined out of tolerance, or the hole in the body had the tap bottomed out to far during manufacturing.
I decided to check the nozzle and the associated mating surfaces. I removed the regulator, but when I got to the head I found it was tighter than hell. There is absolutely no way this was hand tight. Maybe King Kong would call this hand tight.... Anyway, I took some rubber sheeting and wrapped it around the head. I then carefully applied some grip with a pair of pliers. The head came loose and I now had access to the nozzle. After a little effort with my fingers the nozzle came loose. I inspected it and it seemed OK, I looked into the body of the AB and visually check the teflon, everything looked ok visually. The needle seems to slide through the teflon needle bearing much looser than it does in my old Badger 150. I'm not sure but maybe the problem lies here.
Anyway, I'm disappointed to say the least, and it looks like I'm going to have to contact Badger. Hopefully I can get this taken care of, as I agonized over choosing the right airbrush to upgrade to.
I'll be sure to let members know how things work out.
John Harris