Dry Nitrogen for airbrushing?

Why not buy a ecent air compressor instead instead of wasting money on nitrogen tanks?

Most airbrsuhes are not Chinese made - only cheap ones like the ones at Harbor Freight.

You can find decent airbrushes here as well as air compressors:

Airbrushes:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/Airbrushing-Supplies/Airbrushes_3/

Air Compressors:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/Airbrushing-Supplies/Compressors_4/

and finally if you're interested -Airbrush Spray booths:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/Airbrushing-Supplies/Spray-Booth/

Or head over to your local Hobby Lobby armed with a 40% coupon, you can find airbrushes for a decent price. I believe they also have an air compressor or two.

I appreciate the response, but there is no waste of money. I have 4 80# nitro tanks for work, so the money is already spent. It costs me less than $13 to fill one to 2000 psi. 

I wanted to apologize if my last post sounded short and dismissive, as i certainly did not intend that. 

I will certainly take a closer look at compressors. I guess I am stuck on buying U.S. made products wherever I can, and was under the impression most small compressors are chinese built. I will take a closer look at the links you provided.

As far as a paint booth, thats an interesting story. We installed two full sized paint booths for the PA Air National Guard last year. They use them to paint C-130's. I was able to procure four LARGE rolls of paint arrestor material they used in the booths we demolished and disposed of. I drew plans for a 4'x6" booth on the computer and sent the plans to our sheet metal fabricator a few weeks ago. They are building me a steel booth with a filter rack for the paint arrestor material. I already installed an exhaust fan and ducting in my basement for this. I am excited to get the booth home and finish the install. 

I see no. worries at all with Nitrogen. Very stable and no moisture issues. Very quiet also. If you already have the equipment I say go for it. Only problem might be to get a compatible regulator to bring the psi down to more managible levels. 

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

Why not buy a ecent air compressor instead instead of wasting money on nitrogen tanks?

Most airbrsuhes are not Chinese made - only cheap ones like the ones at Harbor Freight.

You can find decent airbrushes here as well as air compressors:

Airbrushes:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/Airbrushing-Supplies/Airbrushes_3/

Air Compressors:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/Airbrushing-Supplies/Compressors_4/

and finally if you're interested -Airbrush Spray booths:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/Airbrushing-Supplies/Spray-Booth/

 

Or head over to your local Hobby Lobby armed with a 40% coupon, you can find airbrushes for a decent price. I believe they also have an air compressor or two. 

Err Umm ...

It sounds like the OP is well versed in the business of high pressure air (higher than many of us use),  and is already tooled up with maybe the exception of the terminal piece.  From what my quick interweb search showed an 80lb bottle may be well sized for home use

Sparmax of China (compressors and airbrushes) and Iwata (compressors and airbrushes) of Japan have a mutual production agreement.   Many parts are interchangeable.  That Iwata airbrush which is greatly sought after may be actually manufactured in China.  

The US manufactured items which I am aware are Badger, Thayer & Chandler (a Badger product), and Paasche (I think).  Aztec may be American owned, but manufacturer is ?.    Grex is another good brand, but may be $$.  IIRC, listening to Ken S. the CEO of Badger,  said that their compressors are not US made, rather are finished locally in their shop before shipping. Harder & Steenbeck is European made.  

Hobby Lobby's airbrushes and compressors are, for the most part, Iwata and Sparmax.  

So if you check the TCP links provided -- many of the products are not US made.  As the man who used to sell suits on TV used to say 'an educated consumer is our best customer'.

By all means proceed with the N2 as your airbrush source.   Many people convert, or wish they could convert from a noisy compressor to a quiet gas bottle.  Even if your compressor is a silent model you can't airbrush when the power is out.   N2 may be actually safer than CO2 in a home environment.  

Here's a link to Don's Airbrush Tip website

https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/

He has some good reviews of many airbrush brands and info on using CO2 & N2 as an air source.

Gusdog

I wanted to apologize if my last post sounded short and dismissive, as i certainly did not intend that. 

I don't see anything you said as negative. It was very clear. You already have some nitrogen tanks and you'd like to use them. It's a viable and good question. Also, you were talking about chinese made compressors, another poster read it that you were talking about airbrushes. That took the conversation in another direction. It looks like some confusion here.

I don't have an answer for you about the tanks but I sure hope you work it out. It sounds like a pretty reasonable option for you. Btw. That booth sounds like it will be awesome! Post a picture of it when it's done. I would love to see it.

Thank you for the answers, everyone. 

I did take a quick look at Don's airbrush site, and there certianly is a lot of info there. I hope this weeks calms down a bit so I can take a longer look at that.

I think I may give the nitro tanks a try. I did check our regulators and unfortunatly none of them read below 100PSI, so i am going to ask our vendors if they have anything that will read down to 15PSI? From what I have learned from this forum 15-20PSI is about normal for an airbrush? Also, all of our regulators and hoses are 3/8" or 5/8" ACME thread (standard HVAC refrigerant connections), so that may be an issue as well. I guess I should go ahead and purchase the airbrush and see what the connection size will be and go from there. If it doesn't work logisticaly I have no issue with purchasing a small compressor. 

As far as the paint booth, I can gladly post some pictures when it is installed. Normally I would not go to the extreme like that, in fact I made a quick CAD drawing and sent it to our sheet metal fabricator as kind of a joke (we have a good working relationship with their project manager), and when they replied with a quote of $500 to fabricate such a thing, I answered "SOLD" without hesitation. I hope to have it in a week or two, which gives me time to run my conduit and pull my power and control wiring before it gets here. 

I found a 30 PSI gauge with 1/4 NPT threads on Amazon.   My final regulator is a small Harbor Freight (yeah, it is Chinese) model with 1/4 inch inlet/outlet/gauge ports which takes the 100 ish PSI from a shop compressor.  This final regulator is typically set at 12 to 15 PSI,  but can be set up to 20 to 25 if I need to blow out a thicker paint or clean the brush.   

You should be able to fabricate a connector taking your ACME as input and output it through a NPT sized fitting.  I also use quick disconnects to attach the brush hose.   Check with your selected  brush manufacturer.  I use a 1/4" to Iwata hose connector on the end of the male disconnect.   Iwata/Sparmax, Badger, and Paasche make different hose styles.   Grex uses Iwata.

California Air Tools makes various levels of compressors, several quiet operating ones.  You can use one as a portable unit you set up as you need itor do a little plumbing to plumb it in and give it a more permenant home with a quick disconnect at your work station. The obvious advantage of a compressor is you always have ready air and no swapping out of 80lb tanks.

Regulating 2000lb down to 20 or less generally would happen in two stages and you want a fine airbrush style regulator in the end anyway that will hold a constant half lb or so variation range when in use. We actually do this even with home or noisy contractor style compressors. The regulators on a home/ portable compressor is not real well regulated, it varies, so many of us  use an air guage and water trap regulator at the spray booth, set the compressor regulator at 50lb or so then finely regulate at the booth .

Best of luck how ever you proceed !

So, today is yet another example of why my fiance is smarter than me........

I was discussing my plans with her, and her response was "can't you find a way to use the air compressor we bought for the shop?" 

We built a garage/workshop/small warehouse for the business last year, we use it to store supplies, scissor lifts and the mini excavator, etc. We also installed a 7.5HP rotary air compressor w/ refrigerated dryer. Since I have some 1" Schedule 80 steel pipe, all I need is time to dig a 200' trench from the shop to the house. 

I am thinking i may go this route unless there is a good reason not to.  So that would solve the air supply question, I would just need to install a regulator/ oil trap/ moiture trap in the basement in my soon to be modeling area. 

Gusdog

So, today is yet another example of why my fiance is smarter than me........

I was discussing my plans with her, and her response was "can't you find a way to use the air compressor we bought for the shop?" 

We built a garage/workshop/small warehouse for the business last year, we use it to store supplies, scissor lifts and the mini excavator, etc. We also installed a 7.5HP rotary air compressor w/ refrigerated dryer. Since I have some 1" Schedule 80 steel pipe, all I need is time to dig a 200' trench from the shop to the house. 

I am thinking i may go this route unless there is a good reason not to.  So that would solve the air supply question, I would just need to install a regulator/ oil trap/ moiture trap in the basement in my soon to be modeling area. 

 

If I wern't already married I'd ask if she has a sister!

Advice from a guy who's been maried 43 years -- she's always smarter than you.   Or keep telling her that.

Sounds like you have a plan.

EdGrune

  Or keep telling her that.

Now... THERE is wisdom.

Don't know about nitrous but I will say I have been using CO2 for 20 years or so (10 lb bottle - refills are cheap) and have never looked back.  Quiet and zero condensation.  I never had much luck with the little compressors as they pulsed and spat out water periodically despite the water trap I had.  All that said... I'm sure compressors have come a long way since I used them and lots of really talented folks on this forum use them.  I push CO2 like I have stock in it ;) just because I've been so pleased with the consistancy.   

keavdog

Don't know about nitrous but I will say I have been using CO2 for 20 years or so (10 lb bottle - refills are cheap) and have never looked back.  Quiet and zero condensation.  I never had much luck with the little compressors as they pulsed and spat out water periodically despite the water trap I had.  All that said... I'm sure compressors have come a long way since I used them and lots of really talented folks on this forum use them.  I push CO2 like I have stock in it ;) just because I've been so pleased with the consistancy.   

 

You need a compressor with a tank on it or else run the tankless type to a small holding tank, then feed from the tank to the gun to not pulse at least at some pressure point. And I never understood the water trap regulator being attached to the compressor directly because you need to get away from the compressor to let the air condense before you will trap water, especially in high humidity climates. The air has to cool enough to let the water condense out.

EdGrune

 

 

Gusdog

So, today is yet another example of why my fiance is smarter than me........

I was discussing my plans with her, and her response was "can't you find a way to use the air compressor we bought for the shop?" 

We built a garage/workshop/small warehouse for the business last year, we use it to store supplies, scissor lifts and the mini excavator, etc. We also installed a 7.5HP rotary air compressor w/ refrigerated dryer. Since I have some 1" Schedule 80 steel pipe, all I need is time to dig a 200' trench from the shop to the house. 

I am thinking i may go this route unless there is a good reason not to.  So that would solve the air supply question, I would just need to install a regulator/ oil trap/ moiture trap in the basement in my soon to be modeling area. 

 

 

 

 

If I wern't already married I'd ask if she has a sister!

Advice from a guy who's been maried 43 years -- she's always smarter than you.   Or keep telling her that.

Sounds like you have a plan.

 

 

 

Edgrune,

No truer words have ever been written......

oldermodelguy

 

 

keavdog

Don't know about nitrous but I will say I have been using CO2 for 20 years or so (10 lb bottle - refills are cheap) and have never looked back.  Quiet and zero condensation.  I never had much luck with the little compressors as they pulsed and spat out water periodically despite the water trap I had.  All that said... I'm sure compressors have come a long way since I used them and lots of really talented folks on this forum use them.  I push CO2 like I have stock in it ;) just because I've been so pleased with the consistancy.   

 

 

 

 

You need a compressor with a tank on it or else run the tankless type to a small holding tank, then feed from the tank to the gun to not pulse at least at some pressure point. And I never understood the water trap regulator being attached to the compressor directly because you need to get away from the compressor to let the air condense before you will trap water, especially in high humidity climates. The air has to cool enough to let the water condense out.

 

 

 

I agree with the issue of condensation. That is really the only concern I have with running 200' of piping underground between my shop compressor and my house. I know when we are designing/installing LP or natural gas piping system, code does not allow exiting a building with gas piping after you enter the building from the main regulator or utility meter. The theory is that the temperature change would cause a large amount of condensation. I am not sure if the same theory applies to my thought of tapping air from a heated shop, exiting the building underground, then re-entering a building into a heated basement. My hope is that condensation would be minimal, but also wonder if it would not be a good idea to install a dessicant air dryer in my basement just to be safe. It is also completely possible I am putting way to much thought into a small project,,,,, my fiance tells me I am a master of over-engineering things,,,,,,,

Gusdog

It is also completely possible I am putting way to much thought into a small project,,,,, my fiance tells me I am a master of over-engineering things,,,,,,,

If it is dry nitrogen, I wouldn't think there would be any concern about condensation, and nitrogen is pretty inert at normal temps.  Should work.  Other than possible adapter between nitrogen tank and regulator, I think all other parts of normal airbrushing system should be okay.

Well you will be drawing low cfm which is to your advantage.

I definitely used nitro when I began modeling years ago. My dad was a pipe fitter and he always had bottles of nitrogen. I had no issues at all  Using it for airbrushing. 

Pardon me but wht are you making this so complicated? Buy a hobby airbrush air compressor with a tank and regulator like they are sold for airbrushing, put it by the bench and you are done. Problem solved!