Splatter..then nothing

Hi, Tick -

Sounds like really good recommendations have come forth, it seems that you've adressed and corrected some of the spatter issues.

A couple of thoughts, was alcohol used in any steps prior to the problem surfacing? Alcohol and Vallejo are mortal enemies, the reaction leads to a really gummy, hard to clean mess.

Yes, replacement "O" rings can sometimes be found in auto and hardware stores, but one that fits perfectly may not be useable due to incompatibility with materials being sprayed, or cleaning solutions when finished spraying.

A way to check is to put a replacement component in some of the solution you routinely use for thinning/cleaning, let it sit overnight. If it didn't soften or begin to melt it, you should be home free.

A/B problems can leave a person frustrated, but it sure feels good when it's sorted. Hope you have yours all corrected now.

Patrick

Allessio77

So, I am going to work with this AB for a while. The O ring concerns me. I thought I might try to find a replacment at an Autoparts store. A friend of mine suggest wax or typhlon tape or Liquid mask as a seal. Any thoughts on this?

 

Bees wax will do it. Some people take the o ring right out on some airbrushes and just use bees wax in it's place ( you can find you tube video on this about improving cheap air brushes or some such title). If you can find an o ring then good. Also if you fly fish and have dubbing wax that will work too ( it's part bees wax anyway). I've heard some people have luck with lip balm.

Edit: Patrick just reminded me, keep Tamiya thinner away from Vallejo paint.

Tickmagnet

Since you mentioned it. I started with a point zero as well and glad I did to learn how to airbrush.  Recently  I just upgraded to an Iwata Eclipse HP CS and it is well worth the upgrade. Now the point zero is a spare and I use it for my clear coats. Also with the iwata all the connections are the same size as the point zero so no need for adapters.

 

Thanks for the encourgement. I am glad to know that the connections are the same with the Iwata...That is the brand and model I was thinking of!

But of everyone who has added comments...thanks and here is what I did last night and today:

Striped brush down to needle removal.

Soaked all the parts overnight,

Inspected the needle tip...OK

Inspected the nozzle cap..was a little clogged before soaking..OK now

Inspected the nozzle...noticed that the Oring was frayed! I wonder if that was the original problem??

Put everything back together. Run a test with water in the bowl. All was fine.

I backflowed the air, and the water in chamber did  not bubble. Good sign, since I had a lot of bubbling when the brush was splattering.

Then I loaded up to prime my M41 Walker and everything seemed OK. It was not shooting full throttle, but I shot OK. Although I did get a little spatter after about 8 minutes of painting. But seemed to rectify itself.

So, I am going to work with this AB for a while. The O ring concerns me. I thought I might try to find a replacment at an Autoparts store. A friend of mine suggest wax or typhlon tape or Liquid mask as a seal. Any thoughts on this?

Since you mentioned it. I started with a point zero as well and glad I did to learn how to airbrush.  Recently  I just upgraded to an Iwata Eclipse HP CS and it is well worth the upgrade. Now the point zero is a spare and I use it for my clear coats. Also with the iwata all the connections are the same size as the point zero so no need for adapters.

Your AB needs a deeper cleaning, you should soak all the head end parts in lacquer thinner over night, clean the needle with lacquer thinner and polish it up with some fine steel wool ( I use 000). You also need to address the passage from your paint cup to the nozzle be that siphon or gravity feed.

Really make sure your paint is well mixed. I agree with Greg that you are on the edge with that nozzle and Nato Black without additional thinning. MA air pressure I find goes well in the lower 20's psi range with my siphon brushes.

You mention Liquitex but Liquitex what ? If it's Liquitex flow aid, forget it and only use Vallejo flow aid in their paints. The Liquitex retarder should work but it works best to be in a thinner, I have that in my home brew thinner and it helps both tip dry and slows the initial dry with most acrylic paints and certainly all that I have used regularly, including VMA. I'd thin that paint out a little at any rate. Warm dry air is going to exagerate tip dry. Get yourself some Vallejo thinner and flow aid , it's the official Vallejo recommended way to go.

Your paint spatter almost looks like you had an incompatible mix in the paint. It's qustionable if it was just too thick, dirty nozzle or had some contamination in it as well.

I'm not familiar with your brand airbrush,my limited understanding of them is they are usable. I can say that with most airbrushes I like to use a little bees wax on threaded parts that need sealing and that goes a long ways towards aiding against leaks that can cause pulsating patterns and such. My Badger 200 cone takes a teflon seal but even so I seal the threads as well and also the air cap. The nozzles on my Paasche H have a packing inside them but I seal the threads as well. Just sayin.

My first thought was the same as Greg's; something's clogging the air or paint passages. Lacquer thinner is my standard cleaner for any and all paints. Unfortunately once a clog has dried, it usually takes a good strip, parts soak and cleanout with dental proxy brushes or similar to restore the flow. Airbrushes in general are very precise tools and need careful maintainance. It takes a while to learn how.

Greg's advice is all good; the only thing I would add is to advise spraying plastic spoons, bottles, scraps of plastic, etc. with varying air pressures, thinning ratios and distances until you're totally at ease with the tool and the materials you're using.

Hope something I said helps you, AB's are a lot of fun once you're comfortable.

Sorry you are having all this trouble. Getting started airbrushing can be frustrating.

I'm going out on a limb and guessing your problem might go back to your cleanup after shooting the Alclad II clear. I don't think Mineral Spirits is going to work, and I believe you need to use lacquer thinner. (because Alclad is Lacquer based......unless you used the acrylic Alclad in which case the mineral spirits would have probably created a horrible mess that you wouldn't be able to see).

Fouling our airbrushes with a clear coat or varnish is a bad deal becuase we can't see it. Acrylic, lacquer, whatever. I'd do a complete strip, and clean each part with lacquer thinner. Try again with the VA Nato Black Model Air.

Since you've shot Model Air before, maybe you have those basics down. A few observations; Model Air blacks are pretty thick, though you can probably shoot Model Air black neat through a .3mm nozzle, you're right at the limit IMO. You mentioned Liquitex. Some years back I experimented with using Liquitex as a retarder or flow improver with Vallejo and found it to have no effect. It perhaps made things worse, I never quite decided.

Just to make sure, you thinned the Model Air with what, if anything? And what air pressure?

At any rate, I think your airbrush should be getting the job done and I'd hold off on buying another right now were I you. Unless you want to, of course.

I'm no expert in any of this, But I have used all of the products you have mentioned (except your specific airbrush) and I wanted your question to be addressed. If any of my advice is bad, somebody please advise.