Another airbrush problem

cwalker3

In my last post I had problems with a Badger Patriot airbrush, which was like the second or third one I'd had issues with. The last one I sent off to Badger for repairs. I sure hope it gets back soon cause I just broke another one.

This is also a Patriot. This one hasnt been used more than 5-6 times. After every session I break down the airbrush and flush out with water and alcohol as I use only acrylics. I was havng no issues at all until today. Today I was spraying Tamiya flat aluminum and was goin along fine until the end when it just stopped spraying. I thought it was dry tip so I wiped it off but still nothing. So I broke it down and cleaned it. Try running some water through it and it sprays fine until I get down to the bottom when bubbles start coming up and the flow stops. So I clean again. And again. And again. Still getting  bubbles back up though the cup. I also brushed out the small hole in the face of the nozzle where the air comes out. Still it bubbles.

So any help would again be appreciated. I dont know what else to do at this point.

Thanks

 

 

Check the seal around the nozzle to body. If that seal is not complete then the air back flows through the cup.

Tcoat

 Check the seal around the nozzle to body. If that seal is not complete then the air back flows through the cup.

 

Thank you! That was it. For years I used to snug down the nozzle with a pair of pliers, but on this one I had been just closing it finger-tight. I snugged this one up and its working like new. I will be going back to my old way of doing it.

Thank you again Tcoat!

It sure sounds like a problem with a seal, but why so quickly? Off the top of my head I am wondering if the alcohol that you're using to clean the airbrush might be damaging the seals. Since your using Tamiya acrylics, I'd say try cleaning with Windex, as the ammonia in that absolutely devours Tamiya acrylic paints. Next thing I'd check is how tight you have the nozzle area cinched down. Not torqued like lug nuts on a car, but more than minimal finger tight. 

stikpusher

It sure sounds like a problem with a seal, but why so quickly? Off the top of my head I am wondering if the alcohol that you're using to clean the airbrush might be damaging the seals. Since your using Tamiya acrylics, I'd say try cleaning with Windex, as the ammonia in that absolutely devours Tamiya acrylic paints. Next thing I'd check is how tight you have the nozzle area cinched down. Not torqued like lug nuts on a car, but more than minimal finger tight. 

 

It was definitely the seal.I tweaked it with a pair of pliers and it worked like new. Good tip on the Windex. I give it a try. Thank you.

On my Paasche VL they give you a wrench for the cap that holds the nozzle tip in place. And I tighten that just firmly. But as I believe I mentioned to you before and also Don did as well, use a little bees wax or chapstick on the mating surface of the tip to body. It makes a huge difference and makes it less fussy as to just how tight you get those parts tightened down. Now that you know this intersection of parts is the cause of your bubbles and flow stopages you can address it accordingly, it's not so much a mystery.

My VL doesn't blow bubbles into the cup but it can out the threads of that cap, I use chapstick on the threads there is all.

Need to be careful with ammonia products in any airbrush that contain brass parts. I used to use Windex to clean one gun I had (don't remember make and model) and the brass cone in the tip kept splitting. I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on for the longest time since I was very careful not to crank the needle up too far. A tip would only last me a couple of sessions and then the end would just crumble away. Eventually found out about how nasty ammonia plays with brass, stopped using the Windex and never replaced a tip again. 

Now, that is probably only an issue with brushes that have a very high brass content in the parts but it still bears mentioning