Air compressor?

An airbrush only needs a source of air. As long as the air is within pressure limits, it doesn't care what that source of air is. You can run a hose from the tire on your car to an airbrush and it will work just fine (although it will probably smell).

Based on this, the answer to both your questions is yes. Walmart sells compressors; I don't know if they sell hobby-specific compressors (if they do they are probably Testors compressors), but a general purpose, garage-type compressor works just fine. An air tank can be rigged as an air source, and a lot of people do that. You'll need to add a regulator so you can regulate the pressure, but it's been done a lot.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

depends how much you wanna spend

i'd stay away from the smaller Campbell Hausefeld compressors that walmart sells. i've chunked on already. the 2HP and up C&H compressors aren't bad for weekend warrior type stuff.......filling a tire/airbrushing/running small pneumatic tools for 10 minutes or so ect. ect. look at Sears/Lowes/Home Depot for good compressors at decent prices, unless you want to get over charged for a hobby specific compressor. i have a 2HP/7 gallon companion compressor that works great, and i bought it from sears for $123 or so. later.

go with a hardware if you are short on cash. go with hobby type such as badger millionaire, silentaire 20a, or iwata powerjet if you are a high roller

High roller? I have a Makita Mac700, and it only costs $180. It's oil-lubed and 1720 rpm with a 2 & 1/2 gallon tank, so it's a lot quieter than those oilless tank compressors. I feel like I have the muscle car of airbrush compressors. I love it. I shopped around online and everywhere else for a month before I decided to buy it.

only?!?! the iwata sprint jet costs $150 and my compressor cost me about $85. It's really quiet, but it's a diaphragm type.

Sprintjet is also tankless and oilless. For $30 more, you get a tank and an oil-lubed motor... A 2 hp 2.5 gallon oiler can easily do real car paint jobs and murals, while even the $700 ones from airbrush companies will suffer from pulling that kind of duty.

QUOTE: Originally posted by jdavidb A 2 hp 2.5 gallon oiler can easily do real car paint jobs and murals

Real car paint jobs? That compressor is not big enough to power a paint gun if that is what you were implying.

Mike

Its working tank pressure is 120 to 100 psi and the output is 3.3 cfm @ 90 psi. It is not an assembly line or a body shop paint gun compressor. Those are 8 to 16 cfm compressors. That's production equipment and those sprayers are not what I'd need to do a personal car paint job.

hmmm... i may get one of those... and a real spraygun. they are only about $40 here from canadian tire.

OK, but can I give an alternative?

I got a CO2 cylinder after I read about them in FSM (or was it Scale Auto?) a few years ago. I got a larger one, and I think I payed about $50-60 for a used tank and good regulator.

Now, I have a 6 hp air compressor at home that I use in my shop, and I still prefer the CO2 cylinder. No moisture trap necessary, no noise, no heat, no crud from the air lines or tank. I can spray for a loooong time without refilling - I'd say 15-20 models at least - and Ican get them refilled lots of places.

Just my