Air hose problem

QUOTE: I've always had the impression that a moisture trap nearer the airbrush was important as everyone seems to talk about it, especially as I've heard that water can condense in the air once it is in the hose.

Water is squeezed out of the air when it is compressed. It then just gets blown out of the tank / compressor / hoses by the air flow. Closer to the airbrush is better, but as long as you have a trap somewhere you should be fine. My moisture trap is mounted on my compressor, and I have a 50' hose going from there to my bench where I actually have a second trap (long story, but there is a reason for it). The trap on my compressor captures a lot of water, however the trap at my bench seldom shows any at all.

QUOTE: I have to say that I would prefer not to use an inline filter as I think it means that you can't tell as accurately what psi is being delivered to the airbrush, but as I said, I always thought that is was kind of necessary.

The actual pressure delivered to the airbrush itself is really meaningless. The gauge reading is only a reference, and in reality the gauges seldom read exactly right. You know that if you set your regulator so that the gauge reads xx psi you can spray a particular paint / thinner combination properly. The actual pressure and volume of air at the brush doesn't mean anything, what matters is that you have a repeatable reference that you can use.

I agree, before I cut my hose I would look at a moisture trap that screws into the 1/4 connecter on the compressor, and the the hose screws onto it... those are mounted vertically and are connected to a T adapter so no need for cutting... you can usually get them at hardware stores where the big air compressors are.

Good luck!

Cheers. I think the compressor that I am looking at buying has a filter on the regulator. I've always had the impression that a moisture trap nearer the airbrush was important as everyone seems to talk about it, especially as I've heard that water can condense in the air once it is in the hose. I have to say that I would prefer not to use an inline filter as I think it means that you can't tell as accurately what psi is being delivered to the airbrush, but as I said, I always thought that is was kind of necessary.

Some instructions may say to put it 2 inches from the airbrush end of the hose. I did one that way, and always hated it bumping against my hand or getting hung up on the desk while airbrushing really close in. If you're gonna use one of those, I'd say wrist to elbow length will do fine.

This kind of trap does work, but they aren't necessary if you can just use a filter/moisture trap before the airbrush hose. I don't even use the hose that has that trap installed on it now that I have a regulator/filter/gauge before the two airhoses I currently have in use. I am also getting absolutely no moisture at all in the trap.

Moisture is a very small problem, yet a very small amount of moisture can cause a big splat, of course. It's real easy to cure without cutting up an airhose that costs $18 USD.

You might try coating the hose with either white glue or CA in the area you want to make the cut to minimize fraying of the braid. To get some distance as Mattfixit stated, get another hose (cheap vinyl), connect that to the compressor, connect the trap and attach the braided hose to the trap.

the further from the compressor, the better!!!