Have: Airbrush, comp. NEED: ideas on regulators

by the way what kind off AB do you have Music City?

I have four:
  o  Old Badger 200 (single action, siphon feed)
  o  Badger 100 (double-action, gravity feed)
  o  Thayer and Chandler Omni 3000 (double-action, siphon feed)
  o  Thayer and Chandler Omni 4000 (double-action, gravity feed)

MusicCity, that is one nice setup you got going on there!

Thanks.  It isn't pretty but it is pretty handy.  Having relatively high-pressure air available for dusting and blowing things off is really handy to have around.

Am I being too anal about air pressure?

Yes and no.  Higher pressures allow the paint to atomize better which yields a finer spray pattern.  At the same time, higher pressure causes a lot more overspray which is what causes the soft edges that are the trademark of  an airbrush paint job.  With practice you will find what works best for you and that's what matters.

It isn't something critical that needs to be adjusted to exactly the same value every time you spray something.  On the contrary it's something that is probably going to VARY every time you spray something.  If the paint doesn't want to spray properly you can either thin it a bit more or add a pound or two of pressure.  If the spray is too thin you can either add a bit more paint or drop the pressure a pound or two.  You'll learn how to work with it and adjust things as necessary.

Also keep in mind that seldom do two pressure gauges read the same value.  If you look closely at the photograph of my setup you'll see that the pressure gauge goes from 0 to 200 psi.  I've changed things around a little since that photo was taken and there is another fitting with a second (larger) pressure gauge that reads from 0 to 60 psi.  When the large gauge reads 12 psi the smaller one reads about 5 psi.  That's a significant difference when you think about it, but I really don't know which gauge is right and which is wrong and it doesn't really matter.  The initial pressure setting is, to me, just a place to start.  If I don't like what I'm getting I'll adjust the pressure a little until it does what I want.  The bottom line is don't worry about it and use what you have.  It will work fine and you'll learn to work with it.

Get over it Moose! Every painter will use a diffrent pressure for diffrent paints. You have a ballpark idea where to set your regulator at now, but you should practive on a old body or scrap of styrene before shooting a model. I have only had an airbrush now for 2 days, but from my experiance with spray guns, get it in the area you know it needs to be, then practice with it and keep adjusting it to fit your needs, you move faster than others and hold it diffrently, so the pressure, combined with those things, will affect the outcome. Good luck Moose!

MusicCity and others:

Thanks for the info. 

So I have read all of theis stuff about how thinnning paint, distance and air pressure are what make the "airbrush thing" happen...

Am I being too anal about air pressure?  I read t that guys are going from 6psi up to 30 psi.  My compressor comes with a reg. but it is a 0-150 psi guage and it does not seem sensitive enough...Please feel free to tell me to get over it...

Thanks,

Bruce

MusicCity, that is one nice setup you got going on there!

I got lucky because my compressor came with a built in regulator so I only had to get my filter for $10 or so by the way what kind off AB do you have Music City?

As the others have mentioned, regs don't have to be expensive.  I think mine cost around $12 from Lowes.

I use a 15 gallon Craftsman compressor, and run a 50' hose to my bench.  The compresor has a moisture trap and a regulator set at about 70 psi.  At the bench I have this:

I bought my reg at the local discount auto store for $9.99 CDN (about $8). Works fine and reads from 5 to 150 psi. How accurate it is, I have no idea, but it works for me. The moisture trap I bought the same day was also $9.99.

Moose, check at your local dept. store. I bought a regulator from Wal-Mart that ran me about $10. It is just a simple design with a gauge on it, but it works good. I have another one that is more complex that came with my spray guns (for 1:1 cars) its harder to adjust down to the lower pressures. One more thing you might want to consider is getting a moisture trap, these are pretty inexpensive to and can save your paint job! Good luck!