Double AB needs regulator?

 I had ordered the Paasche 99R75 from Dixie Art at the recommendation of  Ross. Works real good
http://www.dixieart.com/MiscAccessories.html#anchor89730

waikong wrote:

.............Yann, thats a great explaination. I suspected as much, but wanted you guys who have much more AB experience than I to confirm. ..................!

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not an expert of airbrushing cause I just bought my Paasche but I engineer pneumatic and hydraulic circuits at work.

Concerning the different models of compressors, it depends on how much you want to spend and how silent you want it to be.

Personally, I bought a $60 compressor like those they sells at Home Depot.  It has an air regulator and moisture trap.  Just make sure it is an oiless model (not oil lubricated) and the moisture trap is required when used under humid conditions.

Now that I've been conviced a regulator is the way to go, I did a little research and found the Passche R-75AR (guage + regulator + water trap) for around $30. Is this a good one to go with, I'm see other ones going for as much as $75 - is there a big difference in quality to justifiy such a price difference?

Yann, thats a great explaination. I suspected as much, but wanted you guys who have much more AB experience than I to confirm. Indeed, one of the biggest problem I have is controlling the amount of paint/air that I can get onto the surface. I'll pick up a regulator and give it a try. Thanks for the fast responses!

Yeah, I could explained that simpler by saying that, with a regulator,  you can control both the volume of air that goes out of the airbrush and at which speed it is going out actually.  So the closer you need to be to the model, the slower you want the spray to avoid splashes.

Edited:  It's funny cause it is very clear in my head but I can't explain it very clearly.  Lets have another try:

With a double action airbrush, you can control both the volume of air and of paint.  So the airbrush has a variable size hole to let the air out.  At a high pressure, the speed at which the air will come out of a definite size of hole is greater than at a lower pressure.  So you control the volume of air with the airbrush but you control the speed of it by adjusting the pressure.

I think I have a headache!!!!!!!!!!

I use a double action myself  (Badger 175) and I ran without the adjustable air regulator for a little while until I bought a Paasche Regulator with water trap.  Made a noticable difference since the air output was  40psi from the compressor & with the regulator I run between 12-20psi going into the A/B.
Better control at less psi coming into the A/B meaning less over spray coming out of the tip.

I'm still fairly new to this but, others will elaborate more on this.
hth,
Eddie

The regulator on a compressor will adjust the pressure (PSI) and the double action airbrush will allow you to control the volume of air going out of it.  Not the pressure.

With a gardening hose, if you want to fill a bucket with water, you could fill it with a big jet of water at low pressure in the same amount of time as it would take using a small jet of water at a higher pressure.

But in the end, you could get splashes with the smaller jet at higher pressure.  You can play with both and the results are not the same. 

You could want to make very fine lines with your airbrush by controling the air flow and have difficulty to achieve the desired result because of pressure being to high.  So you need both adjustment.

I don't know if I explained that correctly?