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Recommend me an airbrush with a needle larger than .5mm

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  • Member since
    April 2023
Recommend me an airbrush with a needle larger than .5mm
Posted by ctruss53 on Sunday, August 27, 2023 2:14 AM

I am in search of an airbrush with a large needle or tip.

I currently have an Iwata Eclipse with a .3mm tip.  I tried changing out the needle and tip for the larger .5mm and the airbrush doesn't work right. Maybe I bought faulty parts.

But anyways, I don't think .5mm is going to be large enough anyways. I think I need like .7mm or .8mm. maybe even a 1.0mm if they are out there.

I want a gravity feed. Dual action. setup. And it would be great to spend less than $100 if possible. Under $150 would be ok I suppose.

 

Why do I need such a large tip?  Glad you asked.

I recently started shooting some lowrider paints. They are automotive grade, metal flake paints. My .3mm airbrush clogs because of the flakes.

I bought a cheapy airbrush off Amazon for like $20. it had a .6mm tip. And it seemed to handle the metal flake paint pretty well. But the needle was made from some supr soft material and cleaning the airbrush damaged it and it didn't work right afterwards. So I returned it.

 

So, who makes a good airbrush with a .7mm or .8mm tip?

Thanks in advance.

Insert wise quote here.

-Chad

  • Member since
    April 2023
Posted by ctruss53 on Sunday, August 27, 2023 11:42 PM

I went and bought another .5mm needle and seat for my Iwata Eclipse. This set works fine, so I'll be returning the other set I bought.

And the .5mm needles appears to be large enough to handle the metal flake lowrider paint. I was able to spray it without clogging the airbrush.

I would still like recommendations for quality airbrushes with needles larger than that .5mm I am using. Then I can have an airbrush dedicated to these metal flake paints. And I can revert my Eclipse back to the .35mm tip for finer work.

Plus I also like to use Splash paints and he specifically reccomends high air pressure and a .35mm tipped airbrush for his products.

Insert wise quote here.

-Chad

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: Mansfield, TX
Posted by EdGrune on Monday, August 28, 2023 5:17 AM

The GREX Genesis series offers spray head and needle options up to .7mm.   Their Miniature Spray Gun series starts at 1.2 mm

GREX makes a good product.  Their trigger options are unique and get a bit to get used to, but once mastered are a good tool

  • Member since
    April 2023
Posted by ctruss53 on Monday, August 28, 2023 7:51 AM

EdGrune

The GREX Genesis series offers spray head and needle options up to .7mm.   Their Miniature Spray Gun series starts at 1.2 mm

GREX makes a good product.  Their trigger options are unique and get a bit to get used to, but once mastered are a good tool

 

I have been kind of interested in trying a Grex airbrush. I am intruiged by the grean ergonomic parts, and the trigger.

I'll have to take a look and see what it costs to get into one of those and modify it for .7mm.

Thanks

Insert wise quote here.

-Chad

  • Member since
    November 2018
Posted by oldermodelguy on Monday, August 28, 2023 3:17 PM

ctruss53

 

 
EdGrune

The GREX Genesis series offers spray head and needle options up to .7mm.   Their Miniature Spray Gun series starts at 1.2 mm

GREX makes a good product.  Their trigger options are unique and get a bit to get used to, but once mastered are a good tool

 

 

 

I have been kind of interested in trying a Grex airbrush. I am intruiged by the grean ergonomic parts, and the trigger.

I'll have to take a look and see what it costs to get into one of those and modify it for .7mm.

Thanks

 

Grex will likely be outside your target price range you mentioned within the thread. And the tip design not your preference, if I'm not mistaken. Not to be a party pooper of course, if you want it you want it.

  • Member since
    April 2023
Posted by ctruss53 on Monday, August 28, 2023 10:56 PM

oldermodelguy

Grex will likely be outside your target price range you mentioned within the thread. And the tip design not your preference, if I'm not mistaken. Not to be a party pooper of course, if you want it you want it.

 

Yeah, I saw that the Grex is not my preferred style, and a bit more than I wanted to spend.

However I did some test shooting tonight. My Eclipse with the working .5mm tip is handling the metal flake paint very well.

I think I am just going to leave the .5mm tip in that Eclipse and then maybe find a Badger Patriot 105 with a .3mm tip. That Badger is the floating seat design I like, and fits my price point.

Insert wise quote here.

-Chad

  • Member since
    November 2018
Posted by oldermodelguy on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 5:45 AM

ctruss53

 

 
oldermodelguy

Grex will likely be outside your target price range you mentioned within the thread. And the tip design not your preference, if I'm not mistaken. Not to be a party pooper of course, if you want it you want it.

 

 

 

Yeah, I saw that the Grex is not my preferred style, and a bit more than I wanted to spend.

However I did some test shooting tonight. My Eclipse with the working .5mm tip is handling the metal flake paint very well.

I think I am just going to leave the .5mm tip in that Eclipse and then maybe find a Badger Patriot 105 with a .3mm tip. That Badger is the floating seat design I like, and fits my price point.

 

The 105 comes standard with a .5, fwiw. Last winter SprayGunner had a sale going on that included the 105 ( I think they had a 4th or July sale as well), these come up periodically with them. As I recall they were well under $100 on sale. Might be worth a look see with Labor Day coming on.. Anyway, point being if you buy that then to my eye, there is your .5 setup with the least expenditure,since it's the standard setup. And you can leave your existing brush with the tip you like best on it.

We have a few 105 loyalist here at the forum.

  • Member since
    April 2023
Posted by ctruss53 on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 8:18 AM

oldermodelguy

The 105 comes standard with a .5, fwiw. Last winter SprayGunner had a sale going on that included the 105 ( I think they had a 4th or July sale as well), these come up periodically with them. As I recall they were well under $100 on sale. Might be worth a look see with Labor Day coming on.. Anyway, point being if you buy that then to my eye, there is your .5 setup with the least expenditure,since it's the standard setup. And you can leave your existing brush with the tip you like best on it.

We have a few 105 loyalist here at the forum.

 

Interesting you say the Patriot 105 comes with the .5mm needle. Because Spraygunner only sells it with a .3mm. They don't have a .5mm available.

Insert wise quote here.

-Chad

  • Member since
    September 2017
  • From: Roanoke Virginia
Posted by Strongeagle on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 9:13 AM

Ahoy Mr. ctruss53.

The Badger Patriot 105 has a .76 mm tip available.  The Badger part number is 41-046, it's the one with the silver ball on the end. Badger's part number for the .51 mm tip is 41-045, blue ball on the end; and the part number for the .30 mm tip is 41-044, black ball on the end. If you Google the part number followed by "badger", you'll find multiple sources for these items.

If you want to do some serious blasting, the Paasche H (an external mix airbrush) has a .64 mm #3 tip and a 1.07 mm #5 tip.

Paasche's old classic airbrush, the VL (internal mix) has three tips available, #1 is .55 mm; #3 is .74 mm; and #5 is 1.05 mm.

  • Member since
    April 2023
Posted by ctruss53 on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 9:54 AM

Strongeagle

Ahoy Mr. ctruss53.

The Badger Patriot 105 has a .76 mm tip available.  The Badger part number is 41-046, it's the one with the silver ball on the end. Badger's part number for the .51 mm tip is 41-045, blue ball on the end; and the part number for the .30 mm tip is 41-044, black ball on the end. If you Google the part number followed by "badger", you'll find multiple sources for these items.

If you want to do some serious blasting, the Paasche H (an external mix airbrush) has a .64 mm #3 tip and a 1.07 mm #5 tip.

Paasche's old classic airbrush, the VL (internal mix) has three tips available, #1 is .55 mm; #3 is .74 mm; and #5 is 1.05 mm.

 

 

Great info.  I didn't even think about external mix.  That might be the solution.  If it is external mix then I don't have metal flakes around the needle to clog it.

Insert wise quote here.

-Chad

  • Member since
    November 2018
Posted by oldermodelguy on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 10:25 AM

ctruss53

 

Great info.  I didn't even think about external mix.  That might be the solution.  If it is external mix then I don't have metal flakes around the needle to clog it.

 

On the H the fluid still goes through the tip but the parts are not intricate, nor small at all. I said before, you could blow a blood clot through a Paasche H #5 tip I think.And it still trims back for finer shooting, I use that combo for priming models and also varnish for my wifes paintings.

The Paasche VL has drop in tips as you like. That medium Tip at .7 flows a lot of fluid opened up, even the finer .55 can if you open it up. The VL is my main brush for acrylic color coats. But it is suction feed, I use a side cup with it quite a bit. The price is right on either of these airbrushes and they're built like tanks, good customer service too.

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