Question about airbrushing

Ashlandchris · #1 11-08-2014

I bought a pretty cheap airbrush and mini compressor on amazon to give it a go and it has been ok ish, but decided to get a better brush so got a bd181 airbrush which seemed to get reasonable reviews albeit still pretty cheap.

My question relates to the fact that both brushes seem only pulse the paint when I initially press the button rather than give a steady spray. Is this likely to be due to cheap brush, or cheap compressor? Would a better compressor improve this?

Interestingly, when I clean the brush by putting water through it it gives a steady spray so could it be the paint is a little thick? Using fascolor and createx paints, but not watering them down at all - should I be doing?

bigred5765 · #2 12-08-2014

paint to thick or pressure to low

Ashlandchris · #3 12-08-2014

Aha. Tried it with thinner paint and now seems to be fine. Thank you :-)

Mind you it'll take quite a few coats...

Ashlandchris · #4 14-01-2015

I also think the pressure was a bit low, but my cheap compressor can't be turned up (see image below)

So I have bought a slightly beefier compressor and that seems to have made a big difference.
I also found that my bd181 brush seemed to "spit" and it seems related to paint building up in the nozzle discharge area. I notice that the bd181 has little "v" notches cut into the nozzle, while my new iwata doesn't so I have taken the screw off nozzle bit from the "free airbrush" that came with the cheap compressor and swapped it for the v-notched one. The spitting issue seems to have gone away now and I have 2 good working airbrushes now.

Time to get painting