Need to do a little airbrushing. I have never used an airbrush so I wondered if anyone has a recommendation on what type of airbrush to buy for tiny touch up places.
Thanks, Cliff
Depends where you are I pusrhased an el cheapo from our local Mitre 10 home hardware store here in NZ <$30.00
Tip got to your settings and add your country flag to your avatar
You’d probably want a small HVLP. The one from Harbor freight works albeit not great. I’ve used little artist airbrushes and with auto paint I found half of it got atomized and ended up in the air rather than on the car.
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Just a random point. Airbrush air fittings are (or at least used to be) BSP. A good way to source them.
I started off with a cheapo airbursh and quickly discovered it’s limitation while sanding off the big screw up.
Three airbrushes later
- harbor freight (twice - don’t judge me
) - masters (better)
- Itwana (Best - that I could afford)
I settled on an Itwana It’s their home-gamer brush (not professional), but it got the job done, and the net result was perfect! (disregarding the time it took).
If this is a car touch up or are wanting to spray any automotive metallic (finish) through an airbrush, I’d rethink using an airbrush; and consider a detailing spray gun. Its been my experience the metallic bits wouldn’t to pass through the airbrush (and the tips I had on hand); it just clogged the tip; thus pushing the compressed air out through the HVLP bowl. Cap went shooting off, landing on the un masked bonnet, making a nice fountain of paint - it was a disaster. A good (read expensive) detail gun can be dialed down to a 2mm pattern and can be had for under $300.00 (for the home-gamer).
I’m assuming you’re fixing rock chips, or something small under 3 mm. I’ve had the best results by warming (not hot) the panel with a hair dryer; then using a toothpick or a sewing needle with a little ball of paint on the tip and dabbing the paint in the chip crater Make sure there isn’t any air bubbles in the ball of paint.
Air bubbles, will constitute a do over. Try to keep the ball of paint on the needle under the diameter of the chip you’re wanting to fill. The paint will fan wet out. Do this over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over until you’ve got the built up with the existing surface level.
Once built up, I used a pencil eraser (after the paint was cured); and polishing compound to carefully / gently / slowly using just the wait of the pencil take down the edges and blend. I then did a blending shot of clear coat in an airbrush. Did a final polish, and If you didn’t know where the rock chip was, you wouldn’t find it. Unless you’re a professional painter and notice that the metallic bits in the paint wasn’t the same density as the rest of the bonnet
All said and done, it took about 6 weeks; most of which was letting the paint cure
Probably more than you wanted to know; sorry
Mark
The Harbor Freight internal-mix airbrush can give good results. It might take some tweaking if the sample you get is on the bottom end of the build quality spectrum. I have one and have used it successfully for touch-up work.
The HF external-mix units are terrible and a waste of money, again from personal experience.
However, internal-mix airbrushes are trickier to use and more finicky about maintenance and cleaning. They deliver finer lines and precision in return. For something like touch-up work (as opposed to graphics and flames) an external-mix airbrush would be better.
Quality stalwarts for external-mix airbrushes would be the Badger 350 and the Paasche VL. These are quality pieces that have been proven for over 40 years. Generally the no-name external mix units are bad copies of the Badger 350.
Another aspect of using airbrushes is that automotive paint often will be of heavier viscosity than hobby or arts paint. External mix airbrushes are preferable for thicker paints. You may require a larger needle and cap to spray the heavier stuff effectively. Having a name brand brush like a Badger pays off here because you can buy different tips and needles, whereas the no-names have nothing else.
If you want to dig into the topic more and see about how low and high-end airbrushes stack up, check this website out: https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/
For the HF internal mix unit, here’s his take. https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/harbor-freight-deluxe
The Iwata Revolution series is good too, and reasonably priced. They are Chinese-made devices sold by Iwata, thus their lower price, but benefit from Iwata oversight and support. They have mini-spray gun type trigger units as well as conventional airbrushes in this line. In the USA, you can get these from Hobby Lobby and use their 40% coupon to get them at an internet level or lower price locally.
Dave
I have a Paasche set up. I rarely use it, but when I do, its served me well.