I’m going to be investing in a Air Brush set in the near future. I herd that a small work shop compressor, like the small nail gun kits have, can be used for air brush set also. IS this true and if so can/will it work as well as air brush compressor and will it possibly damage the air brushes?
If You use a regulator inline you will be ok,a moisture trap should be used as well.
Sure, any air source can be used and small guns don’t require a large source. A good regulator is important to get consistent spraying results. I have only used large and medium guns and the pressure required is in the range of 15 to 50 pounds. A lot of tool compressors have an oiler. You never want to use an oiler when spray painting. Also, I would always use an air hose that never had oil pumped through it.
A couple of tips I suggest are to spray paint in dry weather and use good lighting. Also, several light coats are better then one heavy coat. Spray painting results can be wonderful! Just try on a coffee can or the like to practice.
I use an “economical” compressor I bought some years ago from Harbor Freight, around $100, 2hp or so, 8 gallon tank, to charge a $25.00 10 gallon air tank. It takes a few quick-connect fittings to make it all work, but the tank pays for itself quicky versus the cans, quiet (once the tank is charged), lasts a good while for airbrush work, and it’s portable. I have a Paasche regulator with moisture trap from the air tank to the brush, and the brush is a Paasche VL Series. I use this setup with a home-brewed spray booth, well worth the time to build. An airbrush is a whole new hobby within this hobby, one I find to be a very enjoyable. However, for anyone new to airbrushes, most of your time will be in preparation for painting (including mixing and filtering paints), and clean up. The actual airbrushing is only a small slice of time by comparison. Make sure you clean out your airbrush thorougly! (mine is internal mix, these takes longer to clean!).