I already have a “real” air compressor in my shop, 30 gallon tank capable of 120 cfm at 90psi. This thing runs a needle gun and an air drill steady. If I put a regulator onto it, why can’t I just buy a tip and needed fittings to use it? How much do I need to reduce the psi to in order to use this compressor?
Not sure how you plan to use a needle scaler or a drill to spray paint, but an air brush has a way to mix the paint with the air stream. Buying the tip and “needed fittings” would probably come close to the price of a low end air brush, which will work on 12 to 25 PSI, depending on the brush and type of paint.
Have no intention of using those tools, just saying I have an adequate compressor for mechanical work. Just thinking if I can reduce the psi at the tip all I have to do is buy a regulator. I can liberate fittings from work. Then just buy the tip. No 120-150 dollar compressor. I have never used an air brush before and I am curious as to how much psi they use as it has a bearing on which regulator I buy. Sears has them for $29. Like everybody else trying to save money. As far as that goes, whats a good brand of gun and what features do I need to look for?
A good brand of gun is a Sig Sauer P226. Maybe you can use that to liberate the fittings. A good brand of airbrush for entry level would be Testors or Badger and can be bought for less than $100. 15-30 psi is what is used for most model work.
To answer your question yes, you can buy an inexpensive regulator many places including Lowes or Home Depot. The pressure depends on the type of paint your spraying. Acrylics tend to need a little more pressure then solvent based paints. approx. 30psi as compared to 15 to 20psi for solvent based paints.
Your best bet is to follow the manufactures recommendation usually they are on the bottle. Not really sure what you mean by tip and needle fitting. An airbrush has a tip and a needle along with other parts both the tips and needles can be changed out for different sizes depending on what your painting and what kind of effect your looking for.
Air volume (SCFM) required for an air brush is very low, I have a compressor with a 2 gallon tank that is more than adequate. Most regulators that come with compressors can be turned down enough to operate an airbrush. I set mine up with a simple 1/4 inch QD connector, and can pop in the hose from my air brush, tire inflation hose, air nozzle, or any other air tools I buy in the future. Still not sure what you mean in your second sentence where you say “reduce the PSI at the tip.” The tip of what?
If you plan to use the air brush simply as a miniature spray gun, almost any external mix will work well for you. I’ve had both the Badger and the Paasche air brushes, and they work fine. The external mix type is usually cheaper and easier to clean.
I appreciate all the advice. As I stated I have never messed with an air brush before. To clarify, the tip, I mention was the gun itself. Where I work, the paint delivery machine is called a paint gun. So that might clear that up. The tip, gun or air brush I’m talking about is the thingy you hold in your hand to deliver the paint. I keep my compressor set at 120-150 psi to run all of my mechanics tools. I think I am going to set up a station mounted to my wall at my workbench and bring air to it reduced thru an existing regulator to around 75 and then another regulator at the station to reduce down to workable pressure. This is mainly a personal choice to keep the compressor freed up for other projects. It will also allow me to just plug the air brush in at the wall instead of needing 15 feet of hose to reach my workbench. I have already decided to sacrifice a few of my really old cheap stuff with pancake motors to experiment on. Already tried to convert them to kadee couplers, but nothing matched up and there was no way to adjust the heights. Thanks for the info on PSI differences with the different paints. All my experience with paint spraying is with industrial marine epoxies. That means mix it and hurry up and get it on before it hardens, usually 5 gallons at a time.
One of the big differences between full size spray painting outfits and an airbrush is the volume of paint that will be sprayed. My airbrush uses a 3/4 Oz bottle for the paint supply, and this is usually enough for two coats on a model diesel shell in HO scale. Spraying steadily, it would take about 7 or 8 minutes to completely drain the paint jar. A commercial painting outfit would probably use that in a few seconds. For the fine model work, you want a lower flow rate to get an even coat without runs. Compared to the epoxy finishes you work with, the film on model paints is extremely thin, otherwise it would obscure details on the model.