Airbrush Compressor Recommendations

[Blindhamster]

Hey folks,

 

those of you that use an airbrush, care to share your experience and what brush/compressor you use?

 

I own a renegade Krome airbrush i got on recommendation from a friend, which is very nice.

I own a Clarke Wiz compressor, which isnt brilliant.

 

I've been told i should aim to get one with a pressure gauge, water trap and air tank.

 

So please fire away with recommendations and your experiences with using the airbrush, if you happen to have links on where to get your recommended compressor in the UK, please also include that.

 

Much appreciated!

[chaplain mortis]

Hey blindhamster

 

Firstly nice airbrush you have picked...little tip is to use it without the needle cover, easier to wipe clean while spraying..

 

As regards compressor, to be honest you cant go wrong with any of those cheapy ones you see on ebay.

Your right regarding pressure gauge and air trap, but air tank is personal preference..really depends if you mind the occasional noise of the compressor filling with air..

 

Definitely recommend the pressure gauge as this it what you will be using to make a difference between basecoating ( generally a higher psi) and detail work running at a lower psi..

 

Also worth getting a £20 ultrasonic cleaner from ebay aswell..every couple of uses of your airbrush just stick your airbrush (stripped down) in for a 3 minute power wash.

 

Hope this helps

[Griz]

You've got a great air brush with the Renegade - I myself have a Renegade Velocity. 

 

Ultimately - your brush is limited by your skill with it. So owning a super expensive/very fine detail air brush might not be a great investment for someone who's just starting off with one. Depends on your budget I suppose as well. There are, of course, many pros/cons depending on the brand/model of airbrush you're using but suffice to say I think you're set here.

 

What does matter the most in my opinion is the compressor. This isn't somewhere you want to cheap out on. Tank size is important as well as a regulator and of course noise. I've got myself a Bostitch 22.7L, 150PSI portable compressor. It's great for me because it's multi-functional when I need to do work with it (outside of hobbying) and it purrs for a compressor at around 80dB's (typical room conversation is around 60-70dB's). The regulator is important as Chaplain Mortis said - it'll allow you to adjust your PSI. Mind you I've set my at 20PSI and I have no troubles doing any work with my airbrush.

 

A water/dirt/oil in-line filter is also a great investment.

 

Budget typically dictates your purchases but I'd really suggest going with something a bit better than your "cheap ebay" compressors. 

 

To give you a visual idea here's my set up:

 

http://i.imgur.com/QBJGdro.jpg

[Blindhamster]

Cheers for the advise so far, the krome is actually my third airbrush, but I'm. Still on my first compressor, a Clarke wizz which I'm not happy with, hence me looking for alternatives.

[awilden]

I'd say get a nice reasonably cheap one off of ebay, one that has a tank is a must in my opinion, and the prices for the ones i looked at were like $10-15 difference so yeah in the grand scheme of things its worth chucking an extra $10 down to get a better deal.

 

If your using it indoors (and have other people who live in the house who will get angry, a proper airbrush air compressor would be best, and not an automotive one, so something that advertises its sound level, i found when checking out the hardware store, all the compressors had no noise rating, and when i got the bloke in the store to plug it in to listen, it was bad, and that was in a noisy store, so imagine turning that on at 12:00am when everyone's asleep lol (whereas i have had mine on at the early hours and nobody noticed), its like 35-45db.

 

A lot of those have moisture traps and gauges already built-in or included so that's nothing to worry about, 3L tank seems to be enough to not have the motor going all the time, and only seems to kick in every minute or so then stop once its filled the tank up again, and that's going nuts spraying base coats on to lots of stuff. 1/6 horse power seems to be enough too, that's probably why its so quiet, we have a 2hp compressor in the shed, and that's way way too loud for indoors, and ultimately unnecessary for the 30psi max i ever use, i think the quiet compressor i got can do 45psi? I'm not sure since i fix it to 30 max.

 

No idea for anyone else's local currency, but i managed to get one with all the bits and pieces (water trap/gauge/3L tank), for under $100aud delivered, and that's more than enough for what i need. Just make sure to buy a hose that fits (they sometimes get bundled with one), and a quick disconnect connector, they don't seem to come with the compressors, and they can help ALOT with cleaning, without one (and using a compressor with a tank at least), as soon as you disconnect the hose air will burst out and empty the tank, nothing a cheap Chinese quick disconnect connector wont fix though ;-)

 

1) Try get a quiet one (if quiet isn't that necessary, get earplugs so you don't damage your ears over time).

2) Low horse power is fine (e.g. 1/6hp), you probably only need to do 30psi anyway, if you go higher and want 100+psi, it'll be louder.

3) Get one with a tank (3L is enough normally, if you get a more powerful/louder one, get a much much larger one to negate the noise of the compressor).

4) Remember the hoses and fittings, you'll kick yourself un-boxing a lovely shiny compressor only to realise you don't have a hose to connect to it or the wrong fittings (some of the more powerful ones have 1/4" fittings, and you'll need a 1/4" to 1/8" hose or adapter to connect your airbrush).

5) Get a quick-disconnect, regardless of what else you get, just get one, they cost like $2 from China, or worse, $5-10 locally, saves a lot of annoyance, especially if you break down your airbrush after each lot of paint to clean it like i do.

 

I think that's everything, i did a lot of searching around for what i should get, and was told, or read pretty much what i just said, and my compressor was nice and cheap and works perfectly fine, just thought I'd share that and hopefully it helps :-)