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Airbrushing with CO2


Hawkwrench

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Is

 

I do, and have been for many, many years now. It works great, no noise, no pulsation and no moisture. I'd never use anything else now.

 CO2 cheap in the US? Damned spendy here in Aus.

 

How do you negate the cooling at the regulator as it goes from liquid to gas?

 

Matty

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You got a pic of your setup? How do you keep the tank from falling over?

 

Tim

 

No, no photo at the moment. I do nothing to prevent it from falling over, save for being very careful. When I get the new hobby benches built here, I'll just chain it to the paint booth leg.

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No, no photo at the moment. I do nothing to prevent it from falling over, save for being very careful. When I get the new hobby benches built here, I'll just chain it to the paint booth leg.

Hi Kev, I wouldn't wait with the chain... I saw a large pressure canister fall over once in a warehouse and the nozzle broke off and that thing turned into a missle and punched a hole right through the concrete wall and slammed into the next wall before stopping.... you should ALWAYS take precautions when using a pressure cylinder anywhere...

Cheers

Alan

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I think there was a huge thread on this a little while back full of good info. OP was shopping for a compressor

 

Edit

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=71839&view=&hl=&fromsearch=1

 

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=68510&page=2

Edited by Neo
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Matt - It shouldn't be liquid you draw from the bottle. There is liquid in but gas on the top. If you get liquid it turns into dry ice below approx 5.6 atm, and could clog everything. I suspect that the bottles we usually get our hands on are for beverage use, so it should be ok if you have the bottle upright. The gas does cool when pressure is reduced - I dont know about the effects of this... for the CO2 itself it's ok since it has an ultra low water content, but perhaps for water based paints it's a problem ?? Anyone ??

 

And everyone - listen carefully to Alan !!! Pressure cylinders should be handeled with the utmost care. Also you need to have your tank inspected/replaced at intervals to ensure that corrosion has not weakened it. Volatile fluids under pressure is not to be taken lightly - I work in refrigeration and it's something we are VERY carefull with. Secure the bottle (upright) and make sure it's in good order.

 

With that being said - I have been thinking about it myself as I think it would be a good solution. Just haven't gotten around to it.

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Better yet I use industrial nitrogen the gas not the liquid, very cheap to refill, no moisture, no noise initial set up cost could be expensive with the regulator but depending on the tank size and how much you paint one fill up could last for years before you need a refill. I strap my tank down to the leg of my work bench with ratchet straps you can by just about anywhere. I would never use anything else.

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For me the idea of dealing with a big compressed tank of air is nuts.  Too much complication with that and it wouldn't really fit into my work area.

 

I have a small Iwata compressor which I have to say is quite loud, but it doesn't bother me at all.

 

When I am airbrushing I find that I am focusing so much I block everything out, including compressor noise.

 

I think a lot of people who are airbrushing for a living use the compressed tank approach.  Seems to be quite a good approach, if you can make it work for you and don't mind dealing with a huge heavy tank, etc.

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I use it. No going back. The gas is dry. There are half size tanks from welding supply. It is fairly heavy. Not a space hog. I use a safety chain hooked to the wall on each side of the tank. My welding supply place was familiar with the air brush application and the picked out the regulator assembly. Much info on the WWW. I bought a second air brush so now I need a manifold for two brushes. The biggest worry is to remember to turn off the main supply.

 

HTH

 

RIck.

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