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New airbrush, not impressed, need advice.


1to1scale

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I have been playing with a new airbrush, my old airbrush I had (and still have) a cheap master G22, which works ok, but does not do close up detail very well, and tends to spatter a bit. I ordered an Iwata NEO to play with, so far I am not impressed. I don't think it performed any better than my G22. So I spent an afternoon playing with settings for both, I tried close and far, different air pressures, and different levels of thinning the paint, but the poor atomization seemed to not go away. Also, when I pulled back on the trigger slowly, no paint, no paint, no paint, no paint, Splash! Here is a flood of paint for you! Each time it seemed to be in a different part of the pull. The trigger pull seems to be sticky, and not very smooth.

 

I noticed whenever I cleaned the tip on the Neo with a cotton swab, fibers would get snagged. When I removed the needle, it seemed sort of rough. My Master is better than that. I spent some time with a polishing sponge and polished the needle, I also did the master needle too. I plan to load up some more paint and test again. If I don't get better results, I will send it back and possibly order a Harder & Steinbeck. Unfortunately, I cant spend over $200 on a nice Iwata right now. 

 

What is the cause for spatter? Or in other words, not finely atomized paint. Are there ways to "hot rod" these airbrushes and improve atomization? 

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Spatter can be caused by numerous internal issues:

  1. dried paint in the nozzle or on the needle
  2. Too little pressure getting through to the nozzle
  3. Thick paint that isn't flowing well

Strip it down to the studs and make sure there is no residue anywhere.

 

I have also given up the habit taught to me by others of putting my finger over the nozzle to force airbrush cleaner up into the well for cleaning. What it ends up doing is forcing leftover paint back into the needle channel where it can dry and cause problems down the road.

Edited by Bill Cross
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If the needle is 'rough' it is likely damaged.

 

If bought new, I would offer to have the supplier either send you a new needle or accept the whole thing back for an exchange.

 

You could try looking at the needle under magnification or take a macro photo of it and zoom in to see if there's damage..

 

Whatever you decide, you shouldn't have to be breaking down a brand new airbrush to clean it...

 

(it is always a good idea to have a spare needle as well. They do get damaged and simply swapping for your spare is less hassle and frustration that having order one and then wait for it to arrive)

 

Matt

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I use the For Iwata Neo.  I've had it for a couple of years now.  I find that it performs much better at higher pressure than lower pressure.  I don't have a pressure gauge close to the airbrush.  My gauge is attached to the shop compressor, and I find that 30+ PSI works better than 18PSI.

 

I used to thin my paints ridiculously thin to try to avoid poor atomization/spatter.  I would need a crazy number of coats to cover.   I recently decided to try thicker paint and more air pressure and think I am getting better results.

 

I have bent the needle and used a file to remove the burr.  

 

All in all, I like it.   But, it's been my only airbrush, so I can't compare it with others.

 

Gaz

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  • 2 weeks later...

If it was brand new, and it came to you with a damaged needle I'd suggested sending the entire thing back and having them replace it.  God knows what else is wrong inside.  Did you check the nozzle?  if the needle was damaged perhaps it has damaged the nozzle too.  Esp if the tip was bent.

Just a suggestion.

Chris

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The airbrush is working great now. The needl was not bent, but had a rough machined texture, I polished it using a 2000 grit sanding sponge, now it sprays way better than my G22. I ended up free handing the transition on my P-40B. All it took was a little fine tuning.

 

3Dbe0PN.jpg

 

I now keep the G22 just for spraying single colors or base coats, or when I need two airbrushes at once.

Edited by 1to1scale
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The airbrush is working great now. The needl was not bent, but had a rough machined texture, I polished it using a 2000 grit sanding sponge, now it sprays way better than my G22. I ended up free handing the transition on my P-40B. All it took was a little fine tuning.

 

3Dbe0PN.jpg

 

I now keep the G22 just for spraying single colors or base coats, or when I need two airbrushes at once.

 

 

Glad it worked out for you!    I have an Iwata NEO as well, top feed. I like the trigger action for larger stuff especially, but find it slightly more of a PITA to clean than my HP-Cs.   

I like it, as it does atomize very nicely, and is much more comfortable for larger areas than the finger pressure created when doing that w/my HP-C.

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Hi Guys,

 

Well, that's a happy ending! Glad you're up and running with your new airbrush.

 

I have a number of airbrushes and the first thing I do is strip and rebuild them. They are assembled by monkeys somewhere, I've learned that over the years. I'm an ex-RAF technician and I have the skill set to do fine work and always polish the needles, even on the expensive ones. Just got my hands on a couple of Olympos Custom Microns direct from Japan, plus their HP-B Special and even they all benefitted from polishing the needles. The Harder and Steenbecks also improve with a polish. I've rebuilt airbrushes for friends and that includes cheap Chinese knock offs. The clones can perform really well with a polish, some general fettling, a bit of TLC and some lube.

 

You can't think of an airbrush as a modern commodity like a car or a fridge. Think of it as a racing bicycle or a top notch skate board - it needs to be tuned to fit you.

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Crosby

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For me, 99% of airbrush problems are caused by not thinning the paint sufficiently for the air pressure used.

 

 

One of the TRULY grand things about the Mr Paint/MRP line; pre-thinned!  Although its not as good of a value, they DO shoot better through an AB than any other paint Ive ever shot, but a long way. 

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