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Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 9:28 am
by Brickie
Havng an odd problem with my airbrush and can't quite figure out where the problem is.

It's acting like it's blocked somewhere, with no paint emerging when I pull back on the button, but when I let go, just as the needle is settling back into place you get a tiny spurt of paint. Undoing the chuck nut and ever so slowly pulling back the needle manually will again give a flow of paint, but then fastening the chuck there and spraying won't.

It's a cheapass Chinese airbrush that cost under a tenner, so I'm quite prepared for the answer to be "yeah, the seals are gone, you need a new airbrush", but I#d been hoping not to have to just now...

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 10:05 am
by Ratch
Could be the paint is too thick and needs thinning. Have you tried spraying water through it?

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 10:08 am
by Brickie
Water, thinners, airbrush cleaner. Same result.

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 10:11 am
by Ratch
How about cleaning it with IPA?

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 10:20 am
by Brickie
Waste of good beer. :)

Not sure where to get IPA, actually. Have been assuming that Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner and Tamiya thinners covered most bases on that front between them.

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 12:09 pm
by fredk
Have you got a set of airbrush cleaning brushes?
Sounds like it needs a pull through cleaning to get rid of a particle of dried paint.

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 12:15 pm
by JamesPerrin
Is the cap around the needle tip on tight enough. If loose it will cause low air pressure and no spray. Been caught out a couple of times by this myself.

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 12:25 pm
by Ratch
Brickie wrote:Waste of good beer. :)

Not sure where to get IPA, actually. Have been assuming that Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner and Tamiya thinners covered most bases on that front between them.
Isopropanol alcohol is more aggressive, I use it as a last resort.

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 1:56 pm
by Brickie
JamesPerrin wrote:Is the cap around the needle tip on tight enough. If loose it will cause low air pressure and no spray. Been caught out a couple of times by this myself.
Yep, checked that.

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 6:09 pm
by syd-baines
sounds like you could have a bit of dried paint on the needle tip you need to take the needle out and give it a good clean but be careful not to bend it i usually use zero airbrush cleaner also turn the compressor up high and give the tips a good blow out (do not use wire in them)

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 7:30 pm
by Brickie
syd-baines wrote:sounds like you could have a bit of dried paint on the needle tip you need to take the needle out and give it a good clean but be careful not to bend it i usually use zero airbrush cleaner also turn the compressor up high and give the tips a good blow out (do not use wire in them)
I tried it with a brand new needle as well, as I wondered if I'd bent it or something. :evil:

Thought I had some little wire brushes somewhere, or indeed some little plastic interdental toothbrushes, but alas neither are to be found...

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 8:48 pm
by iggie
I've had similar experiences with 'cheap' airbrushes; not thinning the paint enough turned out to be the cause in my case....
spluttering, and only getting any spray whilst working the needle in and out (as you describe) were exactly the symptoms I had

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 9:33 pm
by Brickie
I definitely had an incident of under-thinned paint a while back (some vallejo model air that turned out to have thickened a bit in the bottle), but it's just weird that I can't find any trace of a blockage now, and it won't even spray pure thinners.

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 11:06 pm
by fredk
I had a similar problem. It was a microscopic bit of dried paint

Re: Diagnose my Airbrush woes!

Posted: September 5th, 2016, 1:23 pm
by TobyC
I use a sonic bath when paint gets really ingrained. Always sorts the problem out.