Airbrushing Kit

[mooed]

Hi,

I rarely finish something by painting, I'd rather not bother making it if it is to painted. However, my 4 year old daughter has just asked if the the latest set of drawers can be painted pink and purple and if I can make a load of existing shelves like a rainbow.

I can't paint for toffee so thinking about getting a cheap airbrush system, I'm only giving up on personal satisfaction for my daughter, anyone else can have the item unfinished and paint it themselves so don't need something flash/heavy duty, but something easy to use would be good as I've never used one. (I hate using MDF, it blunts my tools too quickly and uncomfortable with the health risks in a small workshop).

I don't really know what to look for, but seen a cheap system on rutlands. A few people have mentioned in other posts that they've bought one but no one mentioned what it was like. Is it worth it or can anyone recommend something, given the limited use I'd use it for I would not like to spend more than £100. Is it possible to get something that would give a reasonable finish for that or should I stick with a brush?

Thanks, Vic

 

[nev]

proper air brush paint is almost as pricey as printer ink, so if its a one off its probably more sensible/economical to get a few aerosols like these... http://www.paintsprays.co.uk/catalog/ru ... p-797.html

 

[mooed]

> if its a one off its probably more sensible/economical to get a few aerosols like these

Excellent suggestion, didn't even occur to me. Probably not a one off job, will have a few more bits to do but a few aerosols now and again seems the best solution.

Thanks, Vic

 

[mooed]

I've looked into this a bit more, and started wondering if aerosols are the best option. The colours available are a bit limited, I had anticapated matching a couple of current colours. I found a few websites that do 400ml cans matched to a particular colour, but at a price similar to the price I'd pay and laylands for a colour matched 5 litre tin :-( I had originally thought to mix the right colour and thin it down.

I may well be I'm being naive about what is practical/achievable with mixing/thinning 'normal' paint. If I only had a few bits then selecting colours from those readily availalbe and living with the difference would make sense, but I've approx 6sqm to paint (don't even kno whow many coats I'd need) and likely the same to come, I am assuming this is going to get expensive. As I mentioned I've never used an airspray so don't know what to expect to be able to acheive and for what price, and don't even know anybody who knows anything about it, not that it comes up in regular conversation so I may do! I'd rather ask someone who knows about wood with paint than paint on wood if that makes sense?

[Edited the above to be intelligible, otherwise it made no sense]

Cheers, Vic

 

[nev]

if no other help comes along these older posts may be of interest...

post804899.html?hilit=spraying%20paint#p804899
post800346.html?hilit=spraying%20paint#p800346
post795625.html?hilit=spraying%20paint#p795625
post767536.html?hilit=spraying%20paint#p767536

 

[mooed]

Thanks Nev, saw a couple of those from searching but a few new things to look at.

 

[Glynne]

I'm in a similar position in that I need to spray paint a few small things rather than needing to spray a lot of larger items. I did look at some of the threads quoted but these seemed to be for larger spraying operations so I came back to the idea of airbrushing.
The bespoke kits aren't cheap but I managed to use an old Koala compressor I have that I picked up cheaply from the old Warwick show along with a Clarke paint brush pen from Machine Mart. This made me think that: -
If you have a compressor, you could do the same, or rather than buy an airbrush kit, get a compressor from the likes of Aldi or Lidl and an airbrush pen from Machine Mart or wherever? For about the same price as an airbrush kit you will then have a compressor that you can add to with say a full size spray can, nailers, staplers etc.
As Nev says, airbrush paint isn't cheap - I just got 6 small tester pots from Amazon for ~ £20, but then found some large tubes of different colured actylic paint in "The Works" for £2.99!

Glynne

 

[OldWood]

Out of curiosity I did an "airbrush" search having just face a very similar problem to Mooed.

I've just built a Noah's Ark with animals for my grandchildren and decided a box was required. Just a simple one out of ply and frame, but it looked thoroughly utilitarian, so a paint job was necessary. But quick drying and low cost were the limits!

I had an A/B gun bought cheaply off Ebay some 2 years ago and a compressed air supply to the workshop so decided this was the time to put it all together. I was able to wind the pressure down below the 50 psi max for the airbrush, and I had some acrylic paint from a failed wood turning project !

So hey-ho, it's experiment time. My aim was really just sky, clouds and what could be grass, with soft edges. Having just looked at a UK airbrush webshop, I realised that the Veda airbrush is very much at the bottom end (£20 against £150 +++), but it did what I wanted.

The one error I did make was to try and seal with brushed-on quick drying water based varnish - silly of course ! A quick rub over with cellulose sealer first solved that.

Rob

 

[rafezetter]

Spraying craft acrylic paint through an airbrush is fine as long as you get the consistency right - many of the "airbrush" paints (as used for scale modelling etc - of which I have 10+years experience) are very overengineered IMHO - as most people add a sealcoat of varnish of some sort so wear and adherency issues are moot.

I have used in the past an airless piston style spraygun for large areas, but boy are they loud! If you have the budget and think you might use it more often for varnishes and other things, then an earlex HVLP system may be what you need and don't require "expert" knowledge, that some more upmarket compressor based systems demand.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Earlex-Paint-Spray-Station-3900/dp/B000V1R1GO

You can help things along by adding a paint retarder - this helps slow down the drying time of waterbased paints, which is usually the main culprit for issues like paint spattering or orange peel effects (paint being too dry before it hits the surface). You can buy professional retarders like floetrol - but many use good old fashioned washing up liquid - which also has the side effect of breaking the surface tension a bit help it to flow out better too (but can increase the possibility of overruns).

http://www.spraygunworld.com/Information2/Latex/floetro.html

 

[OldWood]

Many thanks for that advice, Rafazettar. I was airbrushing the 5 panels of a 600 x 300 x 300mm cover which I suspect was a rather larger area than was normal for a/b'ing - thinking about it now I forgot that I do have a straight normal spray gun I could have used, but it was an excuse to try the a/b !! You do have to start somewhere !! I'm fortunate that the compress air source is outwith my work area.

The gun I have has a 'suck-up' jar or a gravity paint cup; one puzzle was that I tried the same acrylic paint in the jar and the cup, and had good results with the jar but got splattering when I tried the cup.

Another question while I'm asking - can I get varnish sealers for use with the a/b ?

Rob