Air Compressors

Glorfindel · Post by **Glorfindel** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:43 pm

I crap you not....I was just in Harbor Freights today and they had this cheapo little air compressor on sale for $6.99. Thing was the size of a Nerf football.

caisson2delta · Post by **caisson2delta** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:35 am

I recently purchased a Paasche D500SR but haven't had an opportunity to use it yet. It's 1/8 hp, included a moisture trap and regulator, and cost $122. The guys at my LHS swear by it but we shall see. Anyone here familiar with it?

rayra · Post by **rayra** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:02 am

Those under tight noise constraints should consider a CO2 tank with a pressure regulator. You can run your airbrush for a VERY long time in this manner and refills are inexpensive. And the tanks come in all sizes to fit whatever space available you have.

Those with expensive airbrush manf continuous pressure compressors might consider adding a tank. A 5gal pressure tank is $20-25 and plumbing and mounting your compressor to it is fairly straightforward.

Likewise the same tanks can be used sans compressor. Refill them with compressed air at your local gas station. They'll last a couple days' worth of model painting. A cheap / quick way to get started.

The small bradnailer kit compressors are great bargains, albeit a bit noisy. The easiest thing to do is run the compressor at a reasonable hour, pressureize the tank, then turn the compressor off. The 1-2gal tanks will readily last a night / day. Especially with the regulator dialed down to ~30psi.

Thraken-Sal · Post by **Thraken-Sal** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 1:34 am

I'm looking at airbrush compressors and came across this at Harbor Freight. Has anyone got experience with it or is it just junk? I want a good compressor, but I really can't aford anything much more expensive than this. I also looked at the TC-20 here. But I'm not sure if it's any good either. I was told that their products aren't very good.

Never mind. I just ordered a Paasch D500sr from Amazon. I got a 10% coupon from them so it was only a little more expensive than those other two.

John

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 1:28 pm

They can be junk, just be prepared to return it a few times.

My only question on it is does it have an auto-shut off? W/o one it'll keep building pressure in the line and can make the trigger release a little strong.

Thraken-Sal · Post by **Thraken-Sal** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 6:39 pm

Kylwell wrote:They can be junk, just be prepared to return it a few times.

My only question on it is does it have an auto-shut off? W/o one it'll keep building pressure in the line and can make the trigger release a little strong.

Yeah it's got auto shut off on it, wouldn't have bought one without that.

I hope it's not crap; it would suck if I had to send it back for a replacement

DMC12 · Post by **DMC12** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:32 pm

what do you guys think about this?
http://www.amazon.com/Master-Airbrush-P ... B001TO578Q

i'm completely new to using airbrushes. is this a good starter setup? i'm sure it has limitations; what would those be?

Glorfindel · Post by **Glorfindel** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 1:52 pm

Not familiar with the brand name, could be TCP's, but I guess if the needle size is .35 - .50 and the compressor can push out 30 psi it could be a good beginners set up. The price looks great. If anything you can learn on that and upgrade later and use this as backup.

caisson2delta · Post by **caisson2delta** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 2:28 pm

It looks identical to the Paasche model I bought, some time back. The specs seem to be the same as well. It wouldn't surprise me if the unit is the same as what I purchased, just packaged differently. Like previo0usly stated, it is a good starter set.

DMC12 · Post by **DMC12** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:59 am

thanks guys

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:27 am

I don't like to do a lot of shopping around so I'm looking for one good all around kit. (hose, guns, etc) master seems to have a lot of these but idk the brand seems cheaply made. Any advice or links would be appreciated.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:43 am

Master, and similar brands like the ones @ Harbor Freight, run the gambit from crap to decent. It's a random grab unfortunately.

My suggestions, an Iwata Neo. Contact Tom Grossman @ TAG Team Hobbies. http://www.tagteamhobbies.com/

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 7:43 pm

Iwata is a great brand but you certainly pay for it lol. But I suppose if you only have to buy one once its worth the price.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 10:18 pm

lsufantc wrote:Iwata is a great brand but you certainly pay for it lol. But I suppose if you only have to buy one once its worth the price.

No more than any other top quality brush. I own 3. I've got a friend who paints for a living that is up to a an even dozen.

The Neo is their entry level brush and even so it's a damned nice little brush.

Saturn · Post by **Saturn** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:49 pm

Two Iwatas. Revolution CR and Eclipse BS.

I wish somebody stopped me from my "cavalcade of cheap crap airbrushes" when I first started airbrushing. Would've saved me five years of frustration and at least $200 bucks.

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:35 am

Lol well im probably gonna pop for iwata when i get the money. Far as guns go Ive heard badger makes some excellent ones.

nick · Post by **nick** » Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:49 am

Been looking for an air compressor and came across some youtube videos showing how to convert an old noisy compressor into a whisper quiet one by using a fridge compressor/motor. I was thinking that's exactly what I want, so....

I bought a small used unit online, tank is 6 litres. 'Small tank is perfect for airbrushing', I thought. And yes, it was noisy as hell. Not good if you're trying to sneak in a session of painting in the middle of the night. So, on the lookout for an old fridge. Came across one and pulled out the compressor/motor.

To make a long story short, I married the fridge unit onto the tank and the thing is whisper quiet...well...it's as quiet as a fridge. Perfect.

Did some specs on the unit. I timed with a stopwatch how long it took the compressor to reach pressure at every 10 PSI. Here are the results:

10psi 0:19 secs
20psi 0:39 secs
30psi 0:57 secs
40psi 1:17 secs
50psi 1:37 secs
60psi 1:58 secs
70psi 2:18 secs
80psi 2:40 secs
90psi 3:05 secs
100psi 3:28 secs
110psi 3:48 secs

I did the test a couple of times and the results were within about 5 secs of this.

As you can see, it takes about 20 secs per 10psi.

Extremely quiet.....very happy and satisfied with this project. I highly recommend anyone to do this if they are sick and tired of the constant buzzing and rattle of their air compressor.

Some pics of the compressor, without the cover so you can see the internals, and with the cover:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/109040522@N02/11320860145/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/109040522@N02/11321006663/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/109040522@N02/11320862325/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/109040522@N02/11332845364/

The beer is there as a size comparison

Since the pics were taken, I have modified it a little by cutting the outlet pipe a lot shorter so the cover can fit.

There is only one downside to this conversion....it is quite heavy, but seriously, how often do you move your compressor around?? You just leave it under the bench and that's it.

Build one yourself, you will love it.

cheers.

Mascaw · Post by **Mascaw** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:38 pm

Hi, I used to have an airbrush not unlike this one http://www.harborfreight.com/1-6-hp-40- ... 93657.html

I had it in storage for a few months, anyway went to get it to use again and it wouldn't power on, anyhow, went to walmart and bought a small pancake compressor which has worked fine, however the noise from it is annoying to say the least. I'm looking to get a new compressor but id like one quieter than the pancake and I honestly don't remember how noisy the one I had from harbor freight was. Can anyone here point me to one on Amazon.com that would be worth looking in to? Like I said the pancake works fine and havent had any problems with it, other than when it kicks on and scares the living hell out of me.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 10:48 pm

I can recommend the Iwata Silent-air compressors. Very quiet, very reliable.

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Fri Aug 09, 2019 2:19 pm

Seeing that these post are close to 5 years old, I figure that things have changed and would like to know what compressors everyone is using these days? I would like to find something quiet but with a tank.

Vetter · Post by **Vetter** » Sun Dec 08, 2019 3:34 pm

I just picked up the Tooty model, with tank, from No-Name. Yes the No-Name brand. I can't seem to make a link to Amazon for it, but it goes for about $115, pressurizes up to 60 psi, and is very quiet. Supposedly around 60 decibels. It's quieter than my old old Pencraft compressor anyway. Which only runs for about an minute under load anymore. The regulator is fitted for an Iwata coupling.

Just for the hell of it I picked up a point zero stubby airbrush (cause I didn't want to drop Iwata money just to try). The Iwata HP M1/M2 knock off.
And it's pretty nice. Fit and finish is good. Inside the color cup is a bit rough. Kind of like my old Paasche. The needle could use some polishing but out of the box it sprayed fine. It wont replace my Iwata or Paasche double actions but I can see uses for it.

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Thu Dec 12, 2019 1:11 pm

Vetter, how low does it go? I have found that a lot of compressors don't drop bellow 20 psi.

Vetter · Post by **Vetter** » Thu Dec 12, 2019 4:19 pm

I didn't try it with paint but it'll blow air through an airbrush below 5 psi.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Thu Dec 12, 2019 4:50 pm

starmanmm wrote: ↑Thu Dec 12, 2019 1:11 pm Vetter, how low does it go? I have found that a lot of compressors don't drop bellow 20 psi.

that's a regulator issue, not a compressor issue.

Post by **Star Base 8** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 9:05 am

Hi guys,

I have noticed that when I set say 20psi on the compressor and then engage the airbrush the pressure drops of by a few psi. My question is when setting 20 psi as my required should I attenuate the regulator with the airbrush engaged to give me 20 psi?

James

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Wed Jun 03, 2020 3:03 am

Most of the issues with pressure drop when triggering your brush disappear if you use an air tank. So does pulsing. While I still consider myself a beginner with an airbrush, everything has improved since adding an air tank and I'm using the airbrush much more than I ever used to.

Post by **Star Base 8** » Wed Jun 03, 2020 6:48 am

Funny thing is I have an air tank and the pressure drops on the gauge for the duration the trigger is pressed.

James

Post by **bcoe** » Mon Sep 14, 2020 4:07 pm

Star Base 8 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 02, 2020 9:05 am Hi guys,

I have noticed that when I set say 20psi on the compressor and then engage the airbrush the pressure drops of by a few psi. My question is when setting 20 psi as my required should I attenuate the regulator with the airbrush engaged to give me 20 psi?

James

That's normal behavior for the regulators we use and the drastic change in air volume when you open the brush. I adjust the pressure with the brush open (no paint just open).

Some very expensive multi stage regulators demonstrate much smaller pressure fluctuations between static and running, but I can't see any reason it would be worth it for airbrushing (at least with my skill level...).

Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Air Compressors

Re: Air Compressors

Re: Air Compressors

Re: Air Compressors

Re: Air Compressors

Re: Air Compressors

Re: Air Compressors

Re: Air Compressors

Re: Air Compressors

Re: Air Compressors