Harbor Freight airbrush = Badger 150, right?

[nicholjm]

I recently bought the cheap Harbor Freight double-action airbrush just to try to get into the craft. I believe that it is a clone of a Badger 150. Can anyone verify that for me? If it is, I should be able to buy accessories for the Badger 150, like paint jars, needles, tips, etc, and they should in theory fit my cheap knock-off, right?

[big-dog]

I have the same airbrush and am tres impressed with the quality, it does seem to be knock off of the 150, in almost every way. With the weird generic packaging I almost wonder if it is a 150, the trigger feel is as good as any Badger brush I've used. As for if Badger parts will fit, only one way to find out. I aint tried it yet.

[nicholjm]

Have you tried Harbor's single-action, external mix airbrush? It's even cheaper. I was thinking of trying it out for simple base coats, because I've heard single-actions are so much quicker to set up and clean. My compressor came from Harbor Freight as well. It's a 2-gallon Chicago Pnuematic, and it works great! I added a water trap that was $11 at Home Depot, and was off and running. The great thing about this little compressor w/bottle is I can use it for other things as well. Now all I have left is to make a spray booth.

PS: One crappy thing I noticed about the airbrush is the rim of the glass bottle is not perfectly flat, which lets paint leak past the rubber seal sometimes. I'm thinking of replacing it with ones that will fit a Badger 150 (hence the question asked in the first post)

[Tayed-Gachi]

I recently bought the cheap Harbor Freight double-action airbrush just to try to get into the craft. I believe that it is a clone of a Badger 150. Can anyone verify that for me? If it is, I should be able to buy accessories for the Badger 150, like paint jars, needles, tips, etc, and they should in theory fit my cheap knock-off, right?

The answer is NO!
Although simmilar in design to the 150 the badger parts won't fit.
the threads are different.


I bought two of these crap masters off e-bay for 15 a pop.

the brand I have and the brand H.F. sells are the same..Central Pnumatic
or as I dubbed them "Central Pukematic".

These are the worst air things I ever bought!

[sci-fi-bldr]

I have an older 150....

Just wondering......how much the H-F airbrushes are??
How good are they...cause I have to buy parts all the time for my Badger...I can'nt really say it's worth what I paid for it...it has it's problems too...If these things are anywhere near as good...and the price is cheap.....I may try one

[nicholjm]

I bought my double-action HF airbrush on sale for $16.99. The single-action is around $9.99 I believe.

Question: The glass jar that came with mine does not have a truly flat top surface, so it seals poorly against the lid, resulting in paint leaks if I turn the jar a certain angle. Can I buy replacement paint jars off the internet for a Badger 150 and they will fit the HF airbrush? The friction-fit part of the lid looks to be the same.

[DasPhule]

If you're having to buy parts for your Badger all the time then you're not taking care of it properly. 99% of problems that I see folks having with airbrushes are from the lack of proper maintenance and care of the brush.

Overtightening, clogged tips that cause the needle to split them up the side, bent needles, sputtering, spitting, hanging triggers, no paint siphoning from cup/bottle, spraying crooked or irregular patterns, ALL are caused by improper care of the brush. Contrary to popular belief, you should disassemble and thoroughly clean each part of the airbrush after each use, then INSPECT each part to assure that it is clean. ESPECIALLY if using acrylics.

I have three Badger 200s that friends gave me after they said, "Stupid thing don't work!" or "It's broken". After 15 minutes of cleaning they sprayed like new. I have one that's 30 years old, still works like the day I bought it. Don't blame the brand or the brush, blame the user.

Erin
<*>

[big-dog]

I bought my double-action HF airbrush on sale for $16.99. The single-action is around $9.99 I believe.

Question: The glass jar that came with mine does not have a truly flat top surface, so it seals poorly against the lid, resulting in paint leaks if I turn the jar a certain angle. Can I buy replacement paint jars off the internet for a Badger 150 and they will fit the HF airbrush? The friction-fit part of the lid looks to be the same.

I prefer Paasche siphon jars, the jar that came in my Badger 350 set had a nasty plastic hose that didn't fit in the airbrush well. Of course the instructions stated it was an improved teflon hose for easy cleaning, you had to hold the thing with both hands. Oh, and the Paasche jars fit perfectly in the H-F 150 clone. My Paasche jars are the H type, to fit my 350, for the H-F you'd want to get the VL type jars, the angle of the siphon is wrong. Looking at the latest Bader sets on line it seems they have all gone to the plastic siphone. All I can say from my experience is that they suck. Interesting the airhose for the H-F fits perfectly on the Badger 350.

I remember reading Ter-or wiritng that he got one of the cheap H-F 350 clones to spray metallics, they were on sale at 4.99 today so I grabbed one. Not tried it yet but you can really see a difference between the H-F and the 350. And the feel is totally different, the H-F feels cheap, unsubstantial, parts fit is poor, the aforementioned siphon jars won't fit, too loose, though the one that came with it does. Conversely the 150 clone is essentially indistinguishable from the 150. Except the tail/handle is black plastic instead of blue. The H-F is heavy, feels rock solid, the trigger movement is smooth as glass, the tiny set screw for the trigger (so you can use it as a single action) moves freely with no play. I've seen reports that people don't like the 150 clone, but I've also seen reports that the 150 is difficult to master.

[nicholjm]

Yes, the H-F 150 clone does feel nice. I have to admit though that it IS my first airbrush, and I've only used it once (I'm ashamed to say). Time is a valuable thing, and it is all I really want for Christmas.

So, I guessed I missed the answer somewhere. Will the Badger 150 glass bottles and siphon tubes fit the H-F clone? Because I'd like to order some new jars from Hobbylinc.com, and I don't want to waste my money.

[Stu Pidasso]

The H-F and Marc's in my area have them on sale for 4.99 each, and it comes with a bottle, hose, and siphon cap.

[big-dog]

Yes, the H-F 150 clone does feel nice. I have to admit though that it IS my first airbrush, and I've only used it once (I'm ashamed to say). Time is a valuable thing, and it is all I really want for Christmas.

So, I guessed I missed the answer somewhere. Will the Badger 150 glass bottles and siphon tubes fit the H-F clone? Because I'd like to order some new jars from Hobbylinc.com, and I don't want to waste my money.

The answer, of sorts, is in the post I wrote directly above this. I wouldn't waste my money on Badger jars, they're worse than the H-F jars that come with the brush. Go for Paasche jars, that fit the H-F perfectly, just go with Paasche VL jars not H jars.

[big-dog]

The H-F and Marc's in my area have them on sale for 4.99 each, and it comes with a bottle, hose, and siphon cap.

I believe the one you're referring to is the 350 clone, I got one a coupla days ago to spray metallics. I don't think H-F carries the double action anymore, they've not had them at the store for a couple of months and it no longer appears on their website. Wish I'd bought a second one actually.