Aztek A470 Problems.

suwalski · Post by **suwalski** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:26 pm

Problems, problems, problems.

I once got an Aztek A470, with mahogany case. My first airbrush. Watching the video that came with it, I was immediately captivated. Unfortunately, I could never get it to work right. A year later, I went to use it again, but all the metal bits had completely corroded. It wouldn't work, was rusted shut. Got a new one. Still didn't work too great. I assumed it was lack of compressor, various filters, etc. Got those, still not great.

Fast forward seven or eight years to present day. I now own a Badger compressor, I have a regulation valve and filter, and I thin my acrylics more that I used to think was necessary (40% thinner). I run at 10-15 PSI. I bought a new tan/fine tip. Nonetheless, I'm getting bad results from my brush.

I have read nearly every sticky thread in this forum, followed all the guidelines, re-watched the video that came with it, and I still can't get it right. The video shows a person making an extremely fine line with the tan tip. The guy in the Scale Workshop videos can do it too. I can't get it that fine. In the video, they can even turn off the paint flow altogether, I cannot. People keep speaking of misting, all I can get are relatively large droplets.

Simple question: should I be calling on Testor's to replace my unit again?

Thanks.

Saturn · Post by **Saturn** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 9:07 pm

I'd try running a thinner mix (50-60%) and dial your pressure below 10psi. Adjust that roller until it's almost closed- and shoot very close.

Styrofoam_Guy · Post by **Styrofoam_Guy** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 9:51 pm

Try first airbushing water onto paper. or water with a few drops of black acrylic paint or ink.

To get a fine line you normally have to have the tip very close ot the paper.

Play around with air pressure, pressing down on the trigger, pulling back on the trigger etc.

Practice, practice, practice

Good luck

Alex
Styrofoam Guy

suwalski · Post by **suwalski** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:36 am

After a fair bit of thought and even more play, I decided I'll call Testor's and send it back to them. The simple reason is that the double-action just doesn't work. The main pin, when adjusted with the wheel at the back, doesn't ever extend far enough to push the nozzle's pin forward enough to block paint flow.

Essentially, it's impossible to cut off the paint. This is why I can never get a thin stream; the nozzle is always at least halfway open.

Thomas E. Johnson · Post by **Thomas E. Johnson** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 6:18 am

I've never had a problem with my A470 airbrush. Its always given me perfect results.

Joseph Osborn · Post by **Joseph Osborn** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:53 pm

Thomas E. Johnson wrote:I've never had a problem with my A470 airbrush. Its always given me perfect results.

Mine too, until its trigger went floppy last year and I can't get anyone at Testors to reply to my emails.

I have one of the old original Azteks and it's actually been a better airbrush than the A470.

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:02 am

Joseph Osborn wrote: Mine too, until its trigger went floppy last year and I can't get anyone at Testors to reply to my emails.

No need to email or call.

My A470 wouldn't go into double action mode. I looked up their phone number and a friendly person at the other end told me to just box it up, include my return address inside the box, with the airbrush, a note describing the problem and just mail it back to the genreric Testor's address on their web page. You can put A470 repair on the outside of the box, too.

I got a brand new (or at least clean and working) A470 pretty quickly; 2 or 3 weeks IIRC.

Frank

YT · Post by YT » Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:40 pm

Yes their warranty is fantastic and neccesary! Call them I never had luck with email.

Joseph Osborn · Post by **Joseph Osborn** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:20 am

Macfrank & YT, thanks for the tip. I'd be nice to get my A470 back into use. You can say what you want about their quality, but it's the fastest & most hassle-free general purpose airbrush I've ever used. I keep my nozzles in a jar of Createx airbrush cleaner and never have any hassles with clogged tips. My Paasche VL is a pain in the rear to clean, so it only gets dragged out when I need to do something the Aztek can't, and I hardly ever drag it out.

Styrofoam_Guy · Post by **Styrofoam_Guy** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:10 pm

Recently I put in one of my old nozzles and it the trigger was floppy and paint would come out even without pressing or pulling bck on the trigger. It looks like the spring on the nozzle is longer then other nozzles and is actually strong enough to push the needle and trigger back so paint flows.

I sort of take blame for this as I noramlly disassemble my nozzles and toss the parts into a jar of Castrol Superclean between painting sessions.

When I want to paint I remove the parts and give it a quick rinse before off I go.

Now some nozzles disassemble easily but some don't and this stretches the spring.

I do like this airbrush and the quick cleanup and setup (normally)

Alex
Styrofoam Guy

suwalski · Post by **suwalski** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 3:01 am

Well, you shouldn't really need to disassemble the pin part of the nozzle. I find that just running Windex through the brush for about a minute after I finish painting cleans it out sufficiently. I then just clean off any dried paint off the exterior.

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:04 am

suwalski wrote:Well, you shouldn't really need to disassemble the pin part of the nozzle.

I agree that you shouldn't take the pin and spring out of the needle subassembly, but that part (as a unit) is designed to be removed for cleaning. If I have a particularly dirty nozzle, I'll take the needle subassembly out of the body and just dump both in acetone for a while. Then use either a micro brush or a tooth brush to remove any remaining paint.

If the needle is really clogged, you can remove the pin and spring, but that's as a last resort; you'll rarely get everything back the way it was supposed to be and may end up ruining the nozzle (by over-stretching the spring).

Styrofoam_Guy · Post by **Styrofoam_Guy** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:51 am

I found that running thinner or cleaner through does not clean the insides completely. I would run lacquer thinner through and then when I disassembled the nozzle I would still find paint inside.

Some tips disassemble and assemble better then others. It is just a habit I got used to.

Instead of running thinner or cleaner through at the end I just take the tip apart and toss everything into a bottle of castrol superclean. (This includes the paint cups)

Some tips just pop apart and assemble better then others.

Alex
Styrofoam Guy

Lonewolf · Post by **Lonewolf** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:16 pm

I picked up a bottle of solution marked "Airbrush Cleaner" at my local Michael's store a couple weeks back. Haven't tried it yet. I've just been cleaning with water after each round of spraying acrylic.

Joseph Osborn · Post by **Joseph Osborn** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:41 am

Got my replacement A470 body in the mail today-- that was fast! Thanks Testors, and I'm sorry for all those evil things I thought about you

suwalski · Post by **suwalski** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:52 pm

I am still waiting for mine. Hopefully it will be soon. I do not actually need it in the near future, but I don't like having my possessions out there too long.

suwalski · Post by **suwalski** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:21 am

Well, my replacement finally came in today. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but I can definitely feel that the trigger is much, much less loose. There is always some spring action in it, which was missing in the old one.

DLMatthys · Post by **DLMatthys** » Sun May 03, 2009 7:29 pm

The Aztek 470... I've cracked into it. By curiosity and necessity I had to get in and clean it from gummed up paint and Future FW. So I have been quite familiar with the inner workings. Solved that mysetry and cracked (sic) that case. Use a flat blade Exacto

If things have gone wrong its with the little hoses inside. It may be because I used to much air pressure to blow some thick paints. So the lines have blown out. The clear one was replaced by a used Bic kinda pen ink tube. The little blue one in front...it's most troubling. Cracked and a little short patched by super-glue or epoxy.

Is there any resources for user repairs inside or replacement parts?
Maybe there is something like a Aztek users group at Yahoo.
I did find by Google this article very usefull from the Luftwaffe fans:
http://www.rlm.at/cont/thema06_e.htm

Thomas E. Johnson · Post by **Thomas E. Johnson** » Mon May 04, 2009 3:59 am

Even though I gave Aztec high praise all those years ago, I have since switched to an Iwata Hi-Line and I can safely say that I will never touch an Aztec again.