Airbrushes for painting & finishing furniture

[WeekendMiniaturist]

Bill R posted that he uses lacquer and an airbrush for furniture finishing in the other thread.  Late 70s was before my miniature awakening, so sorry can't help with this one... will have to google search to see if I can see a picture of it and will keep an eye out when I'm at auctions on the weekends, as you never know what you will find.  Will also ask DH... I haven't tried the current round of laquers available at the woodworking store; so will have to go to Johnson's Workbench and check the stuff out.  You just cut this with a good lacquer thinner?  is that a 2:1 ratio to get it through an airbrush?  I've only used the lacquers in the can available at the Home Improvement stores.

 

I bonded very well when I used sanding sealer on my houseworks windows and sprayed them last summer, oh that was a beautiful experience... but getting the gun back together, and spraying as it did fresh out of the box was a whole different experience.   I was pleased with the micro-grounded pigments available at MicroMark for painting, it was a huge difference between brushing on acrylic and airbrushing with the solvent based paint.  Now I see Micro Mark is not selling this; so will have to go hunting online.

 

For those of you who use an airbrush do you have any tips or websites for getting the darn thing back together and working like it was new?

 

Do I take an old tooth brush to everything?  Those dental brushes for your bridge look very useful for this application.  ( I think I read this on the IGMA blog.)

 

Do you keep a separate airbrush for painting vs. finishing?

 

What is your favorite airbrush? 

 

Tamra/Indiana

 

[Wm. R. Robertson]

In order to help you put your airbrush back together it would help to know what brand and model number it is.

The exact mix of thinner to lacquer has so many variables, quality of materials, temperature, humidity, air pressure, etc..... It just takes trial and error to figure out what works. I do it same way I read about painting cars in the 70's in a book by DuPont.

As for air brushes, I have a bunch but only use one, a Paasche VL, it is duel action, you can control the air and material flow separately with one trigger...... New these are about a $100 plus you need a air compressor.

BTW, who is DH?

[ElgaKoster]

Petit pointer jargon!

DH dear husband

DS dear son

DD dear daughter

MIL mother in law, etc, etc.

And lots more, newcomers are always confused on the petit pointer group, guess when more of us join, either we need to learn to type full out, or teach you all the abbreviations :-)

[Bill Hudson]

I got tired of compressor noise and for some reason during our rainy season I could not keep the moisture out even with a filter. I changed over to bottled co2 with a regulator and filter. It is constant pressure and no liquid to worry about. It really works better for the air eraser too. Moisture clumps up the grit and it clogs up the brush.

[WeekendMiniaturist]

I have the Paasche VL (entire kit with 3 needles) and a use a non airbrush small compressor - I think it is a Thomas Air Compressor but not 100% sure as it lives in shop, I don't use it at home, all of the stuff for spraying/finishing is in Jim's shop.  I can just feel residue on the needle, when I checked it this morning.  I don't think I have experienced any moisture in my line, as I didn't notice anything that had irregularities in my finish.  Perhaps I should have an airbrush for finish, and one for paints, but for now, I'm in the structure mode, as it isn't likely at this point not much need for an airbrush to finish furniture, well if I had any carvings I would need an airbrush to spray with.  I did call the local train store this morning, after confirming with internet search that floquil was discontinued by Testors in 2013, so I'll have to find another solvent based paint.  Will look at Scale Coat, Tru Colors and Tamiya. 

[Pete Boorum]

I spray lacquer several times a week and use a Paache Type H single action, external mix air brush.  If  I spray a few seconds of thinner after the lacquer then clear the brush with air I rarely, if ever, have to take it apart and clean it.  Using a little retarder, or an automotive thinner with retarder in it, can help eliminate blushing in humid conditions.  Any air compressor with a tank set at around 27PSI has eliminated the problem of spitting water that I had with a little Badger compressor even with traps and filters attached.  Make sure to drain the water out of your compressor tank to reduce rusting from the inside out.

 

This system isn't very elegant but has worked well for me over many years in my shop booth and on top of the trash dumpster outside the classroom building at Guild School.