IMAC781

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I need to refinish the wheel pants and cowling parts of a 100cc ARF. What model air compressors are you guys using that can handle a Badger touch up gun and air brushes? Thanks for your help!
Chris in Miami

Rv7garage

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Kobalt 30 gal vertical tank

N1EDM

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I have a suggestion. I have a small compressor from Harbor Freight that I was able to buy on sale for $40 that should be more than enough for a badger air brush. It also handles a small pnumatic 'nail gun' (only shoots 1" x 18gage nails), etc. http://www.harborfreight.com/3-gallo...sor-95275.html . I think that this might even be overkill for an air brush, but you can always use it when you need compressed air to 'clean' something off, etc. It won't do anything heavy duty, or even medium duty, for that matter. But it works well enough.

Whatever you buy, make sure that you get a water separator for your spray gun setup.

I bought this compressor to do some spraying with a small touch-up HVLP setup, but in retrospect, I don't know if this will provide enough capacity or not, it might be too small for that. Any comments from anyone?

Anyway, for your application, I'd recommend the Harbor Freight compressor for light duty work. Look for their ads in various modeling and woodworking magazines. You can get some deals, but beware, their stuff is not exactly top shelf. But in many cases it's 'good enough'. Caveat Emptor.

Just my $.02

Bob

scale only 4 me

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Just about any compressor will run an airbrush, but you want to find out what you touch up gun's minimum cfms needs are and get a compressor that exceeds that minimum rating

I use a sears tankless airbrush compressor for my airbrush, it supplies a steady even airflow,, no pressure surges

IMAC781

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Thanks for the help guys. Since I no longer paint entire airplanes, only stuff like cowls and pants, I was hoping I could use something lighter and less expensive than my 30 gal. Sears which after 26 years has decided to "retire".

N1EDM

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If I'm not hijacking this thread, has anyone ever shot epoxy paint, like Klasskote, through an airbrush? Or is it too thick? As you can tell, I'm a bit of a newbie on this spray painting stuff.

Thanks,

Bob

scale only 4 me

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many times,, you just need to thin it like any other paint

kenh3497

A portable air tank connected to your compressor will give a bit of a cushion when spraying larger jobs. All it does, is gives you a larger supply to draw from. The down side is you need to wait longer for the compressor to catch up filling the larger supply. I would pull the supply from the gun off the portable tank. The portable tank will also help collect a bit of moisture.


IMAC, if your tank is still in good shape, you can buy just the compressor to replace your defective unit. Of course if the tank is bad, then things are a bit more sticky, but I'll bet a new tank could be had someplace.

Ken

N1EDM

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Thanks, Scale. I just wanted to know if it was feasable. Thanks for the education.

Bob

thomas.crown

Unless you are only going to use a compressor with an airbrush, or cost is a limiting factor, I'd get the highest capacity (tank size,HP/SCFM) vertical (very small footprint) that you can afford and will fit in your shop.I got a 25 gallon verticalcompressor 20 years ago and it is one of the most useful tools I've got. Besides painting with an airbrush and paint gun, there are so manyair tools (nail guns, impact wrenches etc.) thatreally are handy. I use mineto put air in my tires, blow off dust & clean things, and since it freezes here in winter I blow out my sprinkler lines with it (just to name a few). Once you have one you'll wonder how you managedwithout.

I thought Ihad purchased more compressor than I needed at the time. I needed it for spray painting and didn't realize how much use it would get (other than for paint). While I can use almost any tool with it, thereare times when it doesn'thave enough air to keepup with the job. It gets the job done but I wish I had the next size up (or more).

In addition to the water trap (essential for painting), get at least one 50' air line and a bunch of quick disconnects. There are different styles/sizes so makesure you standardize on one. This allows adding another 50' air line or anyof the tools you might need very fast.I also got a 5 gallon tank that gets filled by the compressor which gives meportable compressed air.Costco hascheap air setsfrom time to time. It's nice to have a long air line so the compressor can be far away (they are noisey).You don't have to move it either. Ithink most have wheels which is a mustfor times when the line isn't long enough.

flyallday

I agree with thomas.crown, if you have any ideas of doing more than airbrushing, get one that has a decent capacity and cfm. I have had a couple different compressors over the years and finally got one that works for all my needs. I also have one of those pancake compressors that is louder than my 80gal 2 stage Kobalt, and it tends to walk itself across the room while running. Whatever you get, make sure the air is dry, I ended up creating a zig zag design to cool the air and trap the moisture before it gets to the separator. Even using my sand blasting cabinet for hours, there is no water in the trap.

Harry