Airbrush Troubles

[Amanda]

[Amanda]

I have an Iwata HP-C and it keeps clogging/not spraying/blowing out gunk and water. So I pulled everything apart. Water filter trap thingy, the ‘drain plug’ on the bottom of the compressor and the entire airbrush. There was water in the filter, so I dried it out and set the whole thing in front of the ac, hopefully that problem will be taken care of. However, after I put everything back together, it is still clogging. I’m using paints thinned down w/ airbrush fluid. I’ll start spraying and it goes great for maybe 2 minutes, then nothing comes out, suddenly, SPLAT, it starts spraying again. It’s worse w/ metallics, but does happen w/ regular paints. Golden, liquitex, creatix all thinned w/ liquitex airbrush medium…………..Aircompressor set between 40-60 psi, makes no difference….Any thoughts? I’m really frustrated. I can barely use the darn thing to do a base coat, let alone any detail work.

edited to add: I also get a pool of paint at the tip of the airbrush, like a little puddle…..

[Xtharsa]

It really sounds as if the paint is too thick for your airbrush. I had this same problem when I first started airbrushing.

[Amanda]

I thought I was thinning it enough, it’s the consistency of milk, and myairbrush is supposed to be able to handle heavier paints and textile stuff..how much thinner can i make it without hurting the paint?

[siberakh1]

I get mine closer to diluted skim milk – almost water like. You can always test it out on some cardboard and add layers later. I thought milky was good enough when I first started as well, until my dad corrected me when I found it wasn’t doing what it was supposed to.

[Jasmine]

asinnamon wrote:

I thought I was thinning it enough, it’s the consistency of milk, and myairbrush is supposed to be able to handle heavier paints and textile stuff..how much thinner can i make it without hurting the paint?

The airbrush medium is made to stabilize the paint so it can be really thin. About water like thinness is good.

[Author]

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