anyone every use a air brush?

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reno
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anyone every use a air brush?

Post by reno »

just bought one for plastic modeling. newbie and never done or used a air brush before ? didn't buy a high end unit to start with . order a point zero from MIX- https://mixwholesale.com/collections/ar ... airbrushes. figured it be a ok starter still will need to buy a cleaning setup and build a painting station.
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Pugsley
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Re: anyone every use a air brush?

Post by Pugsley »

For as long as I have been into model railroading I have never owned an Air brush. I need to get one because of all the stuff I 3D print that would look way better if painted... some day. Let me know how it goes I have zero experience as well.
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reno
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Re: anyone every use a air brush?

Post by reno »

Pugsley wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 3:30 pm For as long as I have been into model railroading I have never owned an Air brush. I need to get one because of all the stuff I 3D print that would look way better if painted... some day. Let me know how it goes I have zero experience as well.
will do plan is to try it out this weekend . but with some plastic spoons and forks so not to screw up anything . also make a spray booth out of plastic sign board as it cheap to work with ! also use a cheap $2.00-$3.00 paper/fiberglass furnace filter and a computer fan .only the best for starters. :)
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Losbot
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Re: anyone every use a air brush?

Post by Losbot »

Pugsley wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 3:30 pm For as long as I have been into model railroading I have never owned an Air brush. I need to get one because of all the stuff I 3D print that would look way better if painted... some day. Let me know how it goes I have zero experience as well.
What printer do you have? Any issues? We're looking to get one and now there's so many more options.
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Pugsley
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Re: anyone every use a air brush?

Post by Pugsley »

Its a hopped up Ender 3. The original Ender 3. But I have completely replaced most of it with upgraded hardware... It worked fine in stock form. I never had any issues with it. But I replaced the main board with a 3rd party to get quiet motors. everything now has silent steppers. I added a EZbal for auto bed leveling. I put solid bed on it instead of the springs. it ran that way for a year or so then I replace the entire hotend and cooling system so that I could print hotter materials. Also replaced the extruder with a Titan gear reduction extruder. Most of what I have added comes standard on newer Enders.

My next (2nd) printer I will probably build myself as they are not that complicated of a machine. I will go for a meter cube minimum for size. Haven't decided if I will do Core XY or just a regular X Y gantry.

The most important part of 3D printing in my opinion is getting the first layer to stick to the bed. Once you master that the rest is just letting the printer run. Being a machinist leveling the bed was easy to do for me and making sure everything is square and not binding. I print my first layer SLOW... like 10mm/s compared to most people who do it at 40 or higher. But I can start my printer and walk away and it rarely has issues unlike most.

Creality has upped their game on the newer printers. They are still "cheap" but if you are smart about it they can work just as well as a $2500 Prusa. Now I have read that Prusa works out of the box... but they cost way more.

EDIT: All of this is FDM printing. I know just a bit about SLA printers but not enough to recommend anything. IT all depends on what you want to do. If its mechanical FDM if you want to to miniature high detail models then SLA is the way to go. SLA has a lot more post processing involved and they can smell. FDM can smell too depending on what material you use. For plain PLA you wont even notice it.
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reno
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Re: anyone every use a air brush?

Post by reno »

update -thing are starting to add up cost wise. order $100.00 bucks in supply's. $42.00 for 16 bottles of asst. color paint .each bottle has 0.57 Fl Oz in them. then there $20.00 for a Airbrush Cleaning Kit that just a unit to work like a power washer you attach the spray guns to .and some small wire brush's that like the old baby bottle cleaners .then there a 16 oz bottle of general-purpose cleaner that extra , special paint thinner for Acyrlic Paints
looking into building a paint booth,may just spend the $80 and buy one after trying to configure parts and cost. then there a spin table that $20.00 plus. so right now im looking at $400.00 to $500.00 to be realistic . a couple hundred over my original estimate of starting to airbrush safely. ImageImageImage
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reno
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Re: anyone every use a air brush?

Post by reno »

lot more to this i'm discovering then just buy paint and spraying . there 3 different type of paint avail .for the type of project we plan on doing . also all different brands of paints and not all are compatible with each other even if same type of paint being used . to top this off some say prime my projects before applying finish coat and others say just spray finish paint on the plastic model . all we say at this point my budget we planned to start with is shot all to hell and im not done spending yet . still not applied one drop of paint yet .
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reno
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Re: anyone every use a air brush? Finely all supplies are here !

Post by reno »

as of today we got all the piece's needed to try Airbrushing . the extra fittings , cleaners , paint thinner, all the primer paint and my starter set of airbrush paints , paint booth is built with lighting , fans ,and air filter install .now hoping by Sunday to get to test it out . I'll be using plastic silverware first to get use to the spray guns and air compressor . my original figure of having about $200.00 start up cost was a bit off. I'm more like into this at about $400.00 -$450.00 and if it works out maybe better spray guns down the road at $100.00 plus each .then add in more paints .
fingers crossed it works as well as I'm hoping after dropping all this cash and the grief trying to get to this point .
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reno
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Re: anyone every use a air brush?

Post by reno »

after 6 plus months of owning this im ready to sell it .there so much bs to figure out .im finding you are always have to thin the paint out we use for modeling and can spray paint a lot easier . you have to prime ,paint and then seal the paint .also drying time between coats . there not a lot of savings from buying a bottle of paint to use your in your airbrush . when you can buy a spray can and not worry if the stuff to thick and need to be thin down to spray though your gun. you also need to clean after each use and to do it correctly it take 1/2 hour 1 hour to clean your spray guns.
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