Has anybody tried one of these? I guess at $9.95 it’s worth a try. It claims to “atomize” the liquids which is a term I’ve seen the pro airbrushers use on Sways. This would be for one or two boards I might glass myself.
I had a house painter use something similar for touch-ups on woodwork. Wasn’t as fine as
a professional airbrush, more like a can of spray paint.
Howzit Ted, There’s lots of cheap sprayers out there but in the end you get what you paid for. I used a cheap sprayer for a project ( not surf related) years ago and that’s when I decided to get a real sprayer which I ended uo using on blanks and am so glad I did. When you consider the cost of the cans of air it get’s fairly expensive after a while especially if you plan on doing lots of spraying. You will definitly need more than 1 can to do a whole board.Aloha,Kokua
thanks Kokua, this is just for a couple of boards
Never go cheap!
If your not going big don’t go!
Once you start finishing it becomes endless: Conversion varnishes, Automotive Paints, Tempera, Acrylics
Furniture, Surfboards, Surf racks, Bikes, Cars, Staircases, Parts
Everything becomes new with paint!
I started with cheap guns to. They never gave the finish I needed. Kept upgrading. Now I have like 6 spray guns.
The $10.00 specials in the trash. You can ruin a good shape with a bad spray job.
Ahhhmmm- for around that price, you can get a cheap airbrush that will likely come with an adaptor for canned air. Something like http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47791 - and low end airbrush kits like this are widely available, craft stores and the like. Manual here: http://www.harborfreight.com/manuals/47000-47999/47791.pdf
What that in turn means is that you can gradually upgrade if you should wish to do more, say a tiny ( and cheap) compressor or maybe a small refillable air tank, then a better airbrush and so on. You can also find canned air at some craft/art places. And keep looking at yard sales and junkpiles. I’ve done very well at those, found a couple airbrush compressors including one that had an air output line and suction input line that’d work for small scale vac bagging.
The ‘something-like-a-spray-can’ gizmo you’ve seen will give you results like, well, a spray can, while even a cheapo airbrush will behave like an airbrush: you won’t be learning wrong techniques and have to start all over sometime later.
While I have a high end ( paasch ) airbrush in addition to my cheapo plus I do have airbrush and regular compressors, at my skill level…or lack thereof… there ain’t much difference. I’d suggest wasting some air and some watercolor pigment practicing on some junk paper or wood or foam offcuts. Watercolor is much easier to clean out of the little airbrush, you see.
Hope that’s of use
doc…
Iwata is a good airbrush gun for about $109.00
Ahhhmmm- for around that price, you can get a cheap airbrush that will likely come with an adaptor for canned air. Something like http://www.harborfreight.com/…taf?Itemnumber=47791 - and low end airbrush kits like this are widely available, craft stores and the like. Manual here: http://www.harborfreight.com/…7000-47999/47791.pdf
If you taping off everything try the one Doc mentioned and pratice.
I went overboard as usual. However you can fee hand with an Iwata.
Howzit surfding, Is that the Iwata eclpise? I bought mine years ago and it cost $70. Try Bearair for airbrushes they carry every brand available.Aloha,Kokua
Doc & Surfding, thanks for the tips. That airbrush link looks to be for small detail work, versus the spray guns, for doing the whole board? Anyway, I’ve seen the inexpensive brushes/guns on Harbor Freight, but I always get hung up on the compressors, how much would I need for the spray guns. I don’t mean to start another airbrush setup thread as there are already a lot of those, just wondering if these spraycans where you can mix your own colors work at last as good as a can of Krylon. (yes, I can hear the pro color guys cringing!)
Hi Ted,
While I’m not very good with an airbrush and absolutely horrible with a full-on spray gun, a few things to consider from my limited experience.
First off, surfboards ain’t that big. While you’re looking at the full-sized spray guns, I really don’t think you could put all the paint in one on a board unless you made it awfully thick. So, small ‘detail’ guns are a good way to go.
The compressor for that? Depends on the setup. In some cases you can get a HVLP setup that’s self-contained, or you can have a 'big ‘un’ that needs a 5 HP compressor and a big tank for doing big jobs. Look at the specs on the gun and figure how much you’d actually be spraying. That is, if you have a gun that uses say 4.5 CFM at 50 PSI, you could probably get away with a compressor that puts out 2 CFM at 90 PSI just fine, you won’t be spraying 60 seconds out of every minute.
As I’ve found out, setting up and tuning a spray gun is a skill that improves a lot with experience. Get it right and you’ll do a good job, get it wrong and your finished job looks like a Rorschach ink blot test.
Using a spray gun is another definite skill. I happened to see a real pro at work yesterday. It was embarrassing, thinking about how bad my skills with a spray gun are compared to how well he was doing the work, fast and smooth and precise. he had his spray pattern just right. Damn…
So, overall, a couple of suggestions.
First, you can go with an airbrush and work slowly and make small mistakes and get away with it. And learn a lot. Like learning a trade with hand tools, your mistakes tend to be those you can recover from.
Or, and what I’d think is the best idea, farm the job out. If you know somebody who is good with a spray gun, ask them to do it and let you watch. There’s nothing like learning from a pro. And they can give you a good idea of what gear you’ll need and more importantly how to set it up and use it.
Or…go with the Krylon. If you only plan on doing one or two boards, ever.
Hope that’s of use
doc…
Howzit Ted, First off get a compressor that will be big enough for all apps to do with building a board. Some of those airbrush compressors just don’t have enough CFM’s. HAd a friend try to do some airbrush art with one and it didn’t have enough pressue for the airbrush unit. Like Doc says you can get by doing a whole board with a detail sprayer but get a good one. The biggest problem with cheap sprayers is they don’t put out an even spray which cancause you headaches. The ones F.H. sell are good enough to do the job. Aloha,Kokua
Thanks D & K. This seems like a good initial setup:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95630
but it also looks like something that might have you wanting to upgrade after a few uses.
Kokua, right now I just work in my limited garage space but I dream of one day having a real shop with compressors, ventilation systems, raunchy hot rod calendars, etc., etc.
I picked up a husky detail gun from Home depot for 30$,That is a good bet if you just want to paint a few boards,it works fine.I also have a larger husky gun I got at HD for 50$,it works fine also.You only use about 40 psi through the guns,so a small pancake compressor will work fine for painting a board,if you need more air get a bleeder tank.As far as air brush goes I got a badger dual action(cant remember the exact model)at my local michaels craft store,mainly because I can quickly pick up extra paint caisters for it,spare hose,needle, etc. and not have to worry about it being out of commission.It was 150$ but they had some sale going and I paid 80 for it.I’ve only done 1 board and lost most of my artistic talent 15 years ago when I joined the workforce,but with the right tools and research an ameture can lay down a semi pro looking finish.Check out ed hubbs on you tube,his vids ar full of great tips that will help you.Most importantly,have fun!If your not f-ng up then your not doing anything!