Thread: regulator/moisture trap

okay guys, i have been airbrushing for just a few months and im still working on getting the equipment i need to airbrush properly. Ok so first i invested in my brush and compressor. Then i realized that the compressor would spit out water occasionally...so i knew i needed moisture trap/regulator. The compressor I have is a mini silent one. so i got the regulator but its not hooking up right or something. I'm not getting hardly any pressure with the regulator on. But when i airbrush with just the compressor im getting pulsing and some moisture. so i need to get this damn thing to work!

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so thats basically the regulator i have. Now my other big problem is that i cannot hook this up to my badger airbrush if I use the gage. The way this regulator is...there are three different holes that you can screw something into to get the airflow right? Now two of them are larger holes. Obviously one is where it connects to the compressor. Now the gage that came with this only fits in the small whole. But My airbrush needs the small hole to work too. The regulator came with an adapter that has one end that is smaller that would fit my airbrush hose while the other end is designed for the smaller hole. So im left with one more LARGE hole but the gage wont go there and I cannot figure a way to get the gage or aibrush hooked up with the large. I dont know if i made any sense. But could someone possibly post a guide or something?

Sounds like ya need one more adapter for that last hole Bs.

yup, ya need one more reducer.....

From my experience most regulators have four ports (holes). One is for the inlet from the compressor, the one opposite is normally the outlet. There is usually an arrow cast into the housing showing the direction of flow. These are normally 1/4" pipe connections on the smaller volume regulators. The other two are at 90 degrees to these, are usually 1/8" pipe connections and are there for the pressure gauge. This is so you can mount the regulator and attach the gauge so it's facing out and not looking at a wall (kewl huh).

If there is in fact a port opposite the gauge, you can remove the plug that should be in it (normally takes a hex wrench) and attach your airbrush hose to that. At that point you will need to plug the port normally reserved for the regulator outlet. The regulator will still work normally with this setup, as the 1/8" port sees the same pressure as the gauge and the outlet port.

The other option is as was previously mentioned. You'll need a reducer to fit the 1/4" outlet port and reduce it down to 1/8".

All this is assuming you are in the US. If not, the fittings I would assume are metric. You might want to take it to your local hardware store with the airbrush hose/adapter and ask them what fitting you need.

Hope this helps a bit.

i have one of these moisture traps attached to my compressor... im assuming you dont have a air tank on your compressor as you are getting pulsating air.. maybe it isnt powerful enough to force air through the moisture trap if its a small compressor...

if your compressor has a air tank and is powerful enough, maybe you have an air leak from the trap... i used a lot of PDF(i think thats what its called) tape. plumbers tape for valves etc will help.

i had to buy a load of different adapters as i have a badger and a couple of iwata airbrushes... i got a whole bunch of different ones from ebay,as a package reasonably cheap...

i hope this helps

dave

One of these is another option.
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