New at this

[cat_meow2001]

Im airbrushing Looney tunes characters for my sister in my nephew's bedroom. Im painting on a glossy enamel paint. Im having a hard time with getting a fine line, I know it comes with practice but at times I will be going good and the all of a sudden it have to pull farther and farther back to get paint out then no paint at all with come out. But if I point the airbrush down like I would if I was writting with a pen it sprays out perfectly.. I dont know if I dont have the paint thin enough or if the airflow is not right. I do strain my paint and Im using just regular waterbase Acrylic paints. And sometimes I think I thinned the paint too much and to get the color I want I have to go over at least ten times... Any suggestions?

[KDSilverBrush]

Sounds like yer tip is getting dry, every few minutes try cleaning the paint off the ab tip, either by dabing it with a soft wet cloth, or by removing the dry paint with yer fingernail, but be careful not to damage the needle tip.If this doesn't help, I'm sure someone will chime in with another suggestion. And Welcome to the forum !

[redneck]

welcome to the forum cat meow

[incognito]

I think, if you say it's ok when you point down, it works better, I assume it is because of the forces being increased with gravity, enough to spray well, and you queried your air pressure, have you tried increasing the pressure a tad to compensate, achieving the force necessary for smooth level spraying similar to what you get pointing downwards, i.e. with the gravity added?

I would try that first on a bit of rough paper or something, also, as KDsilverbrush suggests checking for the tip dry possibility.
As an added thought, it might be you have a tiny obstruction in the ab, bit of microscopic dried paint, which again the extra gravity is able to overcome, but level it doesn't, check the needle, and nozzle for cleanliness.

Hope that works out for you,
JonO

[atomizer]

i had a similar problem when my mate gave me a load of cheap acrylics from his work they spray fine but as you pull back nothing seems to change then all of a sudden SPLAT!
its down to the tip drying out (least thats what it was with me) try a different paint (FW inks are good apart from white) or another trick is to nip to your local chemist (pharmacy if your in the u.s) and buy some glycerin or glycerol (dont quote me on the spellings here btw) thin it down with water then add small amounts to your paints it works as a retarder and stops the paint drying as fast giving you less tip drying

be carefull though if you add too much your paint will NEVER dry

[don johnson]

here you go:

airbrush needle cleaning

[cat_meow2001]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I think some of my problem was the tip was drying out I was not cleaning it as often as I should. I also switched my paint I went online and bought some ready use Createx AB paint instead the cheap acrylic paint I bought from the craft store. But now Im having a hard time with my overspray. I have a lot of over spray. Im using a Passche VL AB and Im using the size 3 I think tip and needle. I bent my size 1 needle. Im not sure how to stop all the overspray. It gets real frustrating. Thank you..


Tina

Originally Posted by don johnson

here you go:

airbrush needle cleaning

[redneck]

have you try changing the PSI,psi may be set too high

[cat_meow2001]

I did try that I had down to 15 at times but I noticed my tip was bent. I checked the tip when I seen there was kind of a pattern, the overspray was mainly to the left side with that cause it?

Originally Posted by redneck

have you try changing the PSI,psi may be set too high

[KwitcherBitchin]

1st off Welcome to the forum, Yea the bent needle would cause that inconsistency with the overspray, have you looked at this link to maybe fix it airbrush needle
.................Kwit

[redneck]

too bad about the bent needle but I think that a bent needle that is pointing to the right will cause overspray to the left and excess tip dry to the right, if this statement is wrong will someone correct me,I bent the needle couple of times while airbrushng but never noticed which way the overspray was going

[Bahamut]

I never notice either cause I get so pissed off that I bent it.

[chucktx]

cat, the vl is a very versatile brush. it will let you miss match tips and needles. i have run the med needle in the large tip, the fine needle in the med tip....it will let you spray a much finer line. be careful tho.....as the needle will be sticking out quite a bit. have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
welcome to the best ab forum in the www...................

[fontgeek]

First, welcome to the world of airbrushing, your life's new addiction.
Now for your problem.
It sounds like you have a combination of two or three problems.
For the bent needle? You can try straightening it out, but I would plan on getting a replacement anyway.
Be gentle with the needles, that's a nice brush you have, and it is extremely capable.
Your paint not spraying as you go up sounds like your feed tube in your paint bottle/jar is no longer submerged in paint, so it is sucking air for the most part. Keeping your bottle full, or working on a platform that will keep you from having to spray up at such a severe angle will help this problem end.

The high pressure with the water based paints will cause the tip dry, the air passing in high volume over a tiny tip of a needle will speed that drying up quite a bit.
You might start keeping a cup with water, and a denture or toothbrush with or near you when you paint, giving the tip of your brush a scrub fairly often will help you avoid the buildup, and it will keep you from bending your needle or stabbing your fingers.

Keeping your airbrush and equipment clean and maintaned is a no brainer.
You take care of it, and it will take care of you.

While you can mix nozzles, needles, and nozzle caps, the results can be a headache.
Your brush is limited in it's ability to do super fine lines by the opening size of the nozzle and the diameter of the needle that fills it. The nozzles and needles for all airbrushes are made to match in diameter and taper. While a smaller needle may plug the hole on a larger nozzle, you have to push it in a lot further to do that, that's great if you want to risk your needle, your paint project, and your hands to stop the paint from coming out, but the actual control on the paint volume and pattern size comes when you pull that needle back from the nozzle opening, when you do that, the hole is no longer plugged, so that the taper of the needle, no longer matching the interior taper or slope of the nozzle, goes from stopping up the hole completely, to a huge gap or opening in a real hurry. That means a loss of control by you, the artist.

A suggestion from the cheap seats, keep your needles, nozzles, and nozzle caps segragated, keep backup needles and nozzles for the sizes you use most often, in your case, probably the #1 and #3 sizes. Keep your brush clean, and get a platform to stand on while working on high areas.
Good luck.