66 year old bigginer

[bigmal]

Hi guys I have just bought a triplex air brush from a guy on another site and tried it out today. It's the one you can use as a syphon fed or graverty fed brush.This may sound realy stupid but how to you fine the spray area down. Today is the very first time I have ever used an air brush, I no I've left it a bit late in life but I say It's never to late lol
Mal

[redneck]

welcome Mal, and no we are never too old to learn something new

[chucktx]

welcome to the world of fun!!!!!!!!
there are many how to's, and instructional vids on this site that you really need to read and watch. they will help you tremendously!!!!
in a nut shell, you paints should be airbrush paints, not the ones in a squeeze tube.
your airpressure should be very low...around 10psi, or less if doing hard surfaces. for textiles it should be 60psi or so.
to get a fine line push the air on, and very slightly pull the trigger back. you also need to be kinda close to your work. this is a very vague explanation of what you are trying to do. please go to the other pages here, do the practice sheets, then post them up. we will be able to help you a lot better then. have fun with it.........it is only paint!!!!

[lsabourin]

Welcome to the forum Mal. You might want to check out this section:

Airbrush Technique - Learn To Airbrush - PUBLIC AIRBRUSH HOW TO ARTICLES

L

[don johnson]

Bigmal

The closer you are to the surface your painting the smaller the area it will cover.
Check out the link Luc provided you above; you should find it helpful.

Welcome to our corner of cyber space by the way

[KDSilverBrush]

Welcome Bigmal !!

[yardartnut]

Welcome mal..............Im excited to hear you are trying this ..look out its addicting..........

[EhBCz]

Hello Bigmal, welcome to the world of airbrushing.
Check out the link that Luc posted. Don has done a great job on the tutorials and all of the people here are great help.

Barry

[Bill]

Welcome Bigmal! You're gonna love this place. There are young and old people here and people from all over the world and the best part is everyone is willing to offer help and constructive criticsm. I'm still new enough to be called a newbie, I think, and certainly old enough to be in the "old" category.

Read the tutorials and print them off for reference. Then spray, spray, spray and ask questions about what went wrong.

Bill

[bigmal]

Good morning from the UK,I have been on one or two forums but I think I have now found what I'm looking for you all seem like a great bunch of guys. Have any of you got any experiance with the brush I have bought . The Triplex it can be used with graverty or syphon.My main reason foe getting intro airbrushing is I'm hoping it will enhance the things I make wich are wooden 3D pictures of dogs and fell stick used in walking or hunting.I hope you do'nt mind I have put a few pictures in to show you what I do. Mal

[chucktx]

those are pretty nice pieces!!! thanks for sharing them with us, and yes i do believe the airbrush will enhance your pieces!

[Neder/Brit]

Well hi there Mal from one Brit to another. I like the look of your work and I think A/Brushing will definitely be an added bonus to your work. So where are you in Bliety I myself am London born and bred but I am now a resident of the Netherlands. Just one little thing you might want to use another thread as this one is for people with airbrush related problems.

[bigmal]

Hi I'm In Hull and I did come on here hoping some one might have used the Triplex brush with the ability to change from graverty to syfon feed.Mal

[KDSilverBrush]

bigmal, I have never used that ab before, but sounds like a very versatile one. Love the pics of your work, btw.

[fontgeek]

Hi Mal, I've used that type of brush before.
For airbrushing, the trick is finding the right viscosity of paint, the right air pressure, and the right size airbrush nozzle and needle for your needs. The thicker the paint, the bigger the nozzle it needs, and the more pressure it requires to atomize it.
Typical airbrush acrylics will take between 20 and 35 psi to spray properly through most brushes. Your brush can do some fairly fine lines, I believe it has a 0.3mm needle and nozzle, but even if it has up to a 0.7mm setup, it can still do some nice work.
When the paint or finish comes out of the airbrush, it comes out in the shape of a cone, with the pointy end of the cone at the tip of the airbrush. So the closer you are to the area you want to paint, the smaller the diameter of the spray pattern when it hits the work surface, the further you are away, the bigger and softer the area it will cover. By varying the amount of paint you spray out, and the amount of air pressure you use, you can achieve some spectacular results.
It does take some practice, but like carving, that is part of the enjoyment of the whole thing. Be warned, this is a VERY addictive hobby/tool.
You can airbrush anything you can have as a liquid, providing it is reduced/thinned enough to go through the brush and be atomized. That means you can airbrush stains, dyes, varnishes, laquers, etc.

Go through the basic lessons, and practice the dots, daggers, lines, and shading until you can do it without having to stop and think about it. While it may seem boring at first, it is an absolute neccessity if you want to get the most out of your new weapon. Not learning is like going in to carving with dull tools, the results won't be good, and you can screw up your carvings because of it.

Good luck!

[yardartnut]

Originally Posted by bigmal

Hi I'm In Hull and I did come on here hoping some one might have used the Triplex brush with the ability to change from graverty to syfon feed.Mal

Mal....In not familiar with that particular name brand AB, but in my daily use arsonal of ABs I use a Badger 360......gravity/siphon.

Mine is a workhorse for me.
In my technique for painting yard art I can use the 360 siphon to lay lotsa paint in larger areas, or flip it to gravity and medium detail with it.
The 360 is the most consitant, less rebuilt AB I have owned.

If your Triplex has teflon O rings to resist solvent based paints so it will last ...you should be fine with it.....

[bigmal]

Hi guys I have been trying to use my brush today but even if I just gently pull the trigger back to much paint comes out, how do I ajust this> Mal

[fontgeek]

Mal, make sure your brush is clean, if you have a build up of paint on or around the tip of the needle, then it may keep it from seating properly in the nozzle, and keep your brush from performing like it should.
But a lot of this particular issue may just a matter of practice.
Keep the finger down so that you have air coming out all the time, and slowly and gently pull the trigger back.

If your paint is very thick, or your pressure is very low, then it (the paint) may not come out smoothly and evenly. If the paint is very thick, then it won't come out until there is enough open space between the tip of the needle and the opening in the nozzle. The result would be that you don't get any paint coming out until you have the trigger pulled pretty far back, then it's kind of an all or nothing deal. This will happen more often with the brush setup in the siphon feed mode. Because it takes more air pressure to pull the paint up through the siphon passage than it does to get the paint to spray when the paint is gravity fed. I hope that made sense.

[bigmal]

Now instead of getting to much paint I ar'nt getting any I have been touching the nurled nut at the back of the brush ,would that have done it. Mal
PS the brush is spotlesly clean

[fontgeek]

Bigmal, depending upon which knurled nut you were mucking about with, both could keep you from spraying, and both for kind of the same reason.

The knurled nut inside the handle is what makes the needle chuck clamp down on the needle itself, if that nut is loose, it means that when you pull the trigger back, it isn't moving the needle. So instead of the needle pulling back from the nozzle, it just stays put, and keeps the paint from coming out like it normally would.

The other nut back there would be at the tail end of the handle, they are typically referred to as a Preset handle. That nut lets you adjust the amount of travel or play your needle has. The further you have it screwed in, the less travel or play your needle and trigger range will have, the further out you have it adjusted, the more play or travel you will have with the trigger and needle. If that is screwed all the way in, then it would keep you from moving the needle back and forth with the trigger. The fact is that you could have the needle chucking nut (the first nut I referred to) loose, and the pre-set handle screwed all the way in, both at the same time. The trigger would stiill feel the same to your touch because it is still pressing against the spring pressure, but because the needle chucking nut is loose, the needle chuck is not grasping it, and because the preset handle is screwed all the way in, even if you had the needle chucking nut tightened down, you wouldn't be able to spray because you have the travel blocked by the preset handle being screwed in so tightly.

The solution; remove the handle of the brush, check to make sure the needle chucking nut is tightened snugly down, then try spraying some water or paint, if it works then you have eliminated one potential problem, next, re-install the handle, and try again, if your trigger can't or won't move, then you know that the preset handle needs to be adjusted, if it does spray, then your problem is solved.
The whole operation should take you a minute or two to do.

If your brush still won't spray, and those nuts are properly tightened and adjusted, then your brush isn't as clean as you think it is.
There really isn't that much to an airbrush, so eliminating the potential problems or causes is usually pretty easy. The number one cause of non-working or improperly working brushes is overwhelmingly missed paint or debris left in or on the airbrush.

Give thoses steps a try, and let us know how it goes,
Good luck!

[bigmal]

Cheers Geek sorry I'v not thanked you before but I have just got out after ten days in hospital. Thanks for the help.
Mal

[KDSilverBrush]

10 days in hospital is quite a stint, bigmal, hope you are recovering well.

[fontgeek]

Not a problem Mal, I just got out myself.