Badger Krome was bad

I have some valve oil that is used for the valves on brass music instruments. It is very light and holds to the metal without gumming up. I use it on my pedal steel guitar and it is slick. I haven't tried it but I'm sure it wouldn't harm the metal or O rings or get sticky since musicians use it on their instruments.
I have had a little trouble with the Iwata blue stuff but that is all I have used so far.
I am assuming technical oil is about the same as the valve oil.

Richard
 
Good form Badger... shame about the poor quality sneaking through.


I had a big gouge on mine near the air cap when it came out of the box. Badger sent me a replacement. Problem is, the replacement airbrush has far too much play in the trigger unless I set the trigger tension really high and is just NOT a smooth running airbrush. This is the last Badger I will buy. They do have EXCELLENT and timely customer service but their quality leaves a LOT to be desired. For being their top of the line model of airbrush, it should run and perform a heck of a lot better than mine does. I regret ever buying the Krome airbrush and SINCERELY wish I would have just sprung for an Iwata HP-C or Highline or a Harder and Steenbeck. Just my opinion based on my purchase and experience with Badger's customer service. Ken, the guy that sent me the new Krome was really awesome and got me my replacement faster than I expected, but even the replacement Krome just isn't up to snuff quality wise for me and was a bad letdown. I used to use the Badger made Thayer and Chandler Omni airbrushes and those were pretty good for the money but my Krome experience has me looking elsewhere. Too bad I sold them to buy the Krome.
 
I too have a krome, the first one had a corrosion type thing going on at the color cup base. Brand new from amazon and after some thinking I sent it back for a replacement. The second one they sent me is a Lil different. Where the rocker lever has a slot to lock it back to remove the trigger isn't there. I gave up and kept it. I ain't wasting my time sending this one back, it sprays great and that's all I need. Lol It gives it character.
 
I had a big gouge on mine near the air cap when it came out of the box. Badger sent me a replacement. Problem is, the replacement airbrush has far too much play in the trigger unless I set the trigger tension really high and is just NOT a smooth running airbrush. This is the last Badger I will buy. They do have EXCELLENT and timely customer service but their quality leaves a LOT to be desired. For being their top of the line model of airbrush, it should run and perform a heck of a lot better than mine does. I regret ever buying the Krome airbrush and SINCERELY wish I would have just sprung for an Iwata HP-C or Highline or a Harder and Steenbeck. Just my opinion based on my purchase and experience with Badger's customer service. Ken, the guy that sent me the new Krome was really awesome and got me my replacement faster than I expected, but even the replacement Krome just isn't up to snuff quality wise for me and was a bad letdown. I used to use the Badger made Thayer and Chandler Omni airbrushes and those were pretty good for the money but my Krome experience has me looking elsewhere. Too bad I sold them to buy the Krome.

and here I sit using the same badger Airbrush 15 years later and still my go to brush, often you can just get a bad airbrush and does happen in all brands but sometimes its also because the user doesn't understand how to best take advantage of the quality. When going into higher end brushes paint reduction and understanding PSI become a different ball game and perhaps your just getting frustrated as you expect to be able to adjust nothing but all of a sudden get better detail, a new gun means a new learning curve rather than instant success..Even using a micron it doesnt work like that and generally most have to re-learn reduction to get it to perform at its best, not saying thats the case here and maybe you just got a dud but i'm sure you'll see a lot of success storys/paintings done with the krome. I personally think Badgers quality is 100%, as is their customer service in trying to sort the issue but perhaps its just not the gun for you, consider though the fact it may be you..Send me the krome and I'll see if its broken LOL, will even send ya my old iwata eclipe to keep you painting ;), since I don't use it anymore LOL..but not every manufacturer will suit everyones needs and perhaps a different brush may suit your needs more, but to be fair it may not be the brush.
 
and here I sit using the same badger Airbrush 15 years later and still my go to brush, often you can just get a bad airbrush and does happen in all brands but sometimes its also because the user doesn't understand how to best take advantage of the quality. When going into higher end brushes paint reduction and understanding PSI become a different ball game and perhaps your just getting frustrated as you expect to be able to adjust nothing but all of a sudden get better detail, a new gun means a new learning curve rather than instant success..Even using a micron it doesnt work like that and generally most have to re-learn reduction to get it to perform at its best, not saying thats the case here and maybe you just got a dud but i'm sure you'll see a lot of success storys/paintings done with the krome. I personally think Badgers quality is 100%, as is their customer service in trying to sort the issue but perhaps its just not the gun for you, consider though the fact it may be you..Send me the krome and I'll see if its broken LOL, will even send ya my old iwata eclipe to keep you painting ;), since I don't use it anymore LOL..but not every manufacturer will suit everyones needs and perhaps a different brush may suit your needs more, but to be fair it may not be the brush.

Not sure how a gouge in the body of the first airbrush would be me and overly loose trigger mechanism with a lot of end play in the trigger would be me but ok. I see what you are saying but in my case, its the quality. 2 Kromes, 2 issues. Im very familiar with tuning my airbrushes as well as thinning my paints and setting my air pressures...lol...at least I hope I am after 15 yrs. Ige had Microns and Infinity and had no issues with them ever. The action in my Krome is loose and very poor for a top shelf airbrush....unless i crank the trigger tension down full on.
and here I sit using the same badger Airbrush 15 years later and still my go to brush, often you can just get a bad airbrush and does happen in all brands but sometimes its also because the user doesn't understand how to best take advantage of the quality. When going into higher end brushes paint reduction and understanding PSI become a different ball game and perhaps your just getting frustrated as you expect to be able to adjust nothing but all of a sudden get better detail, a new gun means a new learning curve rather than instant success..Even using a micron it doesnt work like that and generally most have to re-learn reduction to get it to perform at its best, not saying thats the case here and maybe you just got a dud but i'm sure you'll see a lot of success storys/paintings done with the krome. I personally think Badgers quality is 100%, as is their customer service in trying to sort the issue but perhaps its just not the gun for you, consider though the fact it may be you..Send me the krome and I'll see if its broken LOL, will even send ya my old iwata eclipe to keep you painting ;), since I don't use it anymore LOL..but not every manufacturer will suit everyones needs and perhaps a different brush may suit your needs more, but to be fair it may not be the brush.

I see your point but its not me. Been spraying for about 15 yrs and have owned many different brushes and used several paints both water and solvent based, including a Badger 360 and several Badger made Omnis. This Krome is a $50 brush at best and doesnt hold a candle to the quality of my Iwata or Infinity. Like I said, impressive customer service but unimpressive quality with the Krome brushes I have in hand.
 
^ and perhaps your the CEO of iwata for all I know LOL, and sorry for me its hard to judge someones skill level or experience with no work posted here, no links to who you are elsewhere (well none I could find on a quick glance of Dungeon works) we're perhaps I can have a look and see the artist you are and how that may indeed affect your opinion. I will be happy to pay you $50 for it then ;) but again I don't doubt bad experiences occur, 2 n a row though I think is quite rare for any higher end manufacturer, but manufacturing f ups do happen..I see good and bad in every brush and every manufacturer but personally try really hard not to impose that thought on others, especially beginners who may find one gun or another their perfect match and perhaps again its just not a good match for you. Perhaps you just like to collect airbrushes and try lots of different ones as you mention, but sounds like you had some of the best so why not just continue with what you had and if a spring you feel is the seconds main concern why not just use a different spring and better tune the brush to your liking? and did the firsts gouge actually affect the running of the airbrush as a gouge in the side of the body or near the aircap may not look pleasant but also may not affect the airbrush itself, but your post doesn't indicate this either way so won't assume it was just an aesthetic thing and it may have indeed damaged its performance and probably would have sent it back myself. Not doubting your ability but I often see people buying an airbrush and often posting blame the airbrush for its lacking of performance before considering other issues and selling that to others as a brush issue rather than a user issue, for example that spring tension that you find an issue may fit someone elses ability perfectly but do understand it may not have suited yours, but is that a reflection on quality or a reflection on us all liking something a bit different?
 
^ and perhaps your the CEO of iwata for all I know LOL, and sorry for me its hard to judge someones skill level or experience with no work posted here, no links to who you are elsewhere (well none I could find on a quick glance of Dungeon works) we're perhaps I can have a look and see the artist you are and how that may indeed affect your opinion. I will be happy to pay you $50 for it then ;) but again I don't doubt bad experiences occur, 2 n a row though I think is quite rare for any higher end manufacturer, but manufacturing f ups do happen..I see good and bad in every brush and every manufacturer but personally try really hard not to impose that thought on others, especially beginners who may find one gun or another their perfect match and perhaps again its just not a good match for you. Perhaps you just like to collect airbrushes and try lots of different ones as you mention, but sounds like you had some of the best so why not just continue with what you had and if a spring you feel is the seconds main concern why not just use a different spring and better tune the brush to your liking? and did the firsts gouge actually affect the running of the airbrush as a gouge in the side of the body or near the aircap may not look pleasant but also may not affect the airbrush itself, but your post doesn't indicate this either way so won't assume it was just an aesthetic thing and it may have indeed damaged its performance and probably would have sent it back myself. Not doubting your ability but I often see people buying an airbrush and often posting blame the airbrush for its lacking of performance before considering other issues and selling that to others as a brush issue rather than a user issue, for example that spring tension that you find an issue may fit someone elses ability perfectly but do understand it may not have suited yours, but is that a reflection on quality or a reflection on us all liking something a bit different?


I totally understand where you are coming from Rebel and don't disagree with you. I am just putting out my experience with this specific model with the 2 I have. I was adding to the conversation sharing with the original poster my experience. I don't have a facebook or webpage these days but will soon and will be sharing more in the coming weeks. Airbrushing is a side gig and hobby for me. I make my living in a car factory and we have been incredibly busy the last couple of years so my net presence has been very sparse. That coupled with the demands of my kids growing older and coaching their sports teams and other family commitments.

I am not trying to bash anyone and complimented Badger's customer service as well as my content with past models I have owned such as the Universal 360 and the Badger made Omni's. Years ago, before the whole Orange County Chopper TV show and the resulting rise from the ashes of the backyard custom craze of the early 2000's, one could buy the higher end airbrushes on eBay for very low price. Since I had absolutely ZERO sources local to me to hold and try different airbrushes, I would buy and sell them on eBay. When the prices went up and I hit financial issues, well, I sold them at a profit. Those deals are hard to come by now a days. Being a fan of Aussie culture and actors, well, if I could get to Victoria to show you these brushes and get your input in person, I would in a heartbeat! LOL I wish I had held onto the Custom Micron's I have had but I needed cash fast and they were sold. The Infinity, while an ultra smooth sports car of an airbrush was just ergonomically small for my hands, hence the sale of it. My Paasche VL is what I use mostly for Tee's and wall murals but I like the gravity feeds more for detailing, which is what I used my Omni 4000's for. The Omni's took some tuning but were pretty awesome once I polished the needles and broke them in with use, but that is to be expected with their price point. The gouge on the Krome was cosmetic and unrelated to performance, yes, but how long until it started flaking? Not cool for a brand new $150 airbrush. The jiggly trigger however did affect performance and control. I have to tighten the spring down pretty heavy to get it to return to the start position, even after using the lube on it. I like my trigger to have a tight tolerance and expect it to return to the start position once I let it go without having to push it forward with my finger. I have seen a few other posts on different forums of people dealing with the same issue. Again, I was just adding my experience with the Krome to this discussion and not bashing Badger. It is what it is.
 
Its not you m8 but me, am a pessimist on my best day LOL, its just when I see comments that say quite boldly that their quality leaves a lot to be desired I do get irritated, in case ya missed that LOL, not that I really care about what brush I or others use if it gets the job done. There has been a bit of a shift in Airbrushes of late and it seems everyone thinks you need a micron to do a job and thats the message beginners are generally been given both here and at numerous sites yet everyone overlooks the common sense aspect of it may not suit me but it may suit you, heck detail guns are only good at doing detail LOL, they lack in every other area of airbrushing needs and someone comes in and says I need a general base coat gun and everyone still screams micron LOL..

How we post those opinions I think needs to be looked at more carefully because all they are is opinions, there is no best airbrush, just a hand that knows what to do with one or doesn't and I hate seeing people, especially beginners who dont know better throw big bucks at airbrushes because they read somewhere this or that is crap, its only crap to that particular user, others may make that brush sing and that beginner has no chance of getting what a pro can out of that same airbrush. I started like many with a knock off went to iwata then tried a badger and found my gun of choice, but not long ago had to go back to a knockoff due to lack of spares and my experienced gained with other brushes still managed to create some I feel OK work, amazing work has been created for years before the micron and higher end guns came along..Not that I'd suggest that to anyone as a gun of choice but being as experienced as you are no doubt are maybe you can see where I am coming from..We all have different shaped hands and personally I cant stand gravity's of any description anymore as my hand just doesnt like the feel of them but I do understand others may be different in that area..I posted the way I did because I assumed likely it was just a cosmetic thing that your judging the whole line on and would have sent it back myself as i mentioned as you pay some bucks you should get reasonably quality but considering the gun is half the price of other higher end guns I dont think its completely fair to line em up againts each other in that way, as you don't actually mention how it sprayed, I will of course apoligize for coming across brash but have seen so much badger hating of late I dont mind sticking my hand up to question those kind of views but do understand its a personal choice and opinion, but it helps that others see that also. Being as experienced as you are I think its people like ourselves that should understand these concepts well and perhaps try to remove any bias we can and better inform beginners of pros and cons of all brushes and perhaps to relay info a bit differently as reading your initial post it does come across very negatively because of a) a gouge that doesnt affect perhaps the performance and b) a spring issue that is easily fixed, it suggests to others that the Krome is a bad airbrush and in reality it isn't considering its ability and cost relationship of both gun and spares to other higher end options and have seen amazing works springing from them regularly..

But again sorry if I came across too harsh.. but thats just me :) and one day I'm sure I will grow up LOL
 
Its not you m8 but me, am a pessimist on my best day LOL, its just when I see comments that say quite boldly that their quality leaves a lot to be desired I do get irritated, in case ya missed that LOL, not that I really care about what brush I or others use if it gets the job done. There has been a bit of a shift in Airbrushes of late and it seems everyone thinks you need a micron to do a job and thats the message beginners are generally been given both here and at numerous sites yet everyone overlooks the common sense aspect of it may not suit me but it may suit you, heck detail guns are only good at doing detail LOL, they lack in every other area of airbrushing needs and someone comes in and says I need a general base coat gun and everyone still screams micron LOL..

How we post those opinions I think needs to be looked at more carefully because all they are is opinions, there is no best airbrush, just a hand that knows what to do with one or doesn't and I hate seeing people, especially beginners who dont know better throw big bucks at airbrushes because they read somewhere this or that is crap, its only crap to that particular user, others may make that brush sing and that beginner has no chance of getting what a pro can out of that same airbrush. I started like many with a knock off went to iwata then tried a badger and found my gun of choice, but not long ago had to go back to a knockoff due to lack of spares and my experienced gained with other brushes still managed to create some I feel OK work, amazing work has been created for years before the micron and higher end guns came along..Not that I'd suggest that to anyone as a gun of choice but being as experienced as you are no doubt are maybe you can see where I am coming from..We all have different shaped hands and personally I cant stand gravity's of any description anymore as my hand just doesnt like the feel of them but I do understand others may be different in that area..I posted the way I did because I assumed likely it was just a cosmetic thing that your judging the whole line on and would have sent it back myself as i mentioned as you pay some bucks you should get reasonably quality but considering the gun is half the price of other higher end guns I dont think its completely fair to line em up againts each other in that way, as you don't actually mention how it sprayed, I will of course apoligize for coming across brash but have seen so much badger hating of late I dont mind sticking my hand up to question those kind of views but do understand its a personal choice and opinion, but it helps that others see that also. Being as experienced as you are I think its people like ourselves that should understand these concepts well and perhaps try to remove any bias we can and better inform beginners of pros and cons of all brushes and perhaps to relay info a bit differently as reading your initial post it does come across very negatively because of a) a gouge that doesnt affect perhaps the performance and b) a spring issue that is easily fixed, it suggests to others that the Krome is a bad airbrush and in reality it isn't considering its ability and cost relationship of both gun and spares to other higher end options and have seen amazing works springing from them regularly..

But again sorry if I came across too harsh.. but thats just me :) and one day I'm sure I will grow up LOL


I'm totally fine with harsh as long as it's honest. That's an Aussie thing right? LOL It's not like you came at me with insults, just your opinion and I am cool with that. One thing I've learned about airbrush artists is we are insanely passionate about our choice in tools as is any mechanic, chef, guitarist....ect. My comments on this topic were just my opinion. I probably didn't illustrate that in my postings as well as I should have. You are SPOT ON about it being the hand holding the airbrush and NOT the airbrush itself. I also hear you on the Micron this and Micron that. That is the WORST POSSIBLE AIRBRUSH for a newbie to try and start with, especially if they have no clue how thin and HOW to thin their paint correctly let alone what air pressure to use. Their is a guy over in Windsor, Ontario Canada named Ivan Benic. The guy is just amazingly talented and does work that is out of this world and has for decades. He uses the old single action Paasche H's and still does. It's insane how good he is with one of the most basic airbrushes made. Hell of a nice guy too and one of the biggest inspirations that made me want to airbrush to begin with. Same with the Paasche VL. Seen many guys old and new do really great things with that airbrush. That is one of my main go-to's when $hit hits the fan on those days when the paint doesn't want to fly like it should out of my other brushes. It's always been my crutch in those situations, especially on larger projects like wall murals.

Looking forward to picking your brain and getting your input on my work to come Rebel.
 
After several practice sessions with the Krome, the issues I was having seem to be lessening. Really hard to maintain good control when I had to manually push the trigger forward at the end of each line but it seems to be working itself out with more hours of use. Still an odd issue but at least now I don't have to darn near max out the trigger tension. The Krome is starting to perform as advertised now and I am at least liking it now. I do know that I REALLY like the Wicked Air detail colors I have been using. My studio is in my basement which is cool, usually between 68 F and 72 F all the time. Not sure if that is a factor but man, these paints act nearly like an automotive solvent based paint! VERY COOL! I am reducing 1 to 1 at about 25 to 30 psi and the heaviest and 7 to 1 at at 15 to 20 psi for the thinnest with good effect.
 
All brushes have a learning curve, sounds like you got the khrome figured out

Did you just read the last post and not the whole thread? Sticking mechanisms and gouges on a new airbrushes are not related to learning curves. They would fall under manufacturer defects.
 
Did you just read the last post and not the whole thread? Sticking mechanisms and gouges on a new airbrushes are not related to learning curves. They would fall under manufacturer defects.
no I read all the post and have responded to your last post stating(The krome is starting to preform as advertised)And yes sticking Mechanisms and gouges are manufactures defects and do slip thru from time to time :cry: Bu t I also know ken stands behind his airbrushes and if you sent it back after you found them he will do everything he can to make you happy with his product !
 
Considering it happened not once but twice, and the action of the airbrush stiff and sticky, including the replacement they sent me, i feel thats more than a defect slipping through from time to time as you say. As a paying customer hat reflects bad quality control. I never said they had bad customer service and even complimented Badger in that regard. Im not sure the point you are trying to make other than they have good customer service and that I should just accept inferior quality at a premium price for an airbrush advertised as being superior performance over other airbrishes just because Ken is a nice guy. Well, NO! I didnt buy the airbrush to make friends with the owner of the company guy. Sure he seems like a great person and is an accessable and ethical business man but, like I said. Reading the whole thread helps before spouting off about about sending it back because I did that and they sent me a replacement that looked prettier but still had crappy action. Its wearing in now but should have been fully functional from the start. Makes me wonder if its going to over wear and start causing issues down the road but time will tell.
 
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