Got my CM-B Today!!!

from what i've heard the lube ends up gumming up the air valve after a while. I have always used a little machine oil, but I think some others use a certain kind of grease maybe?
 
I have some white grease that I got from the local ace hardware. Dunno if it's got silicone etc though.
 
I wouldn't use that. There's something called K33 balm from foxystudio you could use, or I would suggest using 3 in 1 machine oil. the white grease will collect dust and debris from the atmosphere and will probably mess your airbrush gun up.
 
Ok, I think I'll just go to the safer route and get the k33 as you suggest. No point in cheaping out and ruining the expensive airbrushed right lol. Thanks again!
 
I recommend Badger Regdab lube over K33. I've tried Iwata Superlube, Badger Regdab, and K-33 Balm, and IMO the Badger stuff works the best. It's almost water-thin, so it's best applied with a needle applicator, but of the AB lubes I've tried it actually lubes (reduces friction so parts move more smoothly) the best by a very wide margin, and doesn't dry up.

K33 is very easy to apply in precise amounts and places since it has a grease consistency instead of a liquid, and it also doesn't dry up, but it doesn't lube nearly as well as the Badger lube. It has a rep for being high-end stuff, but having used it I honestly I think that's mostly based on who makes it rather than how it performs. It's good, but it's not the best.

Iwata Superlube doesn't really rate . Lubes about as well as K33 when freshly applied, but it dries out and starts causing sticking within a day or two. Does help with tip dry a little, but not enough to really bother with.

I wouldn't personally use anything petroleum based like 3-in-1. Probably works fine as a lube, but I'd want to stay away from anything that might contaminate the needle and cause problems with the paint.
 
My bottle of Regdab is thick and smells of old car oil. Terrible stuff. I have never used Supalube and never will after I've seen the tests. The Iwata spraygun lube is nice and thin and my preferred lube. When I do army inspection quality cleaning I use the K33 balm. There is nothing really on an airbrush that needs lube. Only the needle where it makes contact with the packing seal gets lube in all my guns.
 
My bottle of Regdab is thick and smells of old car oil. Terrible stuff.

From what I've read, they had a major bad batch that made it through to shelves some years back. People who purchased theirs during that interval ended up with bottles of thick yellow rubbish, and it ended up giving a lot of new users a terrible impression which Badger is still trying to recover from.

Buy a bottle today, and you'll get something which is colorless, odorless, almost water-thin, and lubes much better than K33. I've had mine for around a year, and it hasn't gone bad in any way, and the brushes I put it in can sit idle for months without it drying or sticking ( have several brushes now, so some do go idle). First time I used the stuff, the difference was so dramatic that my first thought was the packing had come loose.

My Iwatas don't technically need lube, but it does noticeably improve the trigger feel. My Badgers sort of need lube on some of the internals, as without it their rough machining gives them a gritty feel in places. All of my brushes will work and can do the same jobs without lube, but lube makes them feel nicer to use.
 
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