Water diluted paint blocks my AB

Franc Kaiser

Air-Valve Autobot!
Hi guys, sorry if this topic has been treated already in the forum, but I can’t get wrap my head around this issue:

I am using more and more water to thin my paint. However the brush sprays worse then when using pure paint this way, especially when only releasing the needle slightly for a soft spray. When going full throttle, it sprays out well, but not when going fine and discrete. Why is that? The AB works better with paint (no addition of water) only.

paint: golden high flow
Brush: hp-bp
Pressure: 20 psi
 
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Hi guys, sorry if this topic has been treated already in the forum, but I can’t get wrap my head around this issue:

I am using more and more water to thin my paint. However the brush sprays worse then when using pure paint this way, especially when only releasing the needle slightly for a soft spray. When going full throttle, it sprays out well, but not when going fine and discrete. Why is that? The AB works better with paint (no addition of water) only.

paint: golden high flow
Brush: hp-bp
Pressure: 20 psi
It's a physics thing. There is a tradeoff between surface tension and atomization in a pigment containing emulsion.

In short, there is a sweet spot where things are thin enough to flow well, but still thick enough to atomize with pigment still in suspension.

With dye based paints or watercolors, you can thin with water to your hearts content. With acrylics, not so much. If you thin too much, pigment falls out of suspension and binders fail.

If you thin too much, add transparent airbrush medium back in. It will thicken enough for good atomization, restore some binder, and let you keep your transparency level.

I keep a giant bottle of golden airbrush medium on hand for just this reason. They also make a transparent extender, but near as I can tell, it is just the medium thinned down a bit.

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As far as I know, the Transparent extender is the official colden thinner.
But there are many people who use the Airbrush medium as a thinner.
There is almost no difference between the 2. And it is a kind of Transparent Base.
I have also noticed that too much water as a dilution does not only give a thin line,
but can also be less sharp. A slightly thicker paint often gives a sharper line.
 
thank you both guys - that makes a lot of sense. What I like about adding water to the acrylics is that i feel it gives actually a softer blend effect, and (if the brush works) i can draw quite fine lines at higher precision. I agree it must be a physics thing, as Kim mentioned. I got a large bottle of high flow medium too, and will try to add this to the acrylics + water mix. Thanks again for both your insights.
 
thank you both guys - that makes a lot of sense. What I like about adding water to the acrylics is that i feel it gives actually a softer blend effect, and (if the brush works) i can draw quite fine lines at higher precision. I agree it must be a physics thing, as Kim mentioned. I got a large bottle of high flow medium too, and will try to add this to the acrylics + water mix. Thanks again for both your insights.
As Kim mentioned, the water adds to the surface tension (this means the paint mix wants to stick to everything inside the brush rather than being dragged out and atomized ;)) - so, in addition to the transparent extender, you may want to add a flow release, or wetting agent. I know golden makes one, but can not recall off the top of my head what they call it now. I do know there was recently a name and label change...
 
As Kim mentioned, the water adds to the surface tension (this means the paint mix wants to stick to everything inside the brush rather than being dragged out and atomized ;)) - so, in addition to the transparent extender, you may want to add a flow release, or wetting agent. I know golden makes one, but can not recall off the top of my head what they call it now. I do know there was recently a name and label change...
It's simply called golden wetting agent. I have two bottles on my shelf. LOL.

Though, have found the liquitex "flow aid additive" actually works better and is 100% compatible with golden paints.

Bit harder to find tho.

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It's simply called golden wetting agent. I have two bottles on my shelf. LOL.

Though, have found the liquitex "flow aid additive" actually works better and is 100% compatible with golden paints.

Bit harder to find tho.

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These are the mediums we talked about.
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