Homemade (with tender loving care) Airbrush

DaveG

Airbush Analyst
What to do when you run out of money, and can't seem to find any interesting brushes to add to your collection?
Make your own, of course!
I started working on building a custom brush. I am using an Iwata 0.2mm nozzle and needle, but the rest is/will be scratch made. I am about half way there as far as making all the parts. Perhaps just a few days away from being able to at least test it, though. Fingers crossed I did my math right!

Main body, and air valve -
Trigger_Stop1.jpg airbrush body drawing1.jpg body cut batch1.jpg bdoy cut1.jpg air_valve1.jpg brush body and seals1.jpg brush body w_air valve1.jpg
 
"Curious what it looks like inside." - Pretty typical interior. There is a needle packing gland. The top of the air valve assembly has an adjstable/replaceable o-ring seal for the valve pin, and slots for a horizontal trigger cross pin.

"Is there an internal airway to the front?" - yes. It runs from the air valve to the front of the brush at @4 degree angle.

"And are you planning to use an eclipse style trigger, or a 1 piece style trigger?" - one piece trigger with cross pin at the base,
 
Very impressive Dave, but I’m not surprised you decided a DIY airbrush was possible, you have impressive skills

I can’t imagine that somebody with competent machining skills and a little bit of knowledge and know how could not build an airbrush from scratch. Heck most of the Airbrush houses out there don’t operate on huge budgets and the commercial designs are pretty basic.
 
That's cool, Dave! Can't say, that you've surprised me by making airbrush, that's what I expected from you:) You remember my questions about the subject;) The making process itself was a matter of time and it came.
I think, you've expected from me the same:) But my equipment isn't ready and due to situation, can't really say when it's gonna happen, readiness I mean. Some gauges for the milling process are required etc, etc...
In my mind there's concept with changeable head like Wold's or Micron's type, but execution will differ from what you do. The same is about the body, it's gonna be mix of W's & M's ideas but corrected by my vision.
I can see that needle mechanism is Japanese type. That's what I'm going to make also. Wold's one is mind breaking production and not that good for my liking.
I wonder what the handle is going to be. I bet, ton's of ideas are in you mind;)

Have you already done special electrodes for body plating? Are you going to chrome plate or gold or..?
Have you made yourself or ordered the reamer for the air head?

I'm looking forward for your showing of the finished piece and testing:)
 
That's cool, Dave! Can't say, that you've surprised me by making airbrush, that's what I expected from you:) You remember my questions about the subject;) The making process itself was a matter of time and it came.
I think, you've expected from me the same:) But my equipment isn't ready and due to situation, can't really say when it's gonna happen, readiness I mean. Some gauges for the milling process are required etc, etc...
In my mind there's concept with changeable head like Wold's or Micron's type, but execution will differ from what you do. The same is about the body, it's gonna be mix of W's & M's ideas but corrected by my vision.
I can see that needle mechanism is Japanese type. That's what I'm going to make also. Wold's one is mind breaking production and not that good for my liking.
I wonder what the handle is going to be. I bet, ton's of ideas are in you mind;)

Have you already done special electrodes for body plating? Are you going to chrome plate or gold or..?
Have you made yourself or ordered the reamer for the air head?

I'm looking forward for your showing of the finished piece and testing:)


I can't tell you how much I hope that you can get back to gathering all your equipment and supplies as normally as possible...soon!

I'm trying not go get ahead of myself. I am finding that the best laid plans sometimes don't work out the way I thought they might, and am having to re-do some of the work once I have assemblies to actually try. I am in the middle of re-doing the upper portion of the air valve (the part that sits in the brush body). The head base itself was pretty straight forward, and required little more than making sure everything remained concentric, and that the single point threading was done cleanly to spec. The air cap/nozzle cap, that is a different story - this will eventually be done more easily with a custom ground tool to produce the inner shape, while keeping everything concentric with the base.

Yes, there are LOTS of ideas running around my head.
 
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I can't tell you how much I hope that you can get back to gathering all your equipment and supplies as normally as possible...soon!

Let's hope. I think, "soon" is not going to happen, unfortunately.

I am finding that the best laid plans sometimes don't work out the way I thought they might, and am having to re-do some of the work once I have assemblies to actually try.

That's the interesting part. If plans don't work, you can catch new ideas while thinking over fails:)

I am in the middle of re-doing the upper portion of the air valve (the part that sits in the brush body).

Why wouldn't you do japanese type? Just for your dimensions? They work well.

The head base itself was pretty straight forward, and required little more than making sure everything remained concentric, and that the single point threading was done cleanly to spec. The air cap/nozzle cap, that is a different story - this will eventually be done more easily with a custom ground tool to produce the inner shape, while keeping everything concentric with the base.

Remaining concentric is pain. The equipment must be very good for that and the hands:)
If you ground your custom made reamer for the air cap yourself, how I understand your efforts:)

Yes, there are LOTS of ideas running around my head.

:D NO doubts here!
 
I know what it takes to machine "precision" components, when even the temputure is a requirment for measurements and have used cnc and cad equipment to do it with.
Olders lathes and milling equipment work on a little different principle. Although they look the same. There is an art and partnership with older equipment to pull off surface finishes and precision.
Trust me, and DaveG will play it down
 
Once I started getting enough parts together to get a feel for things, I decided I didn't like the way the trigger was interacting with the air valve housing. It required a re-design of the upper portion of the air valve housing, so I machined a new one. Once done with that, I also replaced the lower section to get a better fit between the parts.

air_valve_remake1.jpg
 
Once I started getting enough parts together to get a feel for things, I decided I didn't like the way the trigger was interacting with the air valve housing. It required a re-design of the upper portion of the air valve housing, so I machined a new one. Once done with that, I also replaced the lower section to get a better fit between the parts.

View attachment 67321
Almost there! What do you intend to use as a handle?
 
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