I need some troubleshooting advice...

Ryck

Needle-chuck Ninja
Hi all!

While I am waiting on my new airbrush to arrive, I thought I would mess with the cheap one I bought. I installed the .2 nozzle and cap and needle, fired up the compressor at 22PSI and since this one has a side feed I installed the paint cup and put some water in it to practice strokes on my Buddha Board.

As I began, I find that there is nothing coming out. If I move the trigger back and forth as if off and on, as I am letting the trigger go, I get a tiny bit of spatter. I have never used paint in this brush so there is no clogs. I could hold my finger over the tip and see bubbles in the cup and if I held my thumb over the cup, I would get a large blast of water.

So, what's up with that? :confused:
 
Trying to process the visual for a moment...

Covering the cup shouldn't matter unless you do it for a while, but then it would create a vacuum, not blast paint/water. If you did everything in the exact order you described, it sounds like there was a clog of some kind, back bubbling by covering the tip cleared it out, and now it's spraying.

What happens if you try spraying normally again after all of that?
 
Another thought that should have come first is after replacing the needle/nozzle did you tighten the chuck nut to secure the needle? If not, covering the tip could have pushed the needle back which would explain the blast after.
 
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like Karl said, check the needle tip is retracting as it should when you pull back, its not uncommon to forget to tighten the chuck once the needle is seated.

up the PSI and see if it makes any difference.

Is this a new / unused brush or did you get it 2nd hand from somewhere

If all tightened correctly and you still have no joy, switch the cup and the blank over, don't know why it makes a difference but I've had similar issues in the past
 
Hi all!

While I am waiting on my new airbrush to arrive, I thought I would mess with the cheap one I bought. I installed the .2 nozzle and cap and needle, fired up the compressor at 22PSI and since this one has a side feed I installed the paint cup and put some water in it to practice strokes on my Buddha Board.

As I began, I find that there is nothing coming out. If I move the trigger back and forth as if off and on, as I am letting the trigger go, I get a tiny bit of spatter. I have never used paint in this brush so there is no clogs. I could hold my finger over the tip and see bubbles in the cup and if I held my thumb over the cup, I would get a large blast of water.

So, what's up with that? :confused:
I know you said you haven’t put paint in it, but it’s blocked for sure. Some how something has got in the path
 
Air is coming out, so something is up with the paint channel. Some obstruction preventing fluid coming down from the cup and into the air flow.

Folk have already suggested the most common things to check.

Mostly, it sounds like maybe the needle isn't going back with the trigger, so of course the first thing I would do is check the needle chuck and make sure it is tight and that the trigger moves the needle. Another thing to check tho...

On the less expensive airbrushes, sometimes the needle cap screws in a bit too far, and makes a seal with the nozzle, preventing air from coming out, or not enough air is coming out to suck the paint down the needle. That can be hard to see, but there should be just a tiny, tiny bit of space around the needle/nozzle and the whole in the cap for air to come out. Sometimes if the cap screws in too far, it kind of loses that space. Try loosening the cap a quarter turn at a time.

In fact, a lot of early airbrushes, like T&Cs were designed to control the air pressure by twisting the cap in or out, and you could twist it in far enough to completely cut off the air / paint flow.

Also, make sure that there isn't an obstruction in the paint channel. When you push your needle all the way in, just the very,very, very tip should be poking out of the nozzle. If it isn't able to do that, there might be some obstruction in the paint channel. If so, it's time to break out a pipe cleaner or interdental brush.
 
Thanks to all of you for your comments and suggestions. Let me answer all of your questions.

Yes, the needle chuck nut is tight. I can see the needle retracting with the trigger movement. I did try blocking the nozzle and did get air bubbles in the cup.

This is a brand new airbrush and has never had paint in it. Water only so do not suspect that this is a O ring issue but I am certainly no expert on that.

I did try spraying with the nozzle cap off and there was no difference.

So, with all that being said, I will take it apart and check for any clogs. I do have a brush set so I will try those as well. I will report back on the outcome.
 
This airbrush only has an inlet on one side. I tried both the cup and the siphon feed bottle.
only one inlet ? now THATs what I call a cheap airbrush, they couldn't justify the cost of an extra hole :)

It may be that the cup/bottle isn't sealing properly ? so its sucking air ?
 
Turn the airbrush so the side hole is facing up and then drip some water in the hole, If it sprays out of the needle cap then its a problem with the screw in cup. if no there is a problem inside the airbrush.

You installed a .2 nozzle needle and cap, 2 things.

1) I assume you have another setup for it? Try that one. If it works then the .2 setup has a problem

2) It has been known that the setups have become accidentally mixed up. An incorrect needle, nozzle, cap configuration could be causing the problem.

lets go from there.
 
I took it apart and found that with the nozzle removed I could pour water into the cup and it would drip out of the front. So after I started looking at all of the pieces that came with this airbrush, I think I got either a returned item or a bunch of random parts. What was supposed to be a .5 nozzle was just a nozzle cap only. So I started trying different combinations of nozzles which I think I only had the .2 and .5 nozzles and in messing around with it all I finally got it spraying again.

I have questions. About the needle size, are the needle shafts all the same size or are they the diameter as listed. And when a nozzle and needle are installed, how far should the needle actually protrude from the nozzle when installed? I am trying to get a grasp on how to pair the ones I have correctly.
Thanks for all of the help folks! :thumbsup:
 
@DaveG may have some nuggets of wisdom on how to determine which needle and nozzle go together (in future always keep them seperate and labelled somehow - zip bags come in handy)
 
I had a similar issue with a master airbrush that I have. It came with a .3 setup installed which I used for a bit with no issue at all. When I picked up my Iwata with the .2, and my gsi with the .18 I switched the master out to the .5 that came with it so I could use it for bigger areas. The brush went from spraying good to absolute crap. I have the trigger pulled almost all the way back to get paint to come out no matter what reduction. Now I barely even use it.


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I took it apart and found that with the nozzle removed I could pour water into the cup and it would drip out of the front. So after I started looking at all of the pieces that came with this airbrush, I think I got either a returned item or a bunch of random parts. What was supposed to be a .5 nozzle was just a nozzle cap only. So I started trying different combinations of nozzles which I think I only had the .2 and .5 nozzles and in messing around with it all I finally got it spraying again.

I have questions. About the needle size, are the needle shafts all the same size or are they the diameter as listed. And when a nozzle and needle are installed, how far should the needle actually protrude from the nozzle when installed? I am trying to get a grasp on how to pair the ones I have correctly.
Thanks for all of the help folks! :thumbsup:

the needle shafts are all the same size. In theory all that would be different on the needles is the taper at the front, and the point of the needle. On many of the inexpensive imports, I have found they actually only have one needle taper and label them three different ways. I have also had the experience that when they come with 3 set ups, usually two of them work, the third is garbage - but, it varies as to which two work. Generally speaking, the needles should be the longest, sharpest point is the smallest size. The largest should be rather blunt in comparison, with a shorter taper.
 
the needle shafts are all the same size. In theory all that would be different on the needles is the taper at the front, and the point of the needle. On many of the inexpensive imports, I have found they actually only have one needle taper and label them three different ways. I have also had the experience that when they come with 3 set ups, usually two of them work, the third is garbage - but, it varies as to which two work. Generally speaking, the needles should be the longest, sharpest point is the smallest size. The largest should be rather blunt in comparison, with a shorter taper.

Thank you for the education and information.

I laid out all three needles I got with the cheap set and looked at the needle tapers side by side. The two smaller sizes (.2 and .3) look the same under my magnifier and the .5 stands out. The needle caps were noticeably different. I measured the needle shafts with my digital calipers (after I finally found them) and they all measured 1.2mm diameter each. After I separated the needles, I marked the protective point sleeve by coloring black bands using a Sharpie pen. Two bands for .2mm etc,. As I collect more parts, I will label them with my P-Touch label maker.
 
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