Airbrush Help.

Hi guys,
Just tried my new airbrush for the first time today and I'm having some troubles with it.
The spray is coming out in a really narrow 'stroke'. I've got the .5 nozzle and needle on it and I'm spraying at 30psi. Paint is thinned properly as well.
I'm happy with the finish but it just takes forever to get coverage and this was on a test spoon.
Any help would be appreciated as I'm really keen to learn a new technique.

Cheers,

Josh.

have a lot of trouble myself, dont know if this helps but i never use more than 25psi and sometimes a lot less

What brand and model no of airbrush is it?

Chris

Depending on what type of paint im spraying i use between 10 and 20psi

Thanks Dv8. Will have a play today and see how I go.

Chris, it's a Delta BD airbrush. It came with the air compressor as I want to get some technique before I buy a better one.

AJ, I'm using Zero Paints from the UK. They're pre-thinned and pretty much good to go.

Josh.

Can you pull your needle back a bit, to let more paint through??

Hi Adam, I didn't think to try that. I'll just keep playing and see how I go. Thanks for the suggestion.

Josh.

I use 30 for paint & clear but I think it depends more on a combination of all the settings plus the paint & the weather.
It's more just a matter of feel and will take time to get used to your equipment (which is probably just what you don't want to hear - I hated it that I couldn't just set it all up & do brilliant paint jobs from the word go).

Here's a tip though. A combination of too thick paint, too low air pressure and a blocked breather hole in the paint jar lid results in a lovely coarse sandpaper like finish...

sounds to me like Adam hit the proverbial nail on this one, how did you go ?

Slowly getting there. Just need to find something to practice spraying with as paints a pain to clean up. Lol.
Will keep you posted.

Josh.

Seeing as how an airbrush will pretty much spray anything runny enough why not practice with kids poster paints onto sheets of paper?

Thanks Fred,
I didn't even think of that and I have some laying around.

Josh.

Easy clean up too - just put your jars in the dishwasher*

Another helpfull hint - a spider up inside the tip will prevent paint being drawn up from the jar.

* can also be done with solvent based paint but you won't be popular when the kitchen smells like a spray booth. Don't ask me how I know..