Need to hear from some of you using an airbrush.
I have an adequate 6hp 80gallon compressor. Wife wants to start playing
with an airbrush and I am tired of dragging 160 feet of air hose every time
I want to finish nail some trim, use my upholstery stapler etc. in the
house. The compressor is in the shop.
Question. Do I buy a small 30-40 psi (I assume they are fairly quiet)
compressor for my loved one, OR, do I buy something a little bigger like
this 2 gallon unit from HF.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90539

I'm sure that the HF compressor, or equivalent would let me shoot a few
nails. My wife will do her airbrush work in her ceramics studio which is
also in the shop. She has a separate room so we could simply run her a hose
in case this unit is noisy.

Ideas appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 04:32:26 GMT, the renowned "Ivan Vegvary"
wrote:

Need to hear from some of you using an airbrush.
I have an adequate 6hp 80gallon compressor. Wife wants to start playing
with an airbrush and I am tired of dragging 160 feet of air hose every time
I want to finish nail some trim, use my upholstery stapler etc. in the
house. The compressor is in the shop.
Question. Do I buy a small 30-40 psi (I assume they are fairly quiet)
compressor for my loved one, OR, do I buy something a little bigger like
this 2 gallon unit from HF.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90539

I'm sure that the HF compressor, or equivalent would let me shoot a few
nails. My wife will do her airbrush work in her ceramics studio which is
also in the shop. She has a separate room so we could simply run her a hose
in case this unit is noisy.

Ideas appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary

Man, does that thing look noisy. The HF airbrush compressor is on sale
for $50, so why not buy both? ;-)


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
news:uNGwf.1722$sa4.227@trnddc07...
Need to hear from some of you using an airbrush.
I have an adequate 6hp 80gallon compressor. Wife wants to start playing
with an airbrush and I am tired of dragging 160 feet of air hose every
time
I want to finish nail some trim, use my upholstery stapler etc. in the
house. The compressor is in the shop.
Question. Do I buy a small 30-40 psi (I assume they are fairly quiet)
compressor for my loved one, OR, do I buy something a little bigger like
this 2 gallon unit from HF.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90539

I'm sure that the HF compressor, or equivalent would let me shoot a few
nails. My wife will do her airbrush work in her ceramics studio which is
also in the shop. She has a separate room so we could simply run her a
hose
in case this unit is noisy.

Ideas appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary

This is an idea only for people who are really, really cheap -- like me.
When my son wanted to learn to use my airbrush and I didn't want to hear the
sound of a compressor coming from his bedroom, I bought a Badger tire-valve
converter (less than $5) and picked up a nice-size mounted tire at the
recycling center. I pump the tire up to a little over 45 psi and let him go.
It lasts for a surprising amount of airbrushing.

Don't do this if your wife already thinks you don't spend enough on her.
d8-)

As a second alternative, I can suggest something a friend of mine did. His
wife is an artist who likes to work late. He couldn't stand the noise of
even the best-quality compressor. So he put the compressor in the basement
and soldered together a line of 1/2" copper water pipe up into their room.
Problem solved, and it provided an opportunity to install a T-fitting at the
bottom and a drain valve, which effectively kept the air dry and the line
free of condensation.

--
Ed Huntress

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 04:32:26 GMT, "Ivan Vegvary"
wrote:

Need to hear from some of you using an airbrush.
I have an adequate 6hp 80gallon compressor. Wife wants to start playing
with an airbrush and I am tired of dragging 160 feet of air hose every time
I want to finish nail some trim, use my upholstery stapler etc. in the
house. The compressor is in the shop.
Question. Do I buy a small 30-40 psi (I assume they are fairly quiet)
compressor for my loved one, OR, do I buy something a little bigger like
this 2 gallon unit from HF.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90539

I'm sure that the HF compressor, or equivalent would let me shoot a few
nails. My wife will do her airbrush work in her ceramics studio which is
also in the shop. She has a separate room so we could simply run her a hose
in case this unit is noisy.

Ideas appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary

Since noise an issue, why not use a small air tank instead of a
compressor?

5 Gallon @ $22.99
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=41712

10 Gallon @ $2.99
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=40057

Stay away from the small oilless compressors sold by the air brush
companies. They only put out about 30 psi max, which is not enough for
real airbrushing. I gave mine away to a friend who only wanted to
dabble with one. A good shop compressor with regulator up to 90 psi and
a water trap/filter is the only way to go.
Bugs

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 04:32:26 GMT, "Ivan Vegvary"
wrote:

Need to hear from some of you using an airbrush.
I have an adequate 6hp 80gallon compressor. Wife wants to start playing
with an airbrush and I am tired of dragging 160 feet of air hose every time
I want to finish nail some trim, use my upholstery stapler etc. in the
house. The compressor is in the shop.
Question. Do I buy a small 30-40 psi (I assume they are fairly quiet)
compressor for my loved one, OR, do I buy something a little bigger like
this 2 gallon unit from HF.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90539

I'm sure that the HF compressor, or equivalent would let me shoot a few
nails. My wife will do her airbrush work in her ceramics studio which is
also in the shop. She has a separate room so we could simply run her a hose
in case this unit is noisy.

Ideas appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary


Lots of good ideas already. Condensation can be a real problem, which
would be greatly reduced or eliminated by the tank ideas or piping it
into her work area from your big tank.

Pete Keillor

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 04:32:26 GMT, "Ivan Vegvary"
wrote:

Need to hear from some of you using an airbrush.
I have an adequate 6hp 80gallon compressor. Wife wants to start playing
with an airbrush and I am tired of dragging 160 feet of air hose every time
I want to finish nail some trim, use my upholstery stapler etc. in the
house. The compressor is in the shop.
Question. Do I buy a small 30-40 psi (I assume they are fairly quiet)
compressor for my loved one, OR, do I buy something a little bigger like
this 2 gallon unit from HF.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90539

I'm sure that the HF compressor, or equivalent would let me shoot a few
nails. My wife will do her airbrush work in her ceramics studio which is
also in the shop. She has a separate room so we could simply run her a hose
in case this unit is noisy.

Ideas appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary


A neighbour of mine used to use a CO2 bottle for air brushing, FWIW.

Ivan,

I have a homemade compressor consisting of a Thomas 4-diaphragm compressor
and a 4-5 gal (roughly) "portable air tank" mounted under it. Has a
pressure switch and unloader valve. I built it specifically for my son's
airbrush, and it works very well. He's moved out, and I don't need it any
more. If you're anywhere near NJ, you're welcome to it. Like all
direct-drive, oilless compressors, it's a bit noisy, but the price is right.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
news:uNGwf.1722$sa4.227@trnddc07...
Need to hear from some of you using an airbrush.
I have an adequate 6hp 80gallon compressor. Wife wants to start playing
with an airbrush and I am tired of dragging 160 feet of air hose every
time I want to finish nail some trim, use my upholstery stapler etc. in
the house. The compressor is in the shop.
Question. Do I buy a small 30-40 psi (I assume they are fairly quiet)
compressor for my loved one, OR, do I buy something a little bigger like
this 2 gallon unit from HF.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90539

I'm sure that the HF compressor, or equivalent would let me shoot a few
nails. My wife will do her airbrush work in her ceramics studio which is
also in the shop. She has a separate room so we could simply run her a
hose in case this unit is noisy.

Ideas appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary

wrote:

Need to hear from some of you using an airbrush.
I have an adequate 6hp 80gallon compressor. Wife wants to start playing
with an airbrush and I am tired of dragging 160 feet of air hose every
time

Do what I did. I just got some 1/2" rubber hose. I chucked it up to the
mouth piece from an old Scuba regulator.

The wife simply blows through it when she needs to use the airbrush.

I had to put a regulator on it, though, as it was blowing out the front
seals on the airbrush.

Steve ;-)

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
Ivan,

I have a homemade compressor consisting of a Thomas 4-diaphragm compressor
and a 4-5 gal (roughly) "portable air tank" mounted under it. Has a
pressure switch and unloader valve. I built it specifically for my son's
airbrush, and it works very well. He's moved out, and I don't need it any
more. If you're anywhere near NJ, you're welcome to it. Like all
direct-drive, oilless compressors, it's a bit noisy, but the price is
right.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

Thank you for the offer but I am way over on the left side of the country.
Oregon

Ivan Vegvary

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 04:32:26 GMT, "Ivan Vegvary"
wrote:

I have an adequate 6hp 80gallon compressor. Wife wants to start playing
with an airbrush and I am tired of dragging 160 feet of air hose every time
I want to finish nail some trim, use my upholstery stapler etc. in the
house. The compressor is in the shop.

Question. Do I buy a small 30-40 psi (I assume they are fairly quiet)
compressor for my loved one, OR, do I buy something a little bigger like
this 2 gallon unit from HF.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90539

Those little buzz-bombs are NOT quiet. I have the Porter-Cable
pancake compressor for field trips, and as a rule the HF units are
even noisier.

What are the ground surface conditions from the house to the shop?
(dirt, pavement, lawn, 3 feet of snow, permafrost...) And are there
any underground conduits down there now?

If you already have an underground conduit for Power Phones or CATV
between the house and shop, it would be simple enough to pull through
a length of 3/8" black polyethylene air line tubing through an
existing pipe. It will gladly run all day at 90 to 110 PSI, though
I'd knock it down from 175 PSI before it hits the PE line.

And it's non-conductive so PE Tubing should work fine in the power
conduit, though it certainly wouldn't be my first choice. If the
tubing gets too warm it will form a little hernia and pop.

Put a small receiver tank in the house that will supply small bursts
of air for the nailgun or stapler, since the 3/8" line to the garage
will take a few seconds to recover.

If everything is overhead now, this might be the time to consider a
backhoe and doing it all at once. Dig in a 2" PVC Conduit for power,
a 2" white PVC as a sleeve for the 1/2" Hard Copper air line (sloped
for a drip leg outlet at all the low spots) a few 1" conduits for
phone and CATV, and water and drain lines. Whatever you don't have
out there now.

I'm sure that the HF compressor, or equivalent would let me shoot a few
nails. My wife will do her airbrush work in her ceramics studio which is
also in the shop. She has a separate room so we could simply run her a hose
in case this unit is noisy.

For that, running a permanent copper air line into the Studio from
the Shop system is the only way to go. Gives you a good excuse to buy
a refrigerated air dryer and build a soundproof closet around the main
shop compressor, instead of that portable compressor. And she can
have her own Filter/Regulator to dial in the airbrush pressure just
where she wants it.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=40211

I don't buy things from Harbor Fright that have lots of breakable
parts and will be used hard, since their long term repair parts
availability varies from slim to none - and Slim ain't been lookin'
too healthy lately. ;-)

That particular #90539 compressor doesn't look too bad, but ask me
again after you put a few hundred hours on it. There's a reason why
when you have an in-warranty failure of a tool they just hand you a
new tool and toss the old one in the trash...

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.