I am looking for some good ideas on how to effectively strain or filter paint before airbrushing. I use a single action Pasche H brush with an H3 tip and varying pressures from 25 to 40 PSI.
Any suggestions would be helpful. Prefer not to have to spend much to solve this problem.
RicZ
Hi, Ric
Many of my paints are nearing twenty years old (or more) so straining is imperative for me.
Although I made my own from some 200 mesh stainless screen and a copper reducing coupling you might try these from Dick Blick:
http://www.dickblick.com/products/artists-paint-strainers/
Or for about the same money, Micromark:
http://www.micromark.com/Strainer-Funnels-Set-of-3
At one time I recall seeing small strainers that looked like tea bags that slipped onto the suction tube but maybe these aren't around any more? I've never used those, seems to make sense to keep the crud OUT of the color cup in the first place.
Hope that helps, Ed
I have the McroMark funnel set and it has worked well for me. Not sure how the price compares to the Dick Blick set. When I got them the set was a little less than $20.
Joe
Go hit your local auto body & paint shop, ask them for some strainers/filters they use.
Or, you can buy them here http://www.tcpglobal.com/DEV-802351_5.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwrGIpuCy1gIVELnACh1tTgqfEAQYASABEgIygfD_BwE#.WcHXOMh96M8
You can cut out the strainer/screen from the paper. And since you're using acrylic paints, they can be washed with soap/water and re-used
Inspired by Addiction
See more on my YouTube Channel
What's everybody straining out of the paint? I've been using an airbrush for almost 40 years, and never had cause to strain any type of paint.
Wayne
doctorwayneWhat's everybody straining out of the paint?
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Older paint can have dried "chips" in it, and also some of the solids can "drop out" of the solution and turn into tiny rocks that can clog an airbrush. I very rarely get anything trapped in the filter, but it is an easy precaution to take.
I use a "tea strainer ball" that I bought from The Container Store, but you can find them pretty much anywhere in the kitchen section. It is about 1 1/2" in diameter. I use only half of it in a small funnel. It is all metal so it is very easy to clean after I use it.
This has been perfect for me.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I have to go with doctorwayne on this one. I made a couple of strainers using the screen from an automatic transmission filter which is really fine, and I used it several times. All it did was waste paint. There were never any 'chunks' left in the filter.
I suggest two things. First, mix the paint thoroughly. I use a Testors electric mixer and it works great. Second, clean the lip of the jar before you put the cap back on so there is no paint left on the rim that can form chunks as it dries.
Sometimes the older acrylics will form a film of dried paint inside the top of the bottle. I take a small screwdriver and scrape that out before mixing. The film will usually come out very cleanly if I rotate the screwdriver to wrap the film around the blade of the screwdriver, kind of like rolling your fork to pick up spagetti noodles.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critterI use a Testors electric mixer and it works great.
I'll second the mini-mixer. Mine's Badger but probably the same.
One of the best paint-shop tools I've recently been led to are these small disposable pipettes:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074J42151
Especially for measuring paint to thinner ratios. Trying to pour small amounts straight out of the jar is particularly messy. These make the task nearly effortless.
I now use a gravity-feed airbrush with the color cup on top. This saves a great deal of paint, too. The side mounted cup got in the way too often.
As I previously mentioned, some of my paints are 20+ years old and before tossing one out I will make an effort to "rejuvinate" it. I keep many extra bottles handy and I like to strain the paint as I transfer it into a new jar.
Good Luck, Ed
I use the colour cup only for cleaning the tip and air cap - fill it with lacquer thinner, drop the parts in.
For painting, I use either the small bottles in which Floquil's Polly S was offered, or the bottles from Floquil or Pollyscale. The siphon cap for my Paasche VL fits both, and I put an extension on the siphon tube of a second cap for the deeper bottles. This not only saves a lot of clean-up, but I can switch colours at random while painting, with little or no cleaning. The thinned paint is stored in the bottles used on the airbrush, so not much waste, either.
I, too, use the strainer funnels from Micromark. I keep an old ice cream tub, that I fill with water. After straining the paint I drop the funnel into the water. That keeps the screen from getting dried paint in it.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
doctorwayne What's everybody straining out of the paint? Wayne
What's everybody straining out of the paint?
+1 - Seems like an extra step and extra clean up. I haven't had any problems with my airbrush and paint lumps/clogs....I use an external mix brush, might be different with internal mix.
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
There is a Paasche filter that fits on the end of the pickup tube. I would think it would be plugged quickly given that it is tiny. I used to use the Badger in the jar filter which is like a mesh cone that surrounds the pick up tube.
20 years ago I used it religiously and it was a pain to clean. My old paints disappeared or were thrown away and I started with new paints 2 years ago. I have not used that filter nor do I miss it.
That said, I have bought some Model Master at the LHS that had big goobers in it the consistency of toothpaste. Not solid but not readily mixed or redissolved in the space available in the bottle. I fish those out and throw them away.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
RicZ, Guessing you're experiencing clogs? I'm no expert, but pieces of panty-hose stretched across the mouth of a paint jar or color cup and held in place with a rubber band makes for a niffty filter.
My old 80s vintage bottom feeder single action airbrush seemed to be forever clogging, even after a rebuild, though it did better with a larger size needle and head. Recently popped for a new Badger Patriot 105 gravity feed double action and since then I've been in airbrush heaven, not a single clog so far, (knock on wood) and the thing nicely sprays all kinds of paint at 12PSI.
Old habits die hard, so it has taken me awhile to get the hang of the double action, still not totally proficient, but "practice makes perfect." Have taken a bit of good natured ribbing for not letting go of Lincoln and going for the Iwata, but heck, the Patriot works for me and I like it's name too. Not only that, it's a snap to clean compared to my old brush.
Good luck and good painting, regards, Peter
trainnut1250+1 - Seems like an extra step and extra clean up.
It might be an extra step, but it also seems like a cheap insurance policy. It only takes a few minutes to strain mixed paint into secondary containers for painting. I might not be accomplishing anything, but it does not seem worth the risk not to do it.
Kind of like choosing to wear a seat belt or hard hat.
Like Dave, I generally clean the lip of the paint jar and the inside of the lid to prevent paint from drying on those, then later dropping into the paint as solids when the jar is opened or closed.
If that's not the source of the lumps and particles, then the paint is either not fully mix or has deteriorated over time or with exposure to air. You may be able to recover it with the addition of a suitable thinner, but the lumps are likely one of the components of the paint, and the performance of the paint may be affected by the absence of that component.
I have a jar of Floquil Pullman Green...it looked more black than green when I bought it, perhaps like Pennsy's Dark Green Locomotive Enamel. I never used it to paint rolling stock, but it's very suitable for brush-painting the faces of wheels operating in solid-bearing trucks. That paint thickened over the years, so I periodically add a little lacquer thinner to the bottle. I'd never use it in my airbrush, though, but it works fine on a brush and in its current use, isn't subjected to much handling. That's the stuff in one of the square bottles, by the way.