Buying Guide - Purchasing an Airbrush & Airbrush Supplies

Types of Airbrushes

• Single-Action Airbrush: Simplest to use. When you depress the button, air rushes through the brush, siphons paint from the reservoir and deposits it in a fine mist on surface of your choice. You can adjust the amount of color between sprays. Best suited for hobbyists and craft work with general coverage/patterns. Can also be used with high air pressure for applying textile paints and ceramic glazes.
• Double-Action Airbrush: Simultaneously controls the amount of air and color sprayed. This gives you the best possible level of versatility and control. Used primarily with light-bodied paints and dyes, a double-action airbrush is best suited for detail work, photo retouching, T-shirt decoration, fine art and other precision applications.
• Gravity vs. Siphon Feed: Gravity-fed airbrushes deliver the paint in the fastest possible way but only in small amounts. This makes them better for fine detail work where quick color changes are necessary. Siphon-fed brushes allow you to carry the most fluid in the reservoir. Use multiple reservoir jars for color changes.
• Internal vs. External Mix: Airbrush models that mix air with paint internally will give you the finest spray pattern. They also require the greatest attention to maintenance. Mixing air with paint externally is suitable for most hobby applications and ceramic glazes. External mix airbrush models are also easier to maintain.

Paints and Compressors
In order to spray paint through an airbrush the paint should be no thicker than milk. Sax offers only the finest non-toxic, ready-to-use airbrush paints available today (found at the end of the brush section of the Sax Main catalog). All are waterbased. If you need to thin a paint, be careful not to use too much water. Water decreases the adhesive quality of the paint. Use airbrush mediums if you need to thin your paints dramatically. You will need to have a compressor or device that will deliver approximately 75 cubic feet/minute (CFM) of clean, dry air at 20 pounds/square inch (PSI). Typical operating rate is 20-40 PSI at 1 CFM. If your airbrush is spitting, most likely running pressure is too low or there is moisture in the air supply. Heavier paints, such as textile paints, require increased air pressure of 50 PSI at 1 CFM for best results.

Safety/Care
Because airbrushes atomize paint particles we recommend using good ventilation, a spray booth and a dust mask. Also, prompt cleaning with the appropriate solvent will give you years of pleasure using your airbrush.

Getting Started
You will need an airbrush with a hose attachment, a compressor or other compressed air source and suitable airbrush paints. You can add on such things as a moisture trap and a regulator (necessary when using a commercial tank of compressed air), a spray booth, and cleaning solvents.

See the Sax Main Catalog for a handy chart describing all the Airbrushes that we carry.