Airbrush compressors

[Jasonc]

I'm trying to decide on a compressor for my new Iwata HB-C, but don't know what's good out there. I found THIS on ebay, but is it good? If not, does anyone suggest a good compressor that I can use for good airbrushing? Help is much appreciated. Thanks

[azrhino]

From the description, it looks like it has everything you need, especially the

water trap and adjustable regulator. Plus it comes with a one year warranty, so

it appears to be a good deal.

If you decide to get it, I would be interested in hearing your review of how it works.

Good luck,

Mike

[Hurin]

That looks cool. I'm sorta in the market for an airbrush and compressor too. Congrats on winning the auction. Let me know how you like it.

H

[Ido]

I buyed the same compressor with the tank, I'm not so satisfied, the pressure is constant, nothing to say but keep in mind that is a diaprham compressor, so is moderately noisy and will heat up easely, you could have some problems with costant pressure w/o tank. The trap and regulator works fine.

Good for beginners, I'll think I'll buy a Italian Olimpo silent compressor asap I can.

It doesn't come with instructions, you must download a pdf file from airbrushdebot.com

Edited March 30, 2005 by Ido

[Jasonc]

I did get that model, so another question is, can you add a tank to it? The model with the tank looks very similar.

[azrhino]

You could add a tank, but wouldn't you need to add a shut off switch to stop the

compressor when the tank reached a certain pressure, and turn back on when

the tank dropped below a certain pressure?

I am going to assume that a standard compressor doesn't come with a shut off

switch.

Of course, maybe the compressor just stops when the back pressure from

the tank equals the output pressure of the compressor.

Now you got me thinking about getting a tank for my compressor.

Edited March 30, 2005 by azrhino

[Myersjessee]

I ended up going with an electric with a tank built on. You can get them online for under $100...and the tank is very helpful to keep pressure consistent...and not a lot of noise.

[hirohawa]

How noisy are the industrial compressors that you get at home depot?

Any details on the $100 compressor on ebay?

[Greyryder]

How noisy are the industrial compressors that you get at home depot?

Not something you want to run, if some one is trying to sleep. The nice thing is that the tank is so big, you can fill it up, shut of the compressor, and paint for quite a while, before you need to run it again.

[ScrubbyMonkey]

If you have the money, I'd highly recommend picking up a Silentaire compressor, especially if noise is a concern. I picked up a SS 50-TC a few months back, and while it's a bit overkill (for scale modeling you could get by with a smaller variant), it works beautifully. It has a small tank on so you don't have any pressure pulses, and it's quiet enough that I have to really pay attention to see if it's running.

Or, you could go out and pick up 20 or 30 lb. CO2 tank and hook up a badger CO2 regulator to it. This is almost the path I took, but if you figure gas costs over time, plus tank leasing (all the gas suppliers around me won't sell tanks, only lease), it can be more feasible to get a compressor. You still get almost dead silence with CO2, even more so than the silentaire, but you DO have to worry about regulator freeze up if you're consistantly running more than one 'brush from the same source.

Well, I guess that was more than $.02, but hope it was helpful.

Shaun