Running paint

[lostfisher]

while i am painting my paint keeps running. It "blows" out and spreads like roots. i am running my tank at 20-30 psi. I wm using th opaque waterbased colors. Also when the epoxy is applied to the bait does the waterbased paints begin to smear?

[b75nweav]

Use a pressure control valve to lower airbrush pressure if the paint runs. I keep mine at 40 but I use the control valve on my airbrush alot to control the paint. inline pressure valves are pretty cheap and worth the money. It could also be condensation in your compresser, do you have a water trap on your airline? . Or try not pull trigger back so far, this will allow less paint to come out and keep it from running. Sometimes if Im doing detail work I will drop the pressure and spray over and over to get the lines im looking for. If theres too much paint and pressure it will run on you.

while i am painting my paint keeps running. It "blows" out and spreads like roots. i am running my tank at 20-30 psi. I wm using th opaque waterbased colors. Also when the epoxy is applied to the bait does the waterbased paints begin to smear?

[pikester]

If you are spraying unthinned paint & it's still running on you, I would suggest that maybe you are not shaking/ stirring up your bottle of paint sufficiently. I find with Createx, particularly the pearls, transparents, & iridescent paints, I have to shake the hell out of them right before pouring them into my airbrush. Then right before painting I shake the paint bottle on my brush again!

As for your second question, as long as the paint is well dried it should not smear. The paint will only smear if you wipe it with water or solvent.

[BobP]

I shoot Createx at 30-40 psi (unthinned) and haven't had any problem. Could you be putting too much paint on the lure? Do you use a white color basecoat? Holding the airbrush too close to the surface? If the brush is partially clogged, it can separate the paint from it's suspending fluid and can shoot mostly water. I flash dry each color with a hair dryer before moving on to the next (start with gentle flow or that can also push paint around).

[cheesehead]

applying too much paint at too high of a preassure and too close to your work. back off on all these and you will begin to see improvements. what brand of paint are you using also?

Acrylic paints will not run under topcoats.

[6_feet_deep]

I usually have this problem with my opaques and it's because I haven't thinned them enough causing me to apply too much paint at one time. When I thin the paint to the right thickness, I can usually hold the brush very close to the lure without any problems...but I would heed the advice of less paint at a time & more layers. With my small stuff like shad dots and the likes I will shoot at around 10-12 working psi.

[lostfisher]

I do not water trap. But I'm thinking either i am to close or there is to much paint coming out. I am not pulling the trigger to far back. It happening while I'm just trying to get a line. If I thin it out with water would that make it even runnier?

[mark poulson]

Yes.

[chuck]

i had the same problem and was shooting to much paint, ease back on amount of paint solved this problem, i tried painting at lower psi among other things, now i can paint at higher psi .

[6_feet_deep]

...If I thin it out with water would that make it even runnier?

No

Not if you thin it to the right consistency. When you thin the paint it atomizes or nebulizes better depending upon the paint you use...water or solvent base. According to wikipedia, atomization is the conversion of a vaporized sample into atomic components. Liquid samples are first nebulized, the fine mist is transported into the atomization source, where the solvent evaporates and the analyte is vaporized, then atomized. The term atomization is sometimes used instead of nebulization for the conversion of bulk liquid into a spray or mist, often by passing the liquid through a nozzle. MOST of the time atomizing is used to refer to solvent based paints and nebulizing is used to refer to water base.

Either terminology used, the same thought applies here. The object of the gun is to break up the paint into small particles and lay them down neatly. So the whole outcome rests on how well the gun is doing this. Think of the paint coming out of the gun and then the air finely breaking them into smaller droplets.

You have two things that help you with this process, air and/or solvent. Solvent based paints sometimes have solvents added that help to atomize the paint better or work better with something that the manufacturer has said to add to it. Anyway, the thinner (less viscosity) you get or the more air you have at the fluid tip of the gun the more it will break up the paint. The target for you is getting the right balance needed. Too much solvent or water and the paint will have no body, fill, etc. Too much air and you blow the paint everywhere sometimes causing poor adhesion, too much texture, etc.

Point: thinning to the right degree is a good thing to get a finer mist or spray, in turn nebulizing better & putting down a lighter layer of paint, not allowing the air to push the liquid outward if you are using the right air pressure. I had a bad problem with my opaque black spreading everytime I wanted to shoot detail with it...like a shad dot or some small dots or whatever. I fixed the problem by adding a 1:1 ratio of water to it, mixing it very well before pouring it into my brush, and lowering my psi down to 10 or 15psi. The reason the paint was running was because it was laying down a thicker layer of paint, leaving it wet longer, allowing the air to affect it more.

[clemmy]

Even in brush painting by hand, thinner paint causes less drips. A thicker paint will cover better, but goes on thicker as well. A thinned paint gives less coverage, but goes on thinner, and thus does not drip. A friend of mine is a retired professional house painter, and latex or acrylic he always thinned about 50% with water.

Clemmy

[mark poulson]

6 feet deep,

That's great info. Thanks. I'd always thought that thinning paint made it runnier.

I avoid the runny problem with opaques like black by using a stencil and making multiple light coats. I spray it at 36-40 psi, which is what I leave my brush pressure set at, and adjust the air/paint flow with the air "valve", the restrictor on the end of my airbrush which limits how far I can open the needle.

It works for me, but I don't do really detailed painting.

I have a buddy who used to do show cars, and he sent me some photos of his airbrush work. I thought he was Snax! I will never have the skills or imagination it take to paint that well with that much creativity.

All the artistic stuff went to my sister. I'm just a carpenter who can build anything.

[6_feet_deep]

...I avoid the runny problem with opaques like black by using a stencil and making multiple light coats.

Almost everytime I use a stencil (other than my netting for scales) I end up screwing something up.

...I'm just a carpenter who can build anything.

I'm Jealous....