aulrich Posted October 3, 2016 Report Share Posted October 3, 2016 So I just bought this.https://www.paintwithpearl.com/shop/metal-flakes/holographic-flakes-prism-flakes/silver-holographic-metal-flake/ And my first try to mix it and spray a bait did not work very well. the flake I bought is the .004" so I thought it would go through the nozzle on my airbrush (0.5 MM) and some flakes did but it did eventually plug , but I don't know if it was the flake size or just how fast it would settle out of what I was using as a medium (Pledge/reducer 60/40). I looked a automotive sprayers and from what I saw the nozzles there where 0.5 MM as well so it should shoot. So I don't know if my problem is brush, medium or both. A touchup HVLP automotive gun is not too expensive so with the right medium it could be used. There are three effects I am going for 1. A very flashy silver 2. A "shimmer coat" like a recent thread has talked about 3. a ghost holographic to use on clear pre-mades I know I can probably use epoxy to make the first though I fear the amount of layers harden/sealer base color then shimmer would make it un practical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodieb8 Posted October 3, 2016 Report Share Posted October 3, 2016 hi. did you put ball bearings in your spray bottle. shake repeatedly to keep particles suspedned. .we use nu 5 tip paasche. you can take an old tip sand the end cap a touch. .that creates more flow.. shimmer coats are normally pearls and translucents.. also what clear coat are you using as a carrier when sprayed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aulrich Posted October 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2016 For the first try I used reduced Pledge It was all that I had on hand, I have a general phobia on running straight pledge. Yes I had added a ball bearing but it would settle out in the cup I suspect that it was the settling out that was plugging the brush. I will try straight pledge next, if that does not work, after payday go get some proper transparent airbrush medium. Another option would be clear nail polish and brushing it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Ron Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Don't know if it's exactly what you're looking for but I recently bought Daler Rowney Shimmering Gold. I ended up scrubbing all the paint off and haven't sprayed it since. It did spray well for me at 10 psi and I loved the affect. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Young Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 (edited) A transparent airbrush medium is the proper medium to use. It is paint without the pigment. You are supplying the pigment. Createx paints have a pigment size of .5 microns (.0005 mm). wicked colors are .1 micron. So I suspect that you will continue to have problems spraying that pigment. Just because the hole in the tip says .5 mm that does not mean that .5mm is available. There is a needle in there too. You may be trying to spray a pigment that is too large (.004" is 101 microns. 200 times bigger than airbrush paint) Edited October 4, 2016 by Chuck Young 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Here's an article about the different sizes of flake and the suggested nozzle sizes needed to spray them. Ben http://www.onallcylinders.com/2015/02/23/monday-mailbag-tips-spraying-metal-flake-paint/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Post #2 by Woodie share a key tip. Taking an old nozzle and sanding it a bit opens it up to a larger size. but it will still use the same needle. That lets you shoot larger particles with the same air brush. I don't know how large, because the nozzle cap has a set hole size, but it sure looks like it will shoot larger particles than the hole in my 3.5 nozzle tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aulrich Posted October 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 The primary goal of this is to replace foiling a lure and maybe heat transfer tape. Why? Because this past spring just for fun I took a body gave it a coat of epoxy and coated it in glitter (think fried chicken). It worked very well but it was a PIA to do. I did get a cheap airbrush bundled with a recent compressor so I might do the nozzle trick there, but going by that article I might as well jump to a HVLP automotive sprayer. As luck the Canadian equivalent of Harbor Freight has one on sale this month Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Young Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Here's an article about the different sizes of flake and the suggested nozzle sizes needed to spray them. Ben http://www.onallcylinders.com/2015/02/23/monday-mailbag-tips-spraying-metal-flake-paint/ Another excellent post and link from Ben. I suspect you need more pressure and air flow than the average airbrush compressor as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aulrich Posted October 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 I have a 5 gallon woodworking compressor so I should have the CFM's for light spraying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Buy an HVLP gun with a larger nozzle would indeed allow you to spray a clear/flake mix, but the only HVLP guns that I've seen have a rather large container capacity. This wouldn't be a problem if you were spraying a large number of baits, but the amount used to spray 1 or 2 baits might not be worth getting the gun dirty for. You would probably lose close to that amount just cleaning the spray gun. An alternative to spraying a clear/flake mix would be to first spray the bait with a clear coat and then spray the flake through a dry flake gun while the clear coat was still wet. This could be repeated as often as necessary until you got the coverage you wanted if it couldn't be done with one spraying. I sometimes use this method using a mini sand blaster to spray the flake. Doing it this way gives a truly random effect without the clumping and thick spots associated with trying to sprinkle the flake on by hand. Another dry sprayer is the Flake Buster. I've seen it advertised, but have no personal experience with it so can't offer an opinion one way or the other. This is one of those things that you will have to figure out what fits into your build scheme and whether or not the ends justify the means. good luck, Ben 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aulrich Posted October 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Actually while I was digging I did see a mini sand blaster like you are talking about, and the control aspect I do like. Could be useful for scuffing between epoxy layers as well, I wonder if it would shoot powder paint good enough for messing with spoon blanks. If I could get away with putting a tinted epoxy down and spray how we are thinking I could live with that. But grit size might still bite me In general yes the cup volume on the HVLP guns would make it impractical. the gun I am looking at is a close quarter/touch up gun so hopefully it's not too big. But every body I make I do at least a silver/blue, silver/black and a perch so building up a batch is not out of the question. https://www.kmstools.com/vaper-hvlp-touch-up-spray-gun-10153 I also saw another air brush a top feed that came with 3 needles it did not say what the nozzle size was on the website so it's just an option but I need to see it. I think at this point I am 60/40 in favor of the air brush sand blaster over the HVPL. but grit size limitations might raise their heads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 I seem to remember reading some threads about using the mini blaster for powder paint. You might ask some of the wire baits guys or do a search in the archives. I don't do powder painting so can't really help on that subject. If you read the article I posted you will notice down close to the bottom where it says "Flake should not be applied with an Air Brush". A .5mm nozzle is a fairly large nozzle for an airbrush and you said you were already having trouble with that size nozzle. That's one of the reasons why the HVLP guns you see have nozzles upwards of 1mm with many of them in the 2mm to 2.5mm range. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW Lures Posted October 5, 2016 Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) I use a hobby blaster for powder, but I have never used it for flake. The gravity feed guns are normally from .1-.13 mm. I'm getting close to using a .1 gun. It was lent to me to give it a try, but I'm not sure in using it. I'm not ruining his 300+ dollar gun. Use baking powder for light removals. A trick someone here recommended to me. I got black beauty (carbon shoot) for more stuburn applications. There is a person that's is very up on spoons and blasters w/powder in the wire group as Ben stated. I can't remember who. Hope I get a chance to catch the thread. Dale Edited October 5, 2016 by DaleSW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aulrich Posted October 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 We have a winner at least for the concept, but I am way too cheap to buy one. so we will see. I am not sure subtle is possible but full on flashy sure is 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aulrich Posted October 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2016 Though I will never admit it to SWMBO I might have too many odd ball tools. After finding that previous tool, I did some looking for DIY alternatives. And I found 1 video where basically they took a siphon feed gun stuck the feed tube in a jar of flake and pulled the trigger, and flake came out. SO as a quick try I took that cheap bottom feed Airbrush I have pulled the needle and tried, nothing. Later in the evening while walking the dog the problem was stewing in the back of my mind. Then I had that "well duh!! moment. And where the comment of having too many oddball tools comes from. In the back of the garage on a shelf I have this. it's actually a handy thing. http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=20048&cat=1,43456,43390 I need a gasket for it but that is easy enough. I don't know if shoot dry flake but the nozzle is huge 1/32 or 1/16 as a guess. So clear coat with flake will shoot. and since clean up is so simple even doing small batches won't waste too much paint. I'll even have to dedicate a jar to Primer white. Flo Yellow and FLo Orange. Weather is going to be crap this weekend so I should have some time to paint, with only a little time off to chase birds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Prager Posted October 7, 2016 Report Share Posted October 7, 2016 You won't get as much flake as spraying but mixing the flake in the epoxy (that's what i use suspends and works well and goes on evenly mixing with a wire bent 90 degrees in a drill . I wonder what would happen if you unscrewed the nozzle completely? Someone asked me to make an all gold flake crank a while back....I clear coated the bait, then sprinkled the flake all over it while it was wet. Put in the the turner and the next day clear coated it again. If you take your time with the flake, you won't feel any of it through the 2nd coat. if you you just want to do a section of the bait, you might be able to tape it off and remove the tape once the clear coat levels....Wish i had the time to play around with this but i have a small window to paint these days.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aulrich Posted October 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2016 So , it works. it will shoot both dry and suspended in pledge. The suspended version does really well to add a bit glitter to an existing paint job. with a few coats I was able to get a decent holographic ghost base. The dry does attach to wet paint but all of a test I did was a spray of a scrap bit of timber. I actually think I need the bigger glitter, .004 is small and very subtle . I'll see if I can get some pictures. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW Lures Posted October 8, 2016 Report Share Posted October 8, 2016 I do it simular to the way RP does it. This is interesting to me, so in time I will do some experimenting and find a good way of doing this with what I got in equipment. I do like that sprayer Aulrich. Hmmm, I may go and take a look at one. Dale 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aulrich Posted October 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2016 So here is a quick picture in this context the results are no different that putting flakes into the epoxy top coat. The only advantage I can se is the ease of controlling where it goes or The ease of layering multiple colors of flake. The flake I used here is already very small and the effect is a little lost on an 8" grandma. http://www.myhostedpics.com/images/aulrich/pikeglitter.jpg Since this should work with normal automotive flake I have found a local source so there should be more to come Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
