I am having a problem with my air brush

[Susan Slack]

I have an aztec air brush and I can't seem to get it to work. It is clean. I am getting air but it won't pick up the mica from the container. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have tried varying the mix and using different tips and different containers.

[charlie]

I have an aztec air brush and I can't seem to get it to work. It is clean. I am getting air but it won't pick up the mica from the container. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have tried varying the mix and using different tips and different containers.

what are you using for your medium, and what air pressure?

[Tony Smith]

Make sure one of the two holes on the side of the airbrush is plugged. You'll find the plug with extras in the kit.

Will it spray water? If not, rotate the wheel on the back top side of the airbrush until it does. If it does spray water, then try a different tip. The turquoise tip works the best with the thick mixtures like micas and klyr-fire. Use the red wrench to tighten the tip. If you are using the turquoise tip, then try thinning with alcohol until it sprays.

If none of that works, let me know and I'll come up with a few more things.

Tony

[Dick Ditore]

some tips work better than others. Try the red tip at about 45 lbs. pressures. I use klyr fire for medium.


Dick

[charlie]

Make sure one of the two holes on the side of the airbrush is plugged. You'll find the plug with extras in the kit.

Will it spray water? If not, rotate the wheel on the back top side of the airbrush until it does. If it does spray water, then try a different tip. The turquoise tip works the best with the thick mixtures like micas and klyr-fire. Use the red wrench to tighten the tip. If you are using the turquoise tip, then try thinning with alcohol until it sprays.

If none of that works, let me know and I'll come up with a few more things.

Tony

my aztec leaks air around the wheel on the back side. is it supposed to do that?

btw: i read the instructions. that wheel just converts it from single to double action.

abtw: i tried spraying some latex enamel on some metal work with it, and it doesn't work well.

[Tony Smith]

no, it's not supposed to leak anywhere. Sounds like you might have a leaky o-ring. Return it to Testors for a free replacement.

Yes, the wheel presets your fluid flow so it acts like a single action airbrush, but if you don't understand single action and double action, it will increase the fluid flow.

Tony

[Paul Bush]

Make sure one of the two holes on the side of the airbrush is plugged. You'll find the plug with extras in the kit.

Will it spray water? If not, rotate the wheel on the back top side of the airbrush until it does. If it does spray water, then try a different tip. The turquoise tip works the best with the thick mixtures like micas and klyr-fire. Use the red wrench to tighten the tip. If you are using the turquoise tip, then try thinning with alcohol until it sprays.

If none of that works, let me know and I'll come up with a few more things.

Tony

What's the best tip for spraying kiln wash (BE)?

Paul

[Tony Smith]

I'm not sure. I've never sprayed kilnwash with my aztek. I was always afraid of the powder caking up the nozzle (since the aztek is an intenal mix airbrush). So I use an external mix Badger airbrush for kilnwash.

Tony

[Paul Bush]

Tony,

By internal mix, do I assume correctly that means the medium mixes with the air inside the airbrush, and on an external mix model, the medium never enters the gun itself?

Paul

[Tony Smith]

That's correct Paul.

The inexpensive Badger airbrushes use an external mix. Basically, there is a siphon tube that extends into the color bottle. At the top of the siphon tube is a nozzle-like projection that is pointing straight up. There is a threaded adjustment on this siphon nozzle that allows you to raise or lower the nozzle into the stream of air which comes from another nozzle oriented 90 degrees to the siphon nozzle. The air blowing over the siphon nozzle creates a vacuum (actually known as a venturi effect) and draws the liquid out of the color bottle. The air mixes with the liquid in front of the airbrush.

The Aztek also uses the venturi effect to draw the liquid from the color cup or bottle, but the liquid mixes with the air inside the airbrush nozzle. By pulling back on the trigger, the amount of vacuum available to draw the liquid from the color bottle is increased, thereby increasing the fluid flow into the nozzle where the liquid mixes with the air. That also explains why the nozzles have moving parts and the double action, internal mix airbrushes are so much more expensive than the external mix airbrushes.

Tony

[Don Burt]

I'm not sure. I've never sprayed kilnwash with my aztek. I was always afraid of the powder caking up the nozzle (since the aztek is an intenal mix airbrush). So I use an external mix Badger airbrush for kilnwash.

Tony

I've clogged an Aztek nozzle and taken it apart to clean it and got away with it. But I don't think they're made to be taken apart. You can yank the guts out of them and put them back together (the nozzle assembly) but you can tell by the way they're made that its not something you should do routinely. I think new head assemblies are pretty reasonable though ($10?).

My favorite airbrush for artwork with enamels and stain is a Badger 100LG with a large head/needle assembly. The reservoir uses gravity instead of side-sucking (technical term) http://www.dixieart.com/Badger100.html. I don't know how it would work with kiln wash or lusters or mica because I've never used them, but I can work pretty small with Reusche paints if I prepare the paint carefully.