Starting to have some trouble with my Paasche VL

[copcheck]

For some reason lately my VL is starting to spray water with my acrylics and it's spider webbing on my kits.

I've checked the water trap on my compressor and it's dry.

I'm not sure if I'm mixing my acrylics poorly, but it's starting to annoy me greatly.

I've adjusted my pressure from a high of 25 psi to a low of 14 psi and still the same.

I normally use the #1, needle, tip, and head however it's doing the same with my #2 setup.

Any thoughts?

Thanks guys,

Jon

Forgot to mention I use almost entirely MM acrylic paint. I even picked up some of the Testors acrylic thinner this weekend to see if it would help. No luck.

 

[Crimea_River]

Are you sure it's water and not just too thin a paint? Might there be some water in the hose? Try blowing just air, no paint. If you get water drops then it's likely not the brush but likely some condensation getting past your moisture trap. Maybe you're sucking in moist air through a leaky hose.

 

[copcheck]

Thanks CR, I did that as well.

After practically tearing everything apart I may have had a loose connection on my comp. I tightened everything up and am going to give it a shot tomorrow.

 

[N4521U]

Are you using alcohol, or the mfrs thinner? If the thinner is contaminated it will cause the paint to coagulate in the cup, this will cause the paint to spider web. If the paint is too thin it will not coat and tend to run if you try and apply enough paint to "see" the color when sprayed. Just make sure the water trap in clear when you start. Keep us posted to what is happening. Bill

 

[jjp_nl]

Water in the hose is an option. I have two water traps on my Airbrush equipment, one on the compressor, and one directly on my airbrush (condensation can occur past the water trap on the compressor or a leaky hose) A bad mix of thinner and paint might also be the cause. Some paints seem to handle great amounts of thinner better then others, it may begin to sift leading to a watery spray of binder(?)

 

[copcheck]

Thanks guys.

I'm solely using Model Master acrylics and while some do not seem to need thinner, others do. To experiment I purchased Testors brand acrylic thinner.

I did disconnect my airbrush and ran my comp to see if air water was in the line and none appeared to be, but I'm going to add a 2nd trap regardless.

Hopefully the problem was a loose connection at my comp allowing air in causing the problem.

We'll see tonight.

Thank you again,

Jon

I

 

[N4521U]

The secret word, "experiment"!

 

[jjp_nl]

The secret word, "experiment"!

That above all is prolly one of the most important things to remember when working with an airbrush. There's very little set rules in the game (other then careful cleaning and making sure you don't mess up needles/nozzles), so what might work for you wouldn't work for me at all, and the other way around. Doing it, and working out what works best for you is the only thing to do I guess.

 

[Flash_Taco]

I had the same problem and it was water condensation in the compressor tank. I drained the tank using the escape valve until I got "dry air" The problem went away. If this does not work just try adjusting the needle adjuster sleeve clockwise to it max. Then, turn the line adjusting dial to the left all the way. Try spraying 1:1 thinned paint on a styrene sheet or similar and keep adjusting the needle adjuster to see if the paint flows better. Once you see and improvement, turn the line adjusting dial until the problem goes away. Finally check that the air cap body or the air cap itself are not leaking spraying some windex or soapy solution on top of them while opening the air line and if there are bubbles it means one of the threads might be stripped. I hope this helps.

Peace.