Airbrushes

Candis Griggs <ccgriggs [at] earthlink__net> writes

>I am interested in purchasing an airbrush for use in paint and resin
>applications.  My primary use for it at this point would be in
>ceramics conservation, but I'd like to get a fairly versatile model
>in case other uses come up.  Has anyone done research one which
>models can be used with a diverse array of solvents, resins, etc?
>I've heard that components of some can be degraded by certain
>solvents.  I'm also worried about clogging, general performance, and
>so on. Also, how important is choice of compressor?

I recently took a ceramics restoration class with the specific
purpose of learning how to use the airbrush.  I'm sure that their
are other brands that will work just fine.  I ended up buying the
Aztek one.  It is made for water soluble airbrushing but we were
using petroleum distillate solvents, and possibly some others I'm
not sure about and it worked fine.  It is a lot easier to clean and
change tips on than the Paasche brand that we currently have in the
lab.  The choice of compressors is very important.  The one we have
used in the lab for years is very noisy.  In the class they had
silent ones!  My favorite of the lot was SilentAir.  It really was
silent, was easy to change pressure on and possible to run more than
one line off of.  They are more on the pricey side though, depending
on the size that you get but well worth the investment, in my
opinion.

Beth Richwine
Objects Conservator
National Museum of American History


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:50
                 Distributed: Monday, January 14, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-15-50-002
                                  ***