Does anyone have any airbrush equipment? I have a project I want to do some simple airbrushing but I don’t have any airbrush gear or knowledge.
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Huh…
I don’t know that I’ve seen airbrushing at the makerspace before. Spray paint… but not air brush.
Watching thread with intrest.
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I have a cheap airbrush set up you can borrow. It’s pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it and I have a basic color palate of paints to use as well. It’s possible to dilute normal acrylic paints to spray through an air brush, but using designated airbrush paint is easier and gives you better results.
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air brush paint is something I have an interest in learning
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I do believe there are restrictions on the use of spray paint at the building based on our zoning from the city. Someone with a better understanding of that could hopefully chime in.
Airbrushing doesn’t produce a lot of VOC’s like spray paint. The paint I use is acrylic base and we could easily set up a simple desk top paint booth to keep over spray at bay.
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I have some acrylic paint I plan to use, but I don’t know how it all works so I’d need your guidance with it. I’m planning on airbrushing some leather in the near future although I need to find some super low tack vinyl or some mylar so I can make some stencils first.
We should have a big roll of mustardy yellow paint mask vinyl in the Fab Lab.
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What machine do I use to cut the vinyl on? I have authorization for the laser but not the vinyl cutters
Well, definitely not on the laser cutters. I need to check that the vinyl cutter is working. I don’t think that it has been used since we moved. Do you have a design ready?
I can have a design ready by tomorrow. It’s fairly simple. What file format do you need it to be in?
SVG is good.
The vinyl cutter should be ready to go, but I haven’t actually cut anything on it since we moved.
If the vinyl cutter doesn’t work then I have a Cricket Maker that can cut some stencils on. Just let me know when you would want to meet up to go over airbrushing. Its really pretty easy.
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My point wasn’t to argue the pros o cons of one thing or the other, just to point out that I’m pretty confident that we are not allowed by the city to have spray paint around in the building and that we aren’t allowed to have a ‘paint booth’. I don’t know if that would extend to an airbrush setup, so before folks got too excited we should check and see if we can do it. Maybe @David or @jpalschauhan or @jameslancaster @Jens remembers from the zoning stuff.
Airbrushing is awesome. I have found that Frisket makes a superior stencil and can be cut easily on the laser. Though a ventilated paint booth is optimal, with low pressure airbrushing acrylic paints in small volumes I think that a cardboard box on top of a table covered in paper should suffice. I would wear a mask as well. I am not aware that the city has put any prohibition upon us having a paint booth in the building so long as it’s properly ventilated. I know I would love to have one at my disposal.
TLDR
Yes you can airbrush acrylic paints with a cardboard box on top of a table. Given the controversial nature of it, you may want to start out at home or on a covered patio when the weather gets better.
As long as you’re using airbrush paint, you should be approved to use in the building just fine airbrush paint is water-based and low voc. I’ve been inspected by the fire department many times as long as it says water-based paint and frankly, it’s fun to have them disappointed whenever they see it’s water-based and they think they gotcha. i’ve ran airbrush at my shop for 20 years also at the flea market I had an airbrush T-shirt stand and town west. I have an airbrush T-shirt stand as well. Both places are inspected by the fire department every year and never had any issue. No spray paint oil based paint no those cannot be in the building that I guarantee unless they’re being stored in a flame proof container march with a 6 foot designation plus they require a spray booth which we’re not authorized for so definitely non of that.
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Beyond the question of can you. Tarka what is it that you are wanting to airbrush? I ask because airbrush may not be the most appropriate if you will not be doing a lot of painting in the manner. IE good equipment is very expensive. First what is the project made of? What size is the finest line you would like to lay down. Are you wanting to fill in large amounts of area or paint hair? I can help point you to a good beginner fine brush or a cheap brush.
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