Restoring an airbrush

[ismaelg]

Hello my friends,

This is Jim's ( @DPNM )  fault!  Because of him I'm getting into this rabbit hole.    Thank you Jim!

This is a X-post from my original thread in the Pentax Forums, hence the photography vibe to it. 

Bear with me for a second and hopefully this will make sense. You know you are halfway nuts when you start restoring restoration tools... 

The airbrush is a staple in the art world (us modelers included) and has been around for a long time. The earliest patents date back to 1876, awarded to Francis Stanley. What was the first use? He used it to retouch photographs! He was a photographer and painter himself.

By the way, along with his brother, they would later create the Stanley Dry Plate company which was sold to Kodak eventually. Then they created the Stanley Steamer car. I would have loved to meet and be friends with these guys.

The airbrush is one of my favorite tools. I don't use it for retouching photographs, but to paint scale models, retouch restored items and custom paint things like the custom cameras I've done in the past.

My very own story with airbrushes is also convoluted and interesting (at least to me). Back in 1993 as a just graduated college student, my good friend Carlos, who at the time was a graphic artist at the University, now happily retired, showed me how to use it and even let me borrow one to take home for a few days. That airbrush was a Badger 150. I fell in love with it and today, airbrushing is still a therapy for me. I wanted one badly. But I was just graduated, looking for a job. Looking into mail order catalogs, I found a Korean-made  knock off of the Badger 150 been sold by Harbor Freight Tools for around $20. Discussed with him and other fellow modelers and concluded "I'll get this one for now while I can afford an expensive one". 

Thinking it was fragile, I took good care of it from day one. Guess what, 30 years later it is still my one and only airbrush! The secret is my maniac and almost religious ritual of fully disassemble it after each and every use, clean it and store it ready for the next job.

About a year or so later, a friend of mine asked me to get him one of these as well as he liked what I was doing with mine. He used it for a while but eventually kept getting better and more expensive ones. 

A few years ago, he gave me his as it was no longer been used and had some "issues with it". Since there are no replacement parts available and since it is the exact same model as mine, I just put it away for spares if needed. I basically forgot about it but found it recently. 
*EDIT* Jim's amazing vintage airbrush posts here made me remember it.

Hmm, How about a quick "just a couple hours" restoration project of something? Anything!

And here we are:

Despite been low mileage, it has seen far better days. I have other hoses and jars so I won't concentrate on those for now.


This is borderline criminal abandonment.











Evidence suggests this airbrush was dropped to the floor, probably more than once. The back is no longer round making unscrewing the needle spring assembly almost impossible. Front tip is also slightly damaged plus the body shows scrapes on the side as if been dragged on the ground.
CRIMINAL ABUSE!



Trigger is bent, needle slightly bent at the back reinforcing the floor drop theory, minor corrosion in the needle suggesting storage while dirty and the air valve was last cleaned at the factory in Korea back in the late 80's - early 90's


Dry paint inside. It is like never changing the oil in your car and then complaining it runs rough.


This was supposed to be a quick job last night, but it was already 2AM today and I couldn't stop.
After every part was serviced and restored, it started to go back together the next day. Getting the polished brass needle spring assembly back in was a royal pain.





And this is how it looks now:











Can you tell I was off work yesterday?

Here is a quick test video.

Cheap airbrushes also need love!
Hope you like it. 

My very own airbrush asked me: "Hey, how come that one now looks better than me?" I replied "You have history and patina. He only had abuse..." It said "OK"
It is not bad when you talk to your tools. It is bad when they answer back  ?

Thanks,
Ismael

Edited April 7, 2023 by ismaelg

[DPNM]

Sure Ismael, blame me. Actually I'm glad to have sparked your desire to clean this one up and get it working again. I hope it lasts you for years, the same as your first one has.

You did a really good job on this.

How did you straighten the trigger?

What did you use to clean and polish it with?

I've found that there isn't much interest in airbrushes from the majority of members on the forum. You should see a couple likes and perhaps a reply. maybe two, but that will probably be the extent of it. Had you restored a Paasche H, the greatest airbrush ever made, you might have gotten more response. 

I appreciate your effort.

[ismaelg]

Thank you Jim!

 The trigger was carefully reshaped with some long nose pliers.  To clean, I started with a wire brush in the Dremel for the heavier stuff. Then I used mostly lacquer thinner to remove dried paint, then polish the body and brass parts with Brasso.  I create my very own mini swabs to get into small places like the nozzle.  This one took tons of mini swabs; probably over 2 or 3 dozens as it was very dirty inside.  The back handle was wrapped in masking tape. I was expecting a broken handle, but to my surprise it was fine.  The sticky residue was nasty and I had to go full aggression with "Bencina", a dangerous chemical. 
  The air valve has a very small and tight O-ring.  After cleaning, I applied a pin head size dab of lithium grease to the shaft 
  All of these are tools and materials I use to restore cameras and other things.   I'm out of town for Easter holiday but I can take some pictures during the week to better illustrate these.
  Thanks for the interest and the inspiration!

Now, Paasche H  Huh? Hmmm....   

Regards,
Ismael