What Pressure Should I Spray at

A: Spray at the lowest pressure that atomizes the paint to your liking.

Every color sprays a little differently.  Lighter colors tend to give you more problems than darker colors.  White tends to spray the worst and violet tends to spray the best.  Black is weird, consider it a light color.

In-Depth

Air pressure is power.  Power to drive the airbrush and atomize the paint. Without pressure, spray equipment doesn’t work.  However, everyone’s needs and goals are a little bit different.  Because of this I can give my cop out answer “spray at the pressure that atomizes the paint to your liking”

There are some general guidelines though.  Here they are.

More Pressure

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Advantages of more pressure

Finer paint atomization

When paint atomizes it forms tiny spheroid droplets of paint. The size of these droplets is determined by how much force (air pressure) blows apart the bigger droplets.

Fewer clogs

This is really a great benefit. Airbrushes clog. It’s a fact of life. The finer the grind on the paint pigments the less often your airbrush will clog (but that’s a whole other question). More air pressure can suck out some of the clogs before they have a chance to back things up.

This is also a great cleaning method to remember.  When your airbrush is clogged and you know it’s probably some chunky paint, turn up the air pressure and see if you can just spray it out.

Disadvantages of more pressure

More Overspray

Overspray, by definition, paints places you don’t want painted. Overspray is the reason friskets, masks, templates, stencils, and shields exist.

Breathing paint overspray isn’t a good thing the more of it there is the greater the risk to your own, and possibly your customer’s, health. Depending on your industry you should probably be wearing your mask or respirator anyways, but not everyone heeds my advice.

Paint Dries Too Quickly

This happens more with urethane based paints, especially when using quick reducers, than it does with other kinds of paint.  If the paint droplets are too small they will actually dry and harden before they hit the surface being  sprayed.  This makes a rough, sand-paper-like texture on the sprayed surface.

Imagine the difference between Disney’s Epcot Center and the top of the Astrodome sitting on your surface.

Less Pressure

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Advantages of Less Pressure

Less Overspray

Less overspray let’s you spray finer, smaller details without as much need for friskets, stencils, and shields.  This is a very good thing for people interested in the finer points of airbrushing.

Less Material Waste, i.e. Greater Paint Transfer Efficiency

Transfer efficiency, the amount of paint sprayed compared to the amount of paint that actually adheres to the surface being sprayed, is much higher when the paint droplets are bigger.

Disadvantages of Less Pressure

Coarser Paint Atomization

The less energy or force there is to atomize the paint, the bigger the paint droplets.  The bigger the paint droplets, the coarser or rougher the visual spray texture will look.

More Clogs

The less energy there is to pull the paint the easier it is for the airbrush to clog.  This makes straining and thinning your paint much more necessary than if you spray at higher pressures.

The Guru’s Opinion

I always tell people to spray with as little pressure they can get away with but enough to do the job.

Here’s the method I use to figure out what airbrush pressure i should spray at.

1. Start at roughly 10 psi.
2. Spray paint.
3. If it’s not what you want turn the pressure up.
4. Repeat until you get the desired spray consistency.

Video below will explain PSI relating to airbrushing in a easy to understand manner.

When airbrushing it is important to match the consistency of the paint with the air pressure that produces the best results. The trick of course is to adjust your air pressure according to the viscosity of your paint. The thicker the paint the more air pressure you’ll need generally to atomize the paint correctly.

Thick paints commonly used in airbrushing are textile colors like Createx, Wicked Colors, ETAC, Aqua Flow, craft type paints and most artist acrylic paints.

Paints made for use in an airbrush, the pigments are ground finer than the pigments in craft, artist acrylics generally. You’ll find using paint made specifically for airbrushing is much less hassle to use than craft, artist acrylics.

A good rule is to thin your paint to the consistency of milk. There are exceptions to this rule like when airbrushing T Shirts with airbrush textile colors. Use the appropriate thinner for the paint you are spraying.

Water, distilled water for water based paints, reducer for water born paint like Createx’s Auto Born, appropriate base maker or reducer for automotive urethane’s (please refer to the manufactures tech sheet).

Siphon feed airbrushes require slightly more air pressure to spray paint than a gravity feed airbrush and will handle thicker paints much better.

Once you find that sweet spot where the air pressure is just right to correctly spray the paint you are using, take note of that pressure so you’ll be all set to go next time. When setting that pressure next time you pick up your airbrush be sure the trigger of your airbrush is fully depressed and watching your gauge to set the pressure. If you don’t have the trigger depressed you’ll find yourself adjusting it again soon.