Mixed Needles for Badger and Iwata Airbrushes

[Reelyator]

Hi Folks!

Seems like i am too stupid to clean my Airbrushes. I have 2 Single Action Airbrushes. A older Badger Vega 600 and a newer Iwata Revolution HP-SAR. Bot are equipped with 0,5 mm Nozzles and Needles (...as far as i remember). After cleaning both i was not sure anymor wich needle belongs to wich Airbrush😒

Needle 1 (left) is ~145 mm long and has 3 lines/markings at the end of the needle.

Needle 2 (right) is ~140 mm long and has no marking.

 

Does anybody here have an idea how i can figure out wich needle belongs to wich airbrush??

Edited December 6, 2020 by Reelyator
typo

[Alex Gordon]

I have several needles for my Badger and all of them have the long taper like the needle on the right in your photo.

[bmwh548]

Grab (or download) the manual for both airbrushes. At least one of them should have an exploded diagram. You might be able to see which one has the "tail" markings.

[dogsbody]

Going by the needle in my Badger 150, I'd say the one with the rings on the back end belongs to the Badger. My medium size needle has 2 rings.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Reelyator]

4 hours ago, Alex Gordon said:

I have several needles for my Badger and all of them have the long taper like the needle on the right in your photo.

...Thank you guys!

 

Alex, could you do me a favour and measure the diameter of you Badger needles? The shorter needle with the longer barrel seems to exclude itself as it cannot be inserted into the badger needle holder. The needle is too thick (~1,40 mm). The other needle is a bit thinner with ~1,30 mm, this can be inserted into the badger needleholder. It fits up into the nozzler but strangely the airbrush still seems not to work as air is pushed into the cup. Nothing is blocking the nozzle.....

[Reelyator]

....thank you Chris! I was also assuming that the 3 lines on my needle sand for "Fine" wich is usually the type supplied with the standard version of the Vega 600.

 

The Iwata seems to work with both type of needles but better with the longer taper due to the finer adjustment.

 

Based on this i am 80% confident that the 145mm needle with 1,30mm diameter, short taper and the 3 line marking is for the Badger Vega 600. Just need to figure out how to solve the problem with the backflushing when the nozzle is closed.

Edited December 6, 2020 by Reelyator
diameter value corrected

[Alex Gordon]

Needle diameter is 1.28 mm

 

 

The long taper I was on about.

 

 

Hope this helps.

[Reelyator]

Thank you Alex, yes, that suits to my my measurements 1,30 +/- 0,02 mm for the Badger Needle. The 1,40mm needle must be for the Iwata as it is to thick for the badger.

[Reelyator]

i just don´t get it. Nothing is clogging the airbrush, the needle or the nozzle. The gasket is installed and in good shape but as sppn as i push the needle forwards to close the nozzle an overpressure appears in the colour cup.

....did i loose anything??

[bmwh548]

Do you get bubbles in the paint cup when the needle is pulled back?

Try the airbrush with the needle cap removed, see if that changes anything. It kinda sounds like there might be some dried up paint in there and the air can't get through so it's going "backwards".

Another possibility: the rubber o-ring is a bit worn or you're tightening the nozzle cover way too much and the tip of the nozzle is blocking airflow through the needle cover if it's protruding too much.

The Badger nozzle cover is completely different to the H&S and Iwatas, but the airflow can still get blocked. Check all the holes at the front of the airbrush (body holes, nozzle, nozzle and needle cover), using a bright light and a magnifier if you have one. Use a toothpick inside the holes ( gently! ) and examine it for paint residue. 

[dnl42]

Air might be getting back through those two threaded portions. Try applying some beeswax to the threads; I have a small block of the stuff in my airbrushing station just for this reason. 

[Reelyator]

Thank you guys!

 

I could fix this by just screwing the head i bit tighter than fingertight (using the wrench - ...is that the correct term? -that comes with the airbush). No more bubbling:-)!

[bmwh548]

Makes sense. You weren't pushing the nozzle far enough into the body to make the seal.

[Reelyator]

To close this topic: I have written to Badger to get some clarification on the problems with the marking. They have published some general "guidelines" for the marking of their components:

 

This says: Badger marks the needles and spray regulators as follows:
Needles (Blunt End):
Fine-No lines or one line
Medium-Two lines
Heavy-Three lines
Spray Regulator:
Fine-Stamped with XF or F
Medium-Stamped with IL or Blank
Heavy-Stamped with HD or L

 

But this does not apply to all their Airbrushes, only to the Legend Series of airbrushes but not to the newer PRO-Production needle/nozzles. In general they do not always follow their own rules.

 

For Example:

- The Spray Regulator in Size Medium for the 200NH has NO marking as it is for the 200NH only.

- some replacement needles have a different marking than the needle originally supplied with the airbrush

- some replacement needles have balls/bubbles instead of lines at the end

- ......

 

Overall: For Badger the marking give a very poor indication on the size of the component. If you have various components from different airbrushes it can happen to you that spray regulators with different markings have the same size. Or components with the same marking have different sizes...

 

Lesson learned: Do not mess up the parts of your airbrushes!!