Airbrushing CerMark LMM-14

[Arthur Pakkas]

Hi,

trying to save some money, I bought a small airbrush gun 610qS1N92oL._SL1024_.jpg and CerMark LMM-14 in liquid form.

I am diluting the material 1:1 with Isopropyl Alcohol, looks nice and thin but the airbrush starts spraying in bursts instead of equal pressure spray. Looks either my airbrush is too small or is the material clogging it too fast for even operation ?

What kind of airbrushes do You use for airbrushing CerMark products ? Spraying from the aerosol can is just too much waste and too thick layer!

[Gary Hair]

First, you want to thin with denatured alcohol, not isopropyl. Second, use the largest tip size that comes with the airbrush. Third, you'll probably have to thin it more than 1:1, but more importantly than the ratio is the end result - it should be as thin as milk. It's possible that you don't have it thinned enough and that is causing the bursts, could also be the nozzle. If you can't get the airbrush to work then you should try a sponge brush. Up until a couple of years ago I exclusively used an airbrush, I always thought brushing was too difficult to get an even, thin coat. I was wrong... Now I exclusively brush it on. You don't thin it quite as much as when spraying and with a bit of practice you can get a very even coat that is just the right thickness.

[Kev Williams]

The dirt cheapest thing Harbor Freight has works great, $10
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--the type of AB you have blows air around and past the paint nozzle, and since Cermark dries so fast it's likely building up in the nozzle and messing with the air flow, and that can cause the paint nozzle to plug up...

These cheap plastic things, the air and paint nozzles are separate, so the air output is hardly ever affected. Need to keep a small piece of wire handy to push down the paint nozzle occasionally and an alky wipe when done but that's a given. I couldn't keep a good AB spraying but this one works great for Cermark,

BUT I use LMM6000, not sure what 14 is like. You might need to thin it more... If it's too thin, just spray a second coat

--and a pressure regulator in needed if you don't have one--

[Arthur Pakkas]

Thank You!

I kind of started thinking as well, that I might need to make it a lot thinner! About the types of alcohol, I assumed that IPA would work as well as Denatured and is bit safer to work with, health wise, guess I was wrong how they react with the material ...

The airbrush idea is golden, TY! Will try it out ASAP!

[Dave Garrett]

airbrushes are notoriously difficult to keep in perfect working order unless properly flushed, disassembled and cleaned regularly and your medium mixed appropriately. The harbor-freight type will work better for your applications than a high quality gravity feed art airbrush like iwata or paasche, graffix, etc. Good news too, considering the higher end guns cost $100+ get some airbrush cleaning solution or a cleaning kit if you want to ever use it on more than one project.

[John Lifer]

Thin it MORE, it should work for you much better.

[Bill George]

IPA has a lot of water, DNA does not.

[Tim Bateson]

Sponge brush works great with LMM14. One less thing to keep clean. Sponge brushes are cheap and throw away after a few uses. You'll need to thin it more, but LMM-14 doesn't need to be perfectly smooth and even like LMM-6000 does.

[Mike Null]

I use a sponge brush but I have several air brushes including the expensive ones. (don't do that!) I didn't have much luck with HF airbrushes but a Paasche single action for under $20 is my favorite.

I agree with Gary's advice to a "T".

[Tyler Phong]

I used to use an air brush for cermark. I have to coat hundreds of 3x5 stainless steel plates. I got a cheap harbor freight one and compressor. I had to thin it to 3-5 parts denatured alcohol to cermark. It worked great. No clogs as long as I cleaned it after each use. But the issue I had was spray waste. I was wasting more cermark from over spray than using a brush. So I just went to back to using a foam brush. For me, an air brush was too much of a hassle.

[Kev Williams]

I used to use an air brush for cermark..... But the issue I had was spray waste. I was wasting more cermark from over spray than using a brush. So I just went to back to using a foam brush. For me, an air brush was too much of a hassle.

This is what I found when I started brushing. I cover 80% of 24" x 31" SS operator panels with Cermark. When I sprayed it would take two 3/4-full air brush bottles to cover 1 panel. First panel I foam-brushed I found I'd used only one bottle's worth. Factoring the brush mix was a bit stronger, I figure I used no more than 60% as much as I did when I sprayed. Not sure if it was overspray, or OVER-spray (more than needed) but I've brushed ever since...

[Arthur Pakkas]

Great advice guys!! Appreciate it!

I have been using small airbrushes in a past profession a lot so the full clean is not a problem, though the over-spray issue seems real. Will try out the brush, though it seems that changing the airbrush, using DNA and the proper dilution fixed all the issues I came here to ask advice for! Thank You!