All, Got this, FREE, from railroad club member Thursday night. No longer needs, layout is now totally dismantled. Moving to assisted living. Comprised of what you see: Small tank, still holding compressed Nitrogen! 10' Hose and Badger 150 airbrush. Are there noticeable benefits of using Nitrogen for painting? Could I hook up a small compressor I have, to this set up, after purging all current gas, from tank? Has 2 regulators. I've got another regulator on compressor, as well as moisture trap. Just gotta find some sort of spray booth now! And maybe I can attempt to start airbrushing!
Nitrogen will not get cold as you use it like CO2. Also, it's dry with no moisture. Yes, you can use regular air once the nitrogen is used up. But be sure to have a moisture trap and make sure your compressor is oil less type.
You don't need to "purge all current gas from the tank." The air that you will be putting into that tank with our compressor is mostly nitrogen, and that is probably the best gas to be using, anyway. So, if you have a slightly higher nitrogen content in your compressed air for a bit, that won't hurt anything. On the other hand, you do need to make sure that the nitrogen pressure that is now in that tank is not higher than the output pressure of your compressor if you intend to hook the compressor to it without previously venting the tank to drop its pressure to atmospheric.
I used an airbrush with compressed gas for years with great success and with unimpaired hearing. The silence of the compressed gas is heavenly. I can't understand any reason to chose a compressor over gas, except for readily available air. You will whatever gas you choose need to get the cylinder refilled (well, usually exchanged, really) for a nominal amount. This is done at a welding supply shop, common in all but the smallest towns. I was painting for a local shop and used the airbrush almost daily, and a 20lb. cylinder lasted for 6 months or so and cost about $15 to refill. I used CO2, as it was readily available in lightweight aluminum cylinders. I never even thought about it turning cold as used until I read it here. Guess it wasn't a problem. And anyway, I think that gas naturally cools as it expands, isn't that what makes refrigeration work? But really, why do you want to use a noisy and expensive compressor?
The item below was listed in a 1970's model railroad catalog I have. "Gee I'm sorry that I forgot to refill your spare tire honey, but my string of auto parts Hi-Cube boxcars I painted last month took a lot of air."
I used to have a Sears portable air tank and it was a good solution for air brushing until gas stations began to charge money for air and the air stations themselves were increasingly found broken. I ended up buying this small Makita compressor and like it a lot. It's fairly quiet, has plenty enough power to run my small 18 Ga air nailer, fill vehicle tires and it fills my portable air tank with air.
