Chris Campbell Posted December 6, 2024 Posted December 6, 2024 Have discussed this set up in the past with people and thought best to post with a few pics. Personally prefer mirrored brass and it is the most time consuming aspect when restoring a fan. There is nothing more annoying than spending time on wings and then having lacquer work against all the effort. When spraying lacquer the three areas that are most prone to ruining a mirrored polish are orange peel texture, hazing “blush” from trapped moisture, and dust. I created this set up years ago and it generally will allow me to spray 3 out of 4 blades the first time perfectly without a spec of dust, blushing, or texture. First an airbrush is crucial. It allows full control vs any canned lacquer. Tried paint guns and generally would be hit or miss with final results. Airbrush is also low air volume so that cuts down on any air containing dust. I use the liquid Nicholas lacquer and add in around 20% blush retarder. The set up has a cheap bathroom exhaust fan. Strong enough to lift any traveling dust prior to reaching blade and weak enough to not draw in more airborne dust. The blade hangs vertically on a small nail through hole for rivet. Before spraying I blast the blade with compressed air to clear any adhered dust. With exhaust fan running and using the airbrush starting at the top I work side to side in a slight downward motion always keeping a wet edge with about 50% overlap spray. Just like painting a wall you would work with a wet edge to avoid flashing and same applies here. A fine needle size airbrush will easily spray a wet 3/4” diameter. As I work downwards control my speed of hand motion and never let off the trigger until I reach the bottom. A 9” blade takes me around 20 seconds to spray each side. I never try and go back to respray or touch up as that creates a texture. Personally never been able to even spray a second coat without ruining it so just take my time and hit it as needed with first coat. If not happy with lacquer best to strip, quick buff, wash down with toilet bowl cleaner to dissolve rouge and start over. This may sound like a lot of work but takes less than 5 mins. After finishing the airbrush spray will wait around 10 seconds and with heat gun aimed from backside will hit blades for about 7 seconds. This allows air to blow away from lacquered surface and will heat brass first and drive moisture out of lacquer towards the surface vs heating from front which would quickly dry a skim surface locking in moisture and or forcing in dust to wet lacquer. Once blade is cool remove by edges and rotate followed with same process for opposite side. If blade is still warm the lacquer would quickly dry creating texture so allow to cool completely after using heat gun. In the end I get lacquered blades without any orange peel, haze and rarely a spec of dust. A few things to mention although not tested: My compressor is tankless. Tankless may help eliminate some moisture. My heat gun heats fast and does not blow as much air as a hairdryer. Never tested a hairdryer but may be an option. 5 1 Quote
Dan Hilton Posted December 6, 2024 Posted December 6, 2024 Chris, thanks for sharing this setup and all the important details to make it successful. This is next level !! ..........Dan H. Quote
Rick Powell Posted December 6, 2024 Posted December 6, 2024 Chris great explanation, what brand is your airbrush? Quote
Chris Campbell Posted December 6, 2024 Author Posted December 6, 2024 (edited) 35 minutes ago, Rick Powell said: Chris great explanation, what brand is your airbrush? Badger is brand and Velocity is model. Had it 15 years. Bent needles and lost caps over years. Parts are easily available and affordable to replace. Open cup so a splash of lacquer thinner sprayed and it is clean. I use same airbrush for the thin coats of paint on badges and tags. All brass hardware does get lacquered too with airbrush because it is fast. Edited December 6, 2024 by Chris Campbell 1 Quote
Marc Sova Posted December 30, 2024 Posted December 30, 2024 (edited) Great stuff. I mostly have siphon feed airbrushes. I can see how the gravity cup might be better. Do you thin the lacquer? I’ve never reused it other than spray can. Where do I find out about riveting wings on? I searched rivet and this post came up. Like….exactly what rivets to order. Where to get. What tools etc. Would love to expand my skills instead of having to pay someone to do certain things. And so you’re saying shouldn’t hook up my Emerson window fan right above it? Lol Edited December 30, 2024 by Marc Sova Quote
Lane Shirey Posted December 30, 2024 Posted December 30, 2024 (edited) 1 hour ago, Marc Sova said: Great stuff. I mostly have siphon feed airbrushes. I can see how the gravity cup might be better. Do you thin the lacquer? I’ve never reused it other than spray can. Where do I find out about riveting wings on? I searched rivet and this post came up. Like….exactly what rivets to order. Where to get. What tools etc. Would love to expand my skills instead of having to pay someone to do certain things. And so you’re saying shouldn’t hook up my Emerson window fan right above it? Lol The riveting tools and rivets can be bought from Jay Cee or Hanson. You can use hand tools that you insert a die into to do the crimping, but there is a chance of the tool slipping and ruining a blade. Others use a modified arbor press ( holes are drilled to fit the riveting dies). I have a 1910’s brake shoe riveter with a foot pedal. I bought it cheap, and had a machine shop modify it to fit the Hanson dies. I would highly recommended that method since it frees up both hands to position the blade. pics attached. I probably have a total of $200 into the riveter, plus of course the various dies. Forgot to mention that solid brass rivets should be annealed before crimping. Edited December 30, 2024 by Lane Shirey 1 Quote
Chris Campbell Posted December 30, 2024 Author Posted December 30, 2024 (edited) 1 hour ago, Marc Sova said: Great stuff. I mostly have siphon feed airbrushes. I can see how the gravity cup might be better. Do you thin the lacquer? I’ve never reused it other than spray can. Where do I find out about riveting wings on? I searched rivet and this post came up. Like….exactly what rivets to order. Where to get. What tools etc. Would love to expand my skills instead of having to pay someone to do certain things. And so you’re saying shouldn’t hook up my Emerson window fan right above it? Lol The Nicholas lacquer sprays easily without reducing however the blush retarder provides some thinning properties. Funny story is once accidentally sprayed 100% retarder and was amazed at how perfect the blade was and was not until it evaporated realized grabbed wrong can. I use the Mohawk retarder with Nicholas. It has been 20 years since used siphon fed. Never cared for them and the top cup design can be cleaned in under 30 seconds and maybe closer to 10 seconds. Specs on my airbrush state 1/4oz cup. I generally fill it half full and spray half that on a 9” blade so figure slightly around 1/16 oz material needed per blade side. Jay-Cee Rivet is where I buy rivets and they can provide corresponding squeezer sets.i use a hand squeezer. Some people use a press. Edited December 30, 2024 by Chris Campbell 2 Quote
Lane Shirey Posted December 30, 2024 Posted December 30, 2024 I’ve found that one might have better selection of tools, but the other might have the rivets you need. I’ve bought from both. But I’d suggest ordering directly from their website rather than on Amazon or EBay since they have a presence there. It’s just easier to look at their full selection at one time. 1 Quote
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