How to repair a bent airbrush needle. And polish your airbrush needle.

This video is going to teach you how to repair a damaged or bent airbrush needle. It will also teach you how to polish your airbrush needle. These are Just a couple of tips and tricks for you from some airbrush repair 101.
The Airspace is dedicated to all things atomized! Primarily teaching airbrushing tips tricks, reviews and much much more to come!
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[@DGAirbrushing]

I love when airbrush artists help others

[@TheAIRspace]

That’s the most rewarding thing to me, to be able to help others with things I stumbled on

[@mannylozano8146]

With the help of your video and a electronic microscope I ordered on amazon for @ 20 bucks, I was able to get my needle good enough to do the job. THANKS. The microscope i bought was also a huge help. The kind you can connect to a computer or tablet or even a phone. The support in this hobbie is incredible. I enjoy your videos alot.

[@TheAIRspace]

I bought a digital microscope myself this year and it has been a blessing. ESPECIALLY as i get older and older it makes looking at things much easier. Before that I had started taking pictures with my cell phone and zooming. But I really like the digital microscope!

[@ELPADREAIRBRUSH]

Brother my heart actually skipped a beat to see you hit the best airbrush in the world ! I’m not kidding I seriously almost cried to watch that ! It’s like those puppy neglect videos ! But for air rushers ! 😢

[@TheAIRspace]

yeah it was meant to be a little jolting, no serious harm done however :)

[@dinaamber]

Thanks Bill! I was about to buy a sharpening and repair kit and I followed your video instead and it worked great! Saved me $50!

[@TheAIRspace]

the sharpenaire works well enough. But well they didnt have those when I started :) Pro tip use a magnifying glass, or even better if you got a decent modern cell phone that can macro shoot it can make sure it is set :)

[@eddiegonzales8431]

Love your down to earth explanations and delivery. Appreciate you.

[@TheAIRspace]

I appreciate that!

[@tekeraq]

I felt the pain when you hit the needle, thanks man very good content

[@Frightline777]

Brilliant!!!Thank you for this video!!!

[@allisonkennedy9826]

Yes my jaw dropped! It was all I could do not to let an expletive fly! Whew. Glad you knew how to fix it!

[@TheAIRspace]

You and me both! :)

[@raymondserafin9396]

Great information.I'll have to try that.I do have a bent needle.Thanks for the info

[@garethevans6617]

Thanks Bill, A great hack to keep us new to airbrushing who keep managing to damage needles from spending heaps on spares when we don't need to. Ive just taken up airbrushing in the past couple of months and ready to move on from the Neo. I appreciate all the tips and worthwhile information you are willing to share to keep us inspired. Love your art too by the way.

[@TheAIRspace]

Thanks! I appreciate everyone who finds time to watch these and especially comment! I'm way over busy right now, but we are aiming to get busy on videos as soon as the studio is back together 🙂

[@atomicwarlord1976]

I just started air brushing. I dropped my brush and really bent the needle. Hopefully I can get it fixed. This video is very helpful. Thanks.

[@Mimi91719]

You're videos are so helpful! Thank you 🙂

[@jdeack]

Great explanation Bill. That's how I did mine when I first started airbrushing and it works great.

[@TheAIRspace]

i dont hit one very often anymore. But i've been fixing them for a long time now :)

[@eddiegonzales8431]

I build model cars but I'm new to airbrushing and your channel is very helpful.

[@TheAIRspace]

Thanks Eddie!

[@ericteepen6068]

I used a piece of old leather first time i bent a needle. , worked like a charm gladto see that i did ig right gling off your exp. Thx. Your vids are priceless knowledge. Def a big fan

[@TheAIRspace]

THANK YOU! I basically spent most of my life fixing and building things.. art came later. Then i approached airbrushing, and got some great and lots of bad advice. So after lots of trial and mostly error i got the hang of it. Having also taught art to kids I decided i'd approach youtube.. in my own way and style.. I like to think ive gotten better. and I get along with my very limited video tools and almost non existent video skills :)

[@ericteepen6068]

@@TheAIRspace i really enjoy the way you teach your personality makes it easy to stay focused and actually retain and stay interested , plus your very good at seeing things in an illustrated way , which is what im working on again , i used to airbrush many years ago and was getting to a mediocre skill level , and decided to pick it back up. Again , seems way easier this time around as far as advancing but as an all around musician and artsy person im guessing being more layed back and relaxed is helping .....but as i said im a fan and will be a continued fan. And still reference your vids if i run into a more info moment. O by the way if ya like to rock out while you paint as i do check out my band here on youtube. But just a hint ...turn it up it sounds better loud lol hope ya enjoy thought id share something back with ya. ( Trials By Faith ) cincinnati ohio and my names Eric (Teep) thx again bro and i hope one or more of our songs gets ya inspired ......

[@TheAIRspace]

@@ericteepen6068 thanks! And I will definitely check it out.. once in a previous life I played a lot of rock and roll :)

[@ericteepen6068]

@@TheAIRspace its just a way of life for me its like breathing. Not to be bias but its good music all originals

[@markbarton4344]

Great fix, I wouldn't have done that smack, but I've never fixed my needle yet! Mine is slightly bent from nicking my panel before I got a holder, so thanks a million. Was looking at the straighter, sharpener from coast, but will try this for sure.

[@TheAIRspace]

well.. normally i wouldnt smack stuff like that.. I do have spare parts around if things had gone entirely too south however :)

[@Dinnsgaming03]

Helpful video

[@cliffg4975]

Thanks for the tips. very useful

[@TheAIRspace]

good to hear! thanks!

[@MrBedroomDJ]

Thanks for all the videos!

[@TheAIRspace]

your welcome!

[@swinksArt]

Another Great Video Bill 👌👍🏻 Keep up the Great work .

[@TheAIRspace]

Thanks!

[@garycarver3694]

I have a steel block and use a I think similar to a butter knife to straighten my needles out and I've never had a problem doing that I also use 300 red sandpaper wet and dry to pop them out and get them nice and smooth you know so they spray nice and smooth I like your way of doing it it works well too

[@TheAIRspace]

yes a smooth steel block is great. if you have a stainless top or any flat hard surface. I don't like recommending any low grit sandpapers to people Because if you are not careful you can reshape the needle. Ironically i mention not using power tools, I DO use a foam buffer pad on some. But i would never advise it to someone who may or may not have good experience with using tools like that. Thanks Gary!

[@ronmartin6424]

Great video! One for the file for the future.

[@TheAIRspace]

definitely will come in handy some day :)

[@fredachinnie64]

Great video Bill!! About 2 months ago I dropped my HP-C Plus off the top of a 6 foot ladder while doing a food trailer! Yup, landed nose 1st. Had to replace everything from the fluid nozzle forward. Had to order everything from Coast Airbrush! A very expensive lesson!!

[@TheAIRspace]

ouch that hurts!

[@robmartin5414]

Hey Bill I polish my needles after doing a long paint session to super clean them but I use 2000 grit wet sand paper never thought about polishing compound nice trick

[@TheAIRspace]

The trizact pad is a 3000 grit polishing pad. So a bit finer than sandpaper. I do NOT like to use anything aggresive.. you can accidentally reshape the needle which would obviously be bad. 2000 is ok.. but anything rougher would quickly lead to a problem. I dont polish mine regularly. Generally once .. but occasionally i will toss a polish on them as they over time can get a bit of wear on them. Hopefully i can get all the maintenance videos up and on the channel soon.. i really should have started those a long time ago, however my reach was very small then. I have certainly seen some cringey repair tips on some channels :)

[@generallee185]

GREAT TIP. THANKS .

[@TheAIRspace]

You bet!

[@GospelProgressionsUniversity]

Thank you!

[@TheAIRspace]

You're welcome!

[@michaeldonahue-qc9ug]

Nice Work with the Needle like how you did good luck just subscribed thank you

[@brucehamlin5733]

Excellent

[@TheAIRspace]

Thank you so much 😀

[@christianjeppsson6429]

Thanks for your help :-)

[@TheAIRspace]

you are welcome!

[@robertclassicconstructiona1830]

Thanks for showing me how to polish and straighten my needles, it can get expensive

[@TheAIRspace]

I know right!, you can break one where its about im possible to repair.. but those small little hooks are easy enough to get out. been working for me for a long time :)

[@BoneBreakerH]

Thanks for the videos. I am just getting into airbrushing miniatures and got a patriot 105, so needle damage is almost guaranteed. I was looking at the sharpenair tool but $50 is a hard pill to swallow.

[@NEB3310]

A point that I almost missed was using needle nose pliers with smooth jaws. I need to pick up a pair - rick

[@TheAIRspace]

hope this helps buddy!

[@Vormulac1]

I need all the help I can get. Subscribed! :)

[@TheAIRspace]

Thanks! And we all need a little help from time to time right?

[@Vormulac1]

@@TheAIRspace I got my Iwata HP-CS yesterday, so I'm going to be working my way through your videos! :D

[@TheAIRspace]

@@Vormulac1 That should keep you busy for a bit.. Start with learning how to blend shade and control... Then I highly recomend learning to mix colors early on. It will save you a LOT of time in the future

[@1956willys4x4]

Bill that was hard to watch you do that. Great job fixing it. I never really bend too many maybe I'm just not trying hard enough 😊

[@TheAIRspace]

exactly when i hear people talking about saving hundreds on needles.. im always like how often do you drop your airbrush? But i do nick them with those small hooks from time to time.. and on detail airbrushes you can actually bend some just picking at the tip a lot :)

[@luiscorrea9928]

Keep up the good work...really enjoy all your videos. I'm a subscriber, everyone else should too.

[@TheAIRspace]

Much appreciated! I try to give out a lot of information. Especially information I wish id known when starting, looking back its easy to see i got some great and a lot of bad advice starting out!

[@LadyBorgia]

Thanks for the video! I have 3000 grit, but don't have the polishing compound. If you wouldn't mind what was the name and where's a good place to get it? I do a lot of detail painting (both regular brush and airbrush) and I prefer your method to using a drill or a dremel. Happy to give a thumbs up etc. I'm on here too, but for my SFX makeup artistry and other stuff. (Or I will be again once I return so happy to help. I know what goes into making these.😊)

[@TheAIRspace]

in the case of polishing a needle any polishing compound will work really, there are special compounds made for steel that im sure would do better overall. but I use what is on hand. and I hear ya about making these.. ive been remodeling at home and trying to keep my art business running .. so the last video I got out was in august. I REALLY need to make some videos.

[@johannymedina]

Thanks a lot! I fell out of the chair when you hit the wall with the airbrush, give notice before doing that again.😓

[@TheAIRspace]

I think I shocked my wife too 🤣. I have a ton of eclipse parts and a few laying around, so I wasn't too worried. But that was the best way to simulate the damage when dropped I could think of 🙂

[@TheAIRspace]

you can find gear I use here! spraygunner.com?aff=15 Trizact pads! amzn.to/3T61c6Y "links may be affilliate links which means I earn commissions when purchases are made through said links"

[@marcel_chenier]

Thanks so much for the tutorial. For an Iwata brush, is it necessary to buy Iwata proprietary replacement needles or can we buy more generic needles? Also, how do you know when your nozzle needs replacing? Thanks again!

[@TheAIRspace]

yes you will want to replace with the right needle for your airbrush. Nozzles and needles are not universal As for if you need to replace a nozzle look under magnification for cracks or flaring if it looks like a trumpet it is flared out. But in general it will be acting up if there is a need for replacement.. IE if it aint broke dont fix it.

[@marcel_chenier]

Thanks, @@TheAIRspace ! I've followed your instructions to straighten the needle, sir. Just a tiny, like, so small curve on the tip remains. Any suggestions for getting at that bit? Thanks so much!

[@TheAIRspace]

it takes a little finesse but thats what the glass on a hard surface usually does.. and of course twisting while pulling backward @@marcel_chenier

[@stuffstuffstuffyay]

youch! I bent my revolution needle the other day, new needle just got delivered! I should have watched this first. Not sure why but my needle on my Eclipse doesn't stick out as far as yours does from the bitty.

[@TheAIRspace]

My needle guard is removed. On all my airbrushes actually. It allows me to get in tighter and sight down the needle easier. After a while you just don't tend to accidentally hit things with the needle very often.

[@stuffstuffstuffyay]

@@TheAIRspace that makes sense- so to stop dry tip

[@robertmann7277]

When I was new to the game ( mistakes still happen ). I had a REALLY cheap airbrush and, after looking at some videos, I felt I could polish it. So I chucked it the needle in my Dremel ( this is where I should admit to drinking some adult beverages, but, alas, no ), I turned the Dremel on an promptly got a 45° angle in my needle, I bent it back as best as I could, and the sucker still works

[@TheAIRspace]

i actually machine polish needles now, but I don't show people to do that.. simply because the sheer amount of people who will destroy them with machine turning is high.. and of course those are the folks who would get mad at me. But the whole "just buy a new needle crowd" Clearly underestimate how many people get small burrs on light dings just from hitting the surface.. Since I havent used a needle guard on any of my airbrushes in 5-6 years.. And I paint over 100 paintings a year i'm definitely doing a few small repairs. I just did a short on one I totally mangled. Took all of about 5 minutes to fix. As for angles...45 degrees is way too steep.

[@robertmann7277]

Well I thought this was a brilliant way to do it- whoops

[@marcelchenier]

How do we look up the Trizact pad (you mention it has some 'give' to it)? Can't seem to find anything that isn't just regular old sandpaper, sir. Is it just regular sandpaper, or something else? Thanks.

[@TheAIRspace]

Hey sorry ill add these to my description! amzn.to/3T61c6Y And of course that is an affilliate link!

[@marcelchenier]

Thank you. I'm in Canada so cannot use your link, @@TheAIRspace :(

[@TheAIRspace]

it should switch over automatically to canadian. I am as of 3 months ago set up for it to switch to your country of origin. If you click the link and it does not switch you to Amazon ca let me know and ill see whats wrong@@marcelchenier

[@marcelchenier]

Just an FYI: it did not switch over,@@TheAIRspace .

[@TheAIRspace]

Seems they dont have 3k grit.. Try this amzn.to/4bIS4fs @@marcelchenier

[@johnpayne6177]

I don't know if it's just me but I can't get the kit.co link to work please advise

[@TheAIRspace]

thats the kit page kit.co/Wleonartistry Now it is possible some links are completely unavailable.. which has been a huge problem since covid. But if it doesnt just link just copy that it will take you to my kit page :)

[@johnpayne6177]

@@TheAIRspace it was my iPad but I couldn’t find the paint pens on there.

[@TheAIRspace]

@@johnpayne6177 yes I just added them in.. i thought I had before. they are now under other paints I use sorry :)

[@johnpayne6177]

@@TheAIRspace thank you very much Bill

[@WhiteDragon689]

When a needle is bent, that already weakens the metal at the spot unless its made of spring steel. I have a "repaired" needle and it is a blunt at the tip. I've also figured out how to polish them to a mirror shine with a Dremel tool and metal polish. For most people it is better to just buy a new one. The metal can be annealed but that is out of the skill of most people. I've also started marking the back of the needle with light crimps from a wire cutter. 2 crips for 0.2 and 3 or 5 for those nozzles.

[@TheAIRspace]

almost all airbrush needles on the market are now spring stainless. Even of the cheapest ones. But you are correct it can cause weakness in the metal. As for to repair or buy, i've done both.. But if you have no spares this can get a lot of folks out of a jam and not be waiting. Sure if you buy cheap airbrushes you can afford to keep spares.. Heck i keep spares for everything I have and I have dozens of airbrushes. Can you repair as well as factory, that depends, but ive definitely repaired student needles that they didn't even know were bent. Im not gonna blame anyone for deciding one way or another.

[@WhiteDragon689]

@@TheAIRspace True, it can get one out of a jam. I bought a Gahleri Mobius 0.2 that came with a bent tip... on their flagship brush!. I was inspecting with a lupe. They promptly sent me a new one though.

[@andrej2321]

0:28 ouch! Love hurts! 😂

[@airbrushingbynick6071]

The only time you clean your needles. 😀

[@TheAIRspace]

You know it buddy!

[@johnpayne6177]

Great video Bill. Real world usefulness there. Takes the panic of O M G what did o do out of our minds. Thanks and God Bless

[@TheAIRspace]

You bet

[@flashovr24]

HEY WAIT......He's got THREE hands!!! That ain't fair!!!

[@vipersniper843]

Thanks for the tip. Haha

[@BlindSymmetryLurePainting]

I cringed when he said he was going drop his Micron,, lol

[@TheAIRspace]

so did my wife.. who was filming :)

[@CrucesNomad1]

Made me cringe when you love hit he board with the needle sir.

[@TheAIRspace]

i was pretty confident i could fix it though :) Besides I have spares here if necessary!

[@pawewosek6101]

OMG three hands

[@TheAIRspace]

i missed this long ago obviously :) The third hand was my wifes, i had her put her hand under there because the camera kept trying to shift focus to the surface below and tossing things funnny on the video :)

[@bakerredrum]

I find it's easier to ask the wife for forgiveness then ask for permission to buy excessive hobby stuff. Lol

[@TheAIRspace]

She does my books. So I just randomly throw receipts at her with little explanations 😂

[@squidskunk]

you're holding g your micron up...IM YELLING AT THE SCREEN...DON'T DO IT!!!!!!

[@TheAIRspace]

:)

[@Steve-dr7rr]

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