My new Iwata Smart Jet!

[DreamKnight]

So I bit the bullet and went out shopping for an air compressor. I was tired of lugging my 5 gallons CO2 tank back and forth to the refillers.

This is a GREAT air compressor. The only boon about it is the "semi" regulator that comes with it. It has a gauge but the only way to tune down the PSI is to open the drop valve and let air flow out there so less air goes through the brush.

The "smart" part of the smart jet is the auto on/off function. When you run on the compressor and not using the brush, it auto turns off when it hits 60psi. When you use the air brush, the working max pressure ends up being 35psi which is what it's rated to do. The problem is when it's "auto off" it sits at 60psi and when you active the air brush, you get this immediate 60psi burst of air that quickly peeters out down to 35 psi so you have let it peeter before applying the paint which I find would be a waste of some paint.

If they would have had the Smart Jet Pro which comes with a real regulator and a case and all that, I would have probably gotten that. Unfortunately they didn't carry it at that store and I really wanted to get home to use it.

But it's easily fixed. I orders a generic regulator you find with many other compressors and I'll take it on with the one currently on the compressor or just replace it.

I'm also thinking about getting a 5 gallon tank and hooking it up to the compressor. This would get me a little more PSI too if I ever need to do some stuff above 35psi.

 

[MrNatural]

Very nice! sure does beat my generic harbor freight compressor any day

 

[DreamKnight]

I actually wanted that HF generic one with the tank before I decided to get this. The HF has a great price and it's got the tank and the real regulator on it. I did find a place that sells some nice small air tanks and I'm thinking of grabbing a 3 gallon to attach to the iwata.

 

[MrNatural]

How loud does this thing get? Mine sounds like a freight train terribly annoying

 

[DreamKnight]

It's pretty quiet. You know what? I meant I wanted to get the TPC Global generic one which is really the Airbrush Depot Model:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/airbrushdepot/compress.aspx#abd_tc20t

Which Harbor freight do you have?

 

[DreamKnight]

Here ya go. You can hear how loud it is:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAtXZs36JK0[/youtube]

 

[MrNatural]

I have the exact same airbrush and I gotta say its really great im addicted to it

 

[Junkie]

Nice gear. I have a big freight train one. It's soooo loud.

 

[MrNatural]

I picked this baby up at Harber Freight for 25 bucks its got a 3 gallon tank. it really does work great i cant complain about the performance it definately suits all my needs, my only problem would be that it is just super loud for how small it is and it kicks on more than frequently i guess cause the tank is so small but i still like it ;D

 

[DreamKnight]

Yeh, the Anthem is a REALLY great brush. The siphon feed though is what gets me and I've been thinking about picking up a Gravity feed one. Either the Badger Renegade Velocity or the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS. Tough choice. Always had Badger. Had a iwata once but always stuck to Badger. And I love the black finish on the Velocity. lol

Those ARE nice though. They get the job done and done well. It's kinda like Classic Cars vs. Modern cars. The Freight compressors may be loud and mean but if I dropped my dainty quiet Smartjet a couple of foot off the floor, something would probably break. lol

 

[MrNatural]

dead thread revival

so i know this thread has been dead for a while but i got a question about your iwata and the noise factor again i listened to it on the youtube video and it does sound pretty quiet,...would you say its quiet enough to use inside a house in your room and not worry about your roommates complaining about the noise im moving pretty soon and im going to have to move my whole operation into my room.

 

[DreamKnight]

Re: dead thread revival

so i know this thread has been dead for a while but i got a question about your iwata and the noise factor again i listened to it on the youtube video and it does sound pretty quiet,...would you say its quiet enough to use inside a house in your room and not worry about your roommates complaining about the noise im moving pretty soon and im going to have to move my whole operation into my room.

Depends on the room but I turned it on just now and ran to my room next to the one it's in and I can't hear it, just the hissing from the air valve barely (have to leave it on so the motor keeps running). But I got some decently solid walls.

If you put in under your table it'll probably be even quieter. I have it sitting on a hard surface. It's a little louder than my box fan in my window right now.

 

[MrNatural]

awesome much help sir!

 

[sunsanvil]

The thing about these piston airbrush-specific compressors is that while not truly "silent" (like the $500-$1000 diaphragm ones) , the motor noise is a relatively low pitch and thus is much less objectionable to begin with. I don't think you'd get any complain in an apartment setting, especially if you got it off the floor (onto, say, a rigid foam pad).