Airbrush designs
Airbrushing can be a fun and rewarding pastime. An airbrush machine can be functional (touching up a car or cracked paint), or simply for enjoyment (airbrushing tribal flames on your skateboard). However, with the high costs of airbrush machines, it can be a difficult hobby to break into. Luckily, you can actually build your own airbrush machine in your home with inexpensive materials and just a little time set aside to do so.
Instructions
1. Fill the spray bottle with water and then squeeze the lever a couple of times to make sure that there are no leaks and that the water sprays out of the nozzle with relative uniformity. You want a smooth spray.
2. Unscrew the sprayer from the bottle and remove the long plastic tubing. Squeeze the lever a couple more times to get any excess water out of the tubing. Set the bottle aside.
3. Cut the moving parts away from the nozzle, including the lever or lever mechanism, using your hobby knife. Make sure to leave the nozzle intact, as well as the plastic tubing directly behind it. This tubing will be thicker and more firm (more like a plastic cylinder). Remove the 6 to 8-inch flexible plastic tubing that led from the water to the back of the nozzle, but save it as you will need it later. Cut off the ends so that it is a simple tube without any glue or crimping/threading on either end of the tube.
4. Drill a hole into the top of the firm, thick plastic cylinder behind the nozzle that you left intact in the last step. The hole should be the same diameter as the flexible plastic tubing that you removed in the last step. Drill the hole into the top of the hard plastic cylinder, but don't penetrate the bottom of the cylinder. Remove the shavings and clean out the cylinder--you want to make sure there is nothing impeding any future airflow.
5. Put one end of the 6 to 8-inch plastic tubing into the hole that you drilled in the last step, and add glue around the outside, securing it in place. You want the glue to keep it locked in place, but you also don't want any glue to seep into the hole and gum up the works inside. Set the construction aside to let the glue set.
6. Drill two holes into the bottom of your film canister/container. Drill them about 1 inch apart, and using the same size drill bit as the diameter of your metal straws that you will be using for this project.
7. Slide both metal straws into holes on the bottom of the film canister. Place one of the straws so that it barely extends from the bottom of the inside of the canister; you should only see about 1 mm of the straw when you look into the container (this will be called the paint flow tube). Push the other straw all the way to the top of the canister so that it rests only 1 mm or so from the lid of the container (when the lid is put in place, this will be called the air output tube). Glue the straws into place, again not getting glue on the inside of the straws, but only around the outsides. Allow them to dry.
8. Take your highlighter apart, using your hobby knife to cut off the ends and removing the inner mechanisms. You want a 6-inch long, hollow tube when you are finished, with nothing on either end. Clean out any debris from the tube.
9. Drill a hole in the center of the tube, straight down into the interior of the highlighter. This central hole needs to be big enough to fit two rubber tubes through, but they can be loose; it doesn't need to be airtight.
10. Put glue onto the bottom of the film canister, between the two straws. Once the glue is positioned, place the film canister in the center of the highlighter tube so that it sits atop it. Position the canister directly on the other side of the highlighter from the central hole (drilled in Step 9), and position each of the metal straws to straddle the tube. Put as much glue in place as needed to hold the film canister in position.
11. Cut your rubber tubing into two equal parts (each 6 inches). Thread one of the pieces through the front of the highlighter tube and pull it out of the hole that you drilled in the center of the tube (the one directly across from the film canister). Once the tip is pulled out of the center hole, secure it onto the metal straw that you are using for the paint flow (it will be the metal straw that sticks out further from the bottom of the film canister). Glue the straw and the rubber tubing together, making sure there is enough slack so that the tubing doesn't kink or fold on itself. Position the other end (the end that is sticking out of the front of the highlighter tube) onto the back of the spray bottle nozzle from steps 1 to 4. Glue it into place.
12. Put the plastic tubing that is sticking out of the top of the nozzle assembly (the tubing you glued in Step 5) through the front of the highlighter tube as well (next to the rubber tubing you just inserted). Instead of pulling it through a drilled hole, however, pull it straight through the tube and out the back of the highlighter. It should not be bent or kinked.
13. Attach the second half of the rubber tubing from Step 12 onto the second metal straw (the shorter straw--the air output straw), and glue it into place. Once it's dry, thread the other end of the straw through the central hole and then out of the back of the highlighter tube. It should be resting, poking out next to the exposed tubing from step 12.
14. Cut both tubes sticking out of the back of the highlighter to the same size so that when you blow into the tubes, it is easier to get a strong, even flow of air. Make sure to glue the nozzle in place as well. Slide it into the front of the highlighter tube and glue it into place, making sure to aim it forward properly, without leaving it hanging there. Allow all the glue to dry before moving on.
15. Fill the film canister with paint so that it is about halfway full. Once you're ready to paint, place your lips around both tubes (use a moist towelette to clean off the tubes if needed) and blow into them. The paint will shoot out of the front of your airbrush machine in a fine mist.
