[Watchmaking] EP.8 Painting a watch dial - Tools for Airbrushing Lacquer Paint

Spraying seems to be the best way to paint surfaces evenly and neatly. However, spray paint cans have the disadvantage of having to buy new cans every time I want a new color. The alternative to spraying paint is to use an airbrush.

An airbrush is a device that sprays paint with the pressure of a compressor. You can use lacquer paint or acrylic paint, and while lacquer paint is toxic and should be used with caution, it is easy to spray with low pressure and has the advantage of a smooth surface.

A small 10ml bottle of lacquer paint for modeling hobby costs about $3. Since what I'll be painting is a small watch dial, about 3 centimeters in diameter, the small size is a big plus. You can also mix the paint to create the colors you want.

In this post, I'll show you what tools I used to airbrush the dial.

Spray booth

When you use an airbrush, paint overspray is floating in the air. Inhaling this can be very bad for your health. Inhaling paint, not only well-known toxic lacquer paint, but also even acrylic paint, is very harmful. So you need to use your airbrush in a well-ventilated area, but if you use it outdoors, you can get dust on the painted surface. This is where a spray booth comes in.

A spray booth has a fan that pulls the paint floating in the booth through a filter and out of the air, which is good for your health and good for dust control. Usually spray booths are open on one side, but the one I used was made of transparent acrylic on all sides. The advantage is that you stick your hand through the hole like a sandblast machine, and it's folderable for easy storage.

Air Compressor

The most important tool for airbrushing is the air compressor. It's what blows air into your airbrush. The higher the pressure of the air compressor, the better, and corded compressors usually offer the highest pressure. Cordless ones tend to have lower pressure, but the trade-off is that they're smaller and easier to use anywhere, anytime. For light use with lacquer paint, a cordless compressor is more than enough. If you're using acrylic paint or need to cover a large area, a corded compressor is the way to go.

Airbrushes

An airbrush is a tool that uses air from the air compressor to mix and spray paint. It holds paint in what looks like a cup at the top. It's a double-action type, meaning that when you press the trigger, only the air comes out, and when you hold it down and pull back, the paint comes out with it.

Airbrushes take a little practice the first time you use them. You'll need to practice with the distance you spray, the speed and pattern of your movements, etc. before you can actually use it on the product you want.

Cleaning Pots

If you want to use a different color of paint on your airbrush, you'll need to use up all the paint you have, rinse it out with thinner, and add new paint. This is where the cleaning pot comes in. It's important for its original purpose, but it's also very important as an airbrush holder.

In the next post, we'll talk about lacquer paints.