Airbrushing for Toy Making: Which air compressor do I use?

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One important thing to note is that any compressor will work for airbrushing as long as you can regulate the pressure and filter the air. It is worth noting that none of the airbrush manufacturers make their compressors. If they do sell compressors, they are usually rebranded products from China. I have successfully used both a standard two-stage tank compressor and a Harbor Freight Central Pneumatic compressor. I even know someone who used a spare tire as an air source to paint a show car in their driveway (they used to sell an adapter that fits onto a valve stem to make this possible).

The Harbor Freight compressor is a reliable and cost-effective option. It is quiet and portable, and it even comes with an airbrush. While I have no personal experience with the Harbor Freight airbrush, I have heard mixed reviews about its performance. It might work if you only plan on spraying paints explicitly designed for airbrushes. However, I often spray cheap acrylics, craft paints, and even house paint, which can have larger pigments that may clog smaller airbrushes. Remember that all paints are different; even different colors from the same brand can spray differently.

It's worth mentioning that airbrushing is a skill that requires practice to develop. It is not a magic solution that automatically gives you a beautiful finish. With enough practice, however, you can achieve great results with your airbrush.

 

Toymaker Shop Baby Dragon Pull Toy Build Day 2

 

Handmade Wood Toy Dragon Side 2 Parts Glued In Place

I use the paper patterns to align the first set of parts and align the second set of parts to the first ones. The black clamps are from Harbor Freight Tools. These clamps work great for this sort of clamping job. At the cost of $0.99 each, they are hard to beat. The blue clamp is an Irwin micro clamp. I don't use the Irwin clamps much, but they work fine for the ears, and the small pad makes it easy to use.

Handmade Wood Toy Dragon Clamped To The Base

The dragon pull toy is almost done. I used a router to round over the base's corners and still had to do a lot of sanding. I have to fit the legs and tail, so the dragon sits perfectly flat and square to the surface to get a good glue joint. I sand a little and check the fit repeatedly until it is right. Then I must center the dragon on the base and keep it in place until the glue sets. The clamps hold rules to locate the dragon and prevent it from moving when clamps are applied.  Rubber bands make suitable clamps for this. These are a pain to build. I'm thinking this is going to be my last. 

Handmade Wood Toy Dragon Clamped To The Base

#odinstoyfactory #handmade #woodtoys

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Harbor Freight Four Inch Ratcheting Bar Clamp/Spreader

 

Harbor Freight Four Inch Ratcheting Bar Clamp/Spreader

I use a lot of clamps. They are the first clamps of this type sold by Harbor Freight that I like. I make a lot of toys and use many small clamps. Recently I went to Harbor Freight with coupon in hand to pick up a few more of these clamps only to find that they have changed the clamp. 

Harbor Freight Four Inch Ratcheting Bar Clamp/Spreader New Style

There are currently three SKUs listed on their website: 68974, 46805, 62242. The ones I have the most of are SKU 68974. I have only seen only two of them. I went ahead and purchased four of the new ones. I decided that for $0.99 each, I would give them a try.

 

Harbor Freight Four Inch Ratcheting Bar Clamp/Spreader New Style Flashing on the Trigger

 

The new clamps work ok, but the build quality isn't as good. The knob on the side is tiny compared to the older version, and there is flashing on the trigger that my old one does not have. The flashing on the trigger sharp and uncomfortable to squeeze even at the light pressures I use. It feels like it might cut me under the right circumstances. I don't like the smaller knob, but it isn't a deal-breaker as I rarely use it. I removed all the flashing with a sharp knife and smoothed everything down. 

 

 

I used these recently on a small project. The new style clamps worked fine, but I have to wonder about the roughness of the tool. If they let this slide, what else did they let slide?

If I need more clamps, I will be looking for the SKU 68974 clamps. However, unless I have a problem with the newer ones, I will buy them if I need this size clamp. If it breaks, they will replace it.

Replacing My Old Sanders Harbor Freight Sanders

Bauer 2.8 Amp, 5 in. Random Orbital Palm Sander

I just ordered two of these. I needed two more random orbital sanders because changing sandpaper wears out the loops on the back of my sandpaper before the grit wears out. Price was one of the reasons I purchased this one. I can buy two of these for the price of one of the sanders I was considering and three in some cases. However, the big deal for me was the dust port. It's round and fits my existing system. I'm getting rid of sanders that either do not have a dust port or they have some weird shape that I can't hook up to my shop vac. Most of my corded tools are Hitachi, and I would have liked to have two more Hitachi sanders, but I have been sitting on a waiting list to get Hitachi sanders at a reasonable price for months. I usually buy refurbished. A coupon turned up for the Bauer sanders for $25, so I'm going to give them a try.

I also purchased one of these for $20. I have several hundred 1/4-Sheets of sandpaper leftover from a project that didn't use near as much paper as I bought. I want to use it up, and the 1/4-sheet sanders I have either do not have a dust collection port or have ports with weird shapes that I can't connect to my vac.

Bauer 2.2 Amp 1/4 Sheet Heavy-Duty Palm Finishing Sander

I've used Harbor Freight sanders in the past that cost less than $10. The cost was so low that I could have done the project and thrown them in the trash and still come out ahead. The sandpaper was more expensive than the sander. I never had an issue with any Harbor Freight sander other than dust collection, which is why I am getting rid of them now. At one time I did all of my sandings outdoors and dust collection was not an issue.


 What do I use them for? Primarily I use these sanders for prepping wood for making toys. I use a lot of reclaimed wood and construction lumber. Most of this wood has dents, dings and other defects that need to be smoothed before I apply patterns and cut them on my scroll saw. If it is bad I start with 80 grit and work my way up to 220. This removes any milling marks dings or those nasty purple stamps and sprays paint that Home Depot loves to put on their cull lumber. The wood is smooth clean so the patterns stick well and it slides around the saw without hanging.

Replacing My Harbor Freight Bench Top Drill Press With A Grizzly G7943 Drill Press (Update)

I have done all the repairs and modifications and used the drill press for a while on several small projects. I'm going to call this a success.

Replacement South Bend Chuck on MY Grizzly Drill Press

The chuck worked just as I had expected. It works with bits smaller than the spec sheet indicates and is much better than the chuck that came with it. So much better than I'm considering buying a larger version for my large drill press.

I got exactly what I wanted. A good drill press that would handle smaller bits. I use drill bits down to wire gauge sizes that neither my Shopsmith or larger drill press can handle. For production purposes, I didn't want to have to fool around with adapters or changing chucks.

Some of the knobs were damaged, and I replaced them with these red ball knobs I found on Amazon. They came 10 to a bag, but they cost only $7.95. I had forgotten how much better I like ball knobs on a drill press. I plan to add these to some of my other tools. The broken knobs these replaced were also plastic.

20190310_133145 Red Ball Knob Grizzly Drill Press Replacement

I also replaced this knob with a knob I bought from Amazon when I tried to lock the spindle the knob disintegrated in my hand. It was just a bot with a knob molded on to it. I could have got by without it. The knob was cheap and I got a better knob.

Grizzly Drill Press Locking Knob Replacement

The old chuck was still good, so I stuck it on the side of the drill press with a hard drive magnet. Hard drive magnets can hold a crazy amount of weight so there is little chance it will ever come off.

Grizzly Chuck Held With A Hard Drive Magnet

I also repaired the mounting bracket for the add-on light that was about to fall off. Replaced all the incandescent bulbs with daylight GE Bright Stick LEDs. I hade to pull out the internal socket and remove about 1/8-inch so the Bright Stick LED would go in far enough into the socket. To get to this, You need to remove the top of the drill press. My puller was just large enough to do the job.

The drill press worked great for my purposes and was well worth the effort. 

Replacing My Harbor Freight Bench Top Drill Press With A Grizzly G7943 Drill Press

I have a harbor freight bench top drill press that I have used for several years for small bits. It is almost too small and required some fiddling to get the holes drilled in the right place. Not having a crank to raise and lower the table was a real pain. It had a keyless chuck that I found difficult to use and often would get a bit installed crooked.

Harbor Freight - Central Machinery - Bench Top Drill Press

I had already decided to get something different, and through a process of elimination, I chose the  Grizzly G7943 as the best solution.

Grizzly G7943 Drill Press

A few weeks later a used one popped up on Craig's list. Mit must have been fate. I have kept a search running for Grizzly tools on crags list for several years. Hits are rare and most things I don't want, high prices, or poor condition. This is the first drill press I have seen.  I had to buy it.


According to the seller, it is about ten years old. Not a big deal since they have changed very little and it wasn't in a commercial shop. It did need some TLC.
The user mounted light was a mess. The head was about to fall off. I repaired the light and wired it directly into the drill.  I had to remove the top of the drill press to get at the wiring.  Getting the spindle pully off turned into an all-day job.  It's amazing how many different ways they have come up with to mount a spindle pulley.

The built-in light would not work with LED bulbs. After the tom was removed and I could get the light socket out I discovered there was a 1/8-inch lip on the light socket that was keeping the bulb from seating. I was on my way to Home Depot light socket in hand to see if I could find an LED bulb to fit.  At the door I thought, I can get a new one from Grizzly if I screw this up, I'm going to remove the lip. Belt sander to the rescue. My Shopsmith belt sander took the rim off in a few seconds. The LED fit perfectly. With these two lights, I now have 1500 lumens on the drill press table.

The lights I use are GE Lighting LED Bright Stiks Daylight LEDs. I highly recommend these LED bulbs.

The pulley nut has left handed threads. I had to rig up something hold the spindle in place while I turned the nut. I didn't get the drift key with the drill press. In fact, I didn't know what a drift key was until I got deep into this project. I have a large drill press I bought several years ago that came with one. I think I threw it away because I never figured out what it was.

Grizzly G9378 - Forged Drift Key Set - 4 pc. Set

 

The idea of having two drill presses id to have one for the larger bits and heavy work and one for the small stuff. The big drill press will take up to a 3/4-inch shank bit, but it will not go much lower than 1/4-inch. Scrollsaw work requires a lot of precisely drilled holes 90 degrees to the surface. Some toys also need small holes, and I don't want to be changing chucks every time I drill a hole.
The arbor on the drill was scored. It looked like the chuck had been installed with debris on the arbor or chuck and it had slipped. Arbors don't cost much so, I ordered a new one.

South Bend SB1454 - Drill Chuck Arbor MT2/JT33

The chuck was metric and far too large for my purposes so I ordered a new one that will take bits down to 1/32-inch. There are some chucks go down to zero but, all of them were keyless, which I don't like on a drill press,  and the reviews did not leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling. The companies were all in China and if I got one that I didn't like I would have thrown my money away. I bought mine from Grizzly. I have past experience with their customer service and I know that if there is a problem they will make it right.

South Bend SB1370  DRILL CHUCK 1/32"-1/2" JT33

I also ordered new knobs.  Some of the existing knobs were broken and improperly glued back. You can't glue plastic and vinyl to steel with polyurethane glue.

There is a little rust on it that needs to be cleaned up. Mostly on the table where the previous owner had mounted a larger table bare wood against cast iron is asking for rust.

Is it worth it? I'll have to wait and see. I haven't drilled a hole with it yet, and I already have a good feeling about this drill press. If it saves me as much time and effort as I expect it too, it will be.