A long time ago when I wrote my first airbrush review I mentioned that I will try to get my hands on airbrush compressors too and give most reliable review I can.
This day has come. Today’s candidate for airbrush compressor review is AS-189 from Chinese factory. No, I haven’t bought it in China, I have a local seller here that sells this fella under his brand name “ORLIK“. In North America it goes under trademark “FENGDA“. But I can certainly say that it was made in China and they just put a sticker on.
So, what does manufacturer says about AS-189?
- Oil free, piston type
- Double air pressure switch
- Air pressure gauge and air filter
- Adjustable pressure
- Thermal protection inside
- Low noise
- Weight 5.2Kg
- Dimensions: 330x150x330mm
Here is the box:
It is a single Cylinder Piston Compressor with 3L Air Tank and 1/6 Horse Power. The speed is 1450 – 1700 rpm and it can deliver 20~23L per minute. Double Air Pressure switch means that you can choose between two regimes:
1) If the switch is in position 1 then compressor will be switching on & off – when pressure inside tank gets to 4bar (57PSI) it goes off and after a while when pressure drops down to 3bar (43PSI) it starts-up again.
2) If you choose position 2 then compressor will pump the air into tank without stop and in this mode you’ll receive maximal pressure of 6 bar (86PSI).
All this is described in instructional manual
Another thing to be really aware of is the outlet thread which is 1/8 BSP. In case you need 1/4 BSP or NPT screw thread you will need an adapter.
In manual you can also find all the safety instructions and of course complete list of parts which compressor is built of.
Why have I decided to try AS-189 Compressor?
First reason was that it was cheaper than most other air compressors with the tank and second reason was the tank. I think that I have mentioned before all the good qualities of compressor with some reservoir to store the air (that’s why each of the diy compressors have their own tank). The main positive property is that because of tank you will lose the pulsing air effect at the output and other is that compressor doesn’t have to be on all the time. By considering this fact, the life of compressor engine increases. Also tank is a great first in line moisture trap.
On the picture above you can see the special Double Air Pressure switch.
And here is the detail on gauge and the air regulator.
The AS189 compressor is very compact. You can see on the picture bellow my hand holding its handle, it is really compact compressor.
Here are few more shots of the whole product.
I have also made a video just to show you how it works. I think that it is very quiet for oil-less single cylinder piston compressor. Tank, as I said before, makes it dead silent from time to time, it depends how big your nozzle tip is. At first I thought that 3L tank will be too small but if you do fine art it could be a positive thing. Smaller tank is filled faster and you can enjoy the silence and besides that it gives you more space.
Filling up the tank:
Emptying the tank:
As you can see on the video it takes 1min40sec to fully pressurize the tank and switch the engine off. It takes at least 50sec of time using nozzle tip size 0.2 to lower the pressure down and get the engine working again. That does not mean you cannot continue working when the engine jumps on, especially if you work with low pressures.
My Verdict
I paid for this guy €130 and I think it is totally worth it (and it suits the purpose for now). As I have no big believes in stuff from China I guess only time will show. It is not an IWATA but it does what I need from it and it does it very well. I think that if you are looking for a good air compressor and don’t want to spend too much and perhaps if you manage to find AS189 even cheaper you should definitely go for it.
