Hi everyone! I’ve been working on some improvements for my needles lately. Well – not really improvements but let’s say maintenance. The thing is, even if you belong to group of people that never done such a thing as polishing the needles, behold! Trust me – one day you will have to do it anyway.
Nonsense you say? Well then head over to this article from Zsolt Miklós KOVÁCS-VAJNA and read on to find out why you should do it.
The guy there is actually explaining the whole process where he is using special materials which is a bit of a problem to get for us, simple mortals. So I did it my way and I’ve made a very short and easy to follow video. I know that there are many people that just don’t like to read (I’m even sure that I should make more videos and maybe start narrating them but my accent is horrible, so maybe some time in the future ;)).
I want to give credit to Milla Jovovich for a nice song Bring it on that has been used in this video.
So how to polish airbrush needle?
The whole procedure could be done in short time and in roughly 6 steps. But if you have the time and can afford it you can perform more steps. The whole idea is very simple, all you do is change abrasives for polishing from rough to ultra fine.
It is very good if you have similar hand drill as you can see on the video here. Does it have speed regulator? Awesome! Another very important factor is that head of that drill is well centered otherwise there is no point to even start polishing them.
At one moment in video I’ve made a note that besides rotation you will have to pull the needle. Why?
Explanation is very easy and it has also been mentioned in article by Zsolt I linked before. You see, the tip of the needle is very sharp and also pointy and we should look at it as a dot in 3D which is just connected to your needle but actually doesn’t have any dimensions because it’s just a dot with no width or height, so no matter how you rotate your needle the tip doesn’t actually move at all, it’s speed is 0, so it means it doesn’t get polished. That’s what I’ve meant when I said that you have to pull it.
Logical? No? Doesn’t matter, it is not that crucial but I’m doing it anyway. Enough of that scientific blabbing. So, what is the process of polishing we’re going to use?
- Step 1 – Sand-paper P800 (the roughest in this case). Sanding has to be done wet way.
- Step 2 – Sand-paper P1000 also with drop of water.
- Step 3 – Sand-paper P1500 wet as well.
- Step 4 – Sand-paper P2000. Don’t forget water.
- Step 5 – Here I’ve used Fine Abrasive Paste form 3M on the backside of sand-paper (but you can use really anything (leather might be even better))
- Step 6 – Last but not least Ultra fine finishing abrasive paste that I usually use for final touches when polishing a car.
As I’ve mentioned before there could be more steps as you can use more sand-papers (for example try to use P1200, P1800 in-between or even 2500 and 3000) this could improve the whole polishing process and give you the result which would be close to perfection.
Why do you have to polish airbrush needle?
There are few reasons to do that. For some people it’s very important for some not that much. One of the reasons is that you prevent or minimize tip dry problems. Many of us just hate to deal with it. Also polished airbrush needle in combination with good small nozzle size will allow you to paint finer details.
Things to avoid while polishing the needle
Yes, you’ve read it right. You have to be careful while performing the polishing process as it is very easy to injure yourself or also damage the needle too.
If you are just starting with airbrushing then better don’t even bother with polishing, leave it for later.
If you are going to do it anyway but you are unsure about your safety then use protective gloves and glasses.
Also during the polishing you are actually pressing the needle against the abrasive, so don’t press too much as you can bent the needle very easily. If it happens please don’t blame me or manufacturer, I warned you!
Once you’re finished with polishing, clean the needle with cleaning solution you would usually use for cleaning your airbrush to get rid of polishing residues as those may cause some painting problems right at first use after polishing.
So what do you think? Does this piece of information have any use for you? Maybe you would like to argue about something not being right – and that’s no problem – you can always leave a comment. I will respond to any of them, positive or negative ones. When people leave comments it means that they care and that’s the most important thing for me.
Otherwise, if you know anyone that might find it useful please share it. Cheers.
