Pin sticking help!

[Then Came Jen]

Here's what I do - similar to Lloyd. When I'm reassembling after cleaning, I gently pull back on the needle tube so that the rocker (the little lever that sits against the back of the trigger) is pulled back and out of the way. I hold it like this while I work. I then put a small drop of lube on the end of a needle, and carefully put it down right into where the trigger goes. If you wiggle and press gently, you will feel the pin that goes through to the bottom of the air intake (this is the valve rod.) I gently push down on the pin, to make sure the lube gets in where it needs to go.

Now, whether it's the right thing to do or not, I don't know, but I've been doing it for months and it's eliminated any trigger issues. But if you gently push down, that valve rod will generally go down a little bit further than if you were pressing with your trigger alone. And that's why I do it with a needle. You don't want to use too much lube, just a small drop.

I believe (though I can't guarantee) this helps a touch of lube get down to the o-ring on the underside of the valve rod. The extra bit of movement is from compressing the spring a little bit more. Here is a basic diagram showing the parts I'm talking about. Check out parts 20, 21, and 22.

[jim81]

Just got done talking with Kirk who is the support person for Iwata in Portland. I mentioned I had a needle type oil dispenser and it helped the oil to get one drop in the correct place.
His comment, for whatever it's worth, is to not use oil but rather a lube made for airbrushes. Iwata sells it of course. His comment was that the oil will eventually come out of the end of the brush and mix with the paint you are putting out if you put a liquid lube in there.
Some times I get a runny splat that seems to come from nowhere but that could also be water in the system somewhere even though I have water traps and an running the air out of the compressor through a coiled hose giving it room to cool and not produce the moisture.
I don't think that's what happening (the oil on the trigger assembly) and there could be lots of other variables causing it as well. Anybody else's experiences?

[Then Came Jen]

Definitely use an airbrush lube. I've used both the Iwata lube (though I forget the name of it) and the Badger lube - Regdab Needle Juice. I like both, but I think the Regdab is cheaper. Both are nice and viscous, and provide good coverage with just a drop.

I make sure to run my brushes with just air for about 30 seconds before I hook up to ink, to ensure any leftover alcohol or lube is out of the brush - especially after you've lubed up the valve rod! I use to oil the valve rod from the bottom (with the brush held upside down) but I would get a lot more lube up in the gun that way, and I could definitely see it when I first ran air through.

Even though you run a moisture trap, you may still find that small bits of moisture come through, especially on more humid days. Or, depending on your ink, it may just be lightly separating after your brush has sat for a bit. Are you running the moisture trap at the handle, or just at the compressor? I think many people have found good success with the handle moisture traps, in conjunction with the moisture trap at the compressor.