Heheheh, got off work a bit early today, and because I've been "chomping at the bit" to get this going, I've begun collecting the needed materials and tools:

So, I’ve been “playing” with this idea for quite some time, and me being somewhat “cheap,” I decided to make my own air brush holder using the this’ and that’s that I had laying around the basement and garage.

This one is “specific” to my needs, but with a couple of deletions or modifications it could be used by just about anyone.

Materials/Tools

Metal file to smooth the wire ends, wire cutters to (duh) cut the wire, pliers (in this case, duckbills) to aid in bending the wire, small ball-peen hammer to “tighten” some of the bends, four ¼” dowels (specific to my project), a piece of peg board (specific to my project) to align the dowels, one machine screw, two flat washers, one lock washer, one nut to fit the screw, a wood base, solder and flux, torch, “heat shrink” tube to provide a non-marring surface to the rests, two pieces of 10 ga and one piece of 6 ga solid-core wire for the “legs” and AB rests, and various sized dowels to give the "rests" nice clean and round bends. (This one is being made to handle two separate AB’s…the rests will accept both siphon-feed and gravity-feed AB’s)

Please see the below pictures:




Mike

wow, you're all of this like flies on ......

Nice, I'm just getting ideas rolling and you're deploying photos. Can't wait to see more.

Scott, been banging this one around since Matt proposed it....was just waiting for the "Go!"

A couple hours later.............

The Build- Tool rests

Because I’m building this for two AB’s, it took a little more time to attempt to get the rests to somewhat look like each other…pure aesthetics! I used the 10 ga wire, varying sized dowels, and the duckbills to bend/shape/form the wire for the rests. Once they were reasonably close to each other, I took the heat shrink tube, and using a lighter, adhered it to where the AB’s will lie, offering some “mar-resistance.”

The Build- Rest legs/uprights

I used the 6 ga wire for the legs because it’s very stiff and won’t bend easily (and ‘cause I had some!). I wrapped it around the screw I was going to use, and used the ball-peen to tap it tighter around the screw. Once that was done, I cut the ends even (which will be further cut once the height is determined). Not sure why, but I chose to use the torch, flux, and solder to “kinda seam/seal” the legs together.



Mike

Got some more this afternoon:

The Build- Base

I had some oak lying around, so that’s what I used for the base. I cut the base 3” x 3” (an adequate size to support the AB’s) and sanded the surfaces and edges, then laid an extra piece of the peg board on top of it…drew circles through the peg board’s holes to mark where I’d drill the holes for the 1/4” pegs. Once the holes were drilled, I glued the pegs in. (This and the next two steps are specific to my “build;” the AB holder will sit in my paint booth…hence the pegs on the bottom)



The next step was to place that extra piece of peg board back over the pegs so that they would dry up in proper alignment.



When the pegs were set and dried, which didn't take long at all, I cut them to the thickness of the peg board plus about 1/8”. Tested, they fit nice and snug to the deck of my booth….it’ll easily hold two AB’s with full bottles of paint with no wobble or sway.



Mike

The Build- Base and Upright

I drilled the holes for the legs and used some two-part epoxy to set the upright (not used epoxy with copper and wood before, so we’ll see). Once that’s set and dried, I’ll use some spray Varathane (spar urethane) to give is some sealing and shine.




Once dry, some steelwool to smooth the finish.

Mike

Dang, look at you. I am still in the thinking stages and you are moving onto building one.

Looking good there!!

For those of you in the "thinking" stage....here's my "done" stage :

The Build- Putting it all together!

This is the simple part; screw then washer then one rest then the leg then the second rest then the second washer then the lock washer then the nut. Ba-Dow! Done.





And that my friends, is my version of an airbrush holder.

Mike

I wasn't quite sure where all three wires were going but now I see. Looks great. Love the cleat concept.

Great Tool!

I built just the tool rest today and attached it to the edge of my desk. Thanks for the idea. Previously, I was juggling the airbrush while trying to position the model, add more paint or thinner etc. Now it is easy.

Regards,
Chas

Chas, I was doing the same juggling act too. If I set the AB down I'd have to adjust the angle of the bottle so it would sit and then when ready for spraying I'd readjust...this is so much simpler.

I did wrap a large black spring around the juncture of the legs, just below the nut/bolt/washers.....purely for looks....no function.

Anyhow, it's working quite nice.

Mike

Not to take anything away from your fantastic tool, but this is how it's done the Australian way:

How about that stunning design! Main thing is that it works for me.

Chas

Great work, Mike, and thank you for sharing the whole process. It inspired me to start building a holder, great tutorial

Hey Chas, the Aussie-way seems to work! One can't complain when "easy, cheap, and functional" fit the bill.

Thanks James....don't know why I went so long without doing something like this. Makes modeling life easier.

Mike