Paasche F Review
7/2013
Some people are incredibly generous. My friend Patrick Stack is one of them. A while back he won a Paasche F airbrush on E-bay for a great price. He told me he really liked it. I said I might have to pick one up myself. The other day a package arrived containing a new Paasche F. A note said it was a gift from Patrick because my site had been so helpful to him. He had bought another one on E-bay. The satisfaction I've gotten from doing this site is more than enough compensation. But, it was really nice of him, and I appreciate it.
Here is the kit. It is labeled simply as a Paasche F-SET.
As you can see, it includes the airbrush, an allen wrench to remove the needle, a holder, a 1/4oz. cup, small and large siphon bottles, a spare bottle, and a hose.
I was not familiar with the F before Patrick told me about it. I've never heard it mentioned on the forums I watch, and I don't think it is widely known. But, I did a little research and found this page from a 1923 Paasche catalog that shows both the H and the F. So, it's been around a long time.
First Impression
The F is an external mix single action airbrush. It looks like someone used a shrink ray on a Paasche H.
Here they are together. You might want to look at my Paasche H review if you want more details on this type of airbrush.
It looks nice and has a nice light feel. It's not as nose heavy as the H, and the distance from trigger to nozzle is less.
It is much lighter. It weighs just 44g without a bottle or cup compared to the H's 87g.
Parts Breakdown
Here is how it comes apart.
I removed the brass adjustment nut for the needle seal, but the seal itself didn't fall out and I didn't want to fool with it. It is white, and looks like Teflon.
Some of the parts are the same as the H. The air cap is the same part as an H #1 air cap. The Allen wrench and the little screw that holds the needle in place are the same. And, the air valve assembly is the same except for the length of the shaft. Curiously, the F shaft is made of machined stainless steel, and is much smoother than the one in my H. Like the H, the nut for the air valve is square, and you have to be careful starting it. It does allow some adjustment in tension.
The nozzle opening measures about 0.5mm, just like an H #1 nozzle. The needle is much smaller than the H needle.
Here it is next to an H #1 needle. The tapers look the same to me. Also, the threads have the same pitch. With the smaller diameter of the nozzle, this will make adjustment touchier than the H.
This is the only size available for the F, so it doesn't need any marking.
One thing that has me a little concerned is shown below. When I installed the needle fully in the nozzle, there was still a little gap around it. Also, the tip of the needle doesn't really come to a point. This may affect spray pattern.
The spouts on the cup and bottles are smaller than the standard size of the H and other brands. So, you can only use parts made for the F. Here is the F cup next to a standard size Badger cup for comparison. The spout is too small for a pipe cleaner, so flushing is pretty much the only option for cleaning.
Here is what the inside of the F cup looks like. Even though it is perfectly functional, I have to say, this is the ugliest cup I've ever come across. This was taken with a flash, and the metal is really more of a copper color. Also, it isn't as rough as it looks. It feels smooth to the finger. I assume the inside wasn't clean during plating, as the outside looks really nice.
I sent an e-mail to Chuck at Paasche about the nozzle, needle and cup. I included the photos. Patrick said he was sorry I got some bum parts when I told him what I found. But, it's certainly not his fault. He bought it as a new set from TCP Global, and it was vacuum sealed when he got it.
I got an e-mail from Chuck the next day saying he will send replacement parts. Standing by.
Here is a sample I did with the F and one I did with my Paasche H and the #1 nozzle. The nozzles are the same size.
Later ............
A few days later I got a package from Paasche with replacement parts. The new cup looks nice. But, the nozzle and needle look just the same. The needle had a flat tip, and it didn't want to thread all the way in. Here is a photo of the new needle.
I looked in the rear of the nozzle and could see some junk, so I removed the Teflon needle seal to give better access. I found the seal comes out easy if you jam a round toothpick in it and pull straight out. It is super tiny, so you have to be careful not to lose it. Then I probed the nozzle with a sharpened toothpick and flushed it with 90% isopropyl alcohol as shown below.
That cleaned out the inside, but the needle still wanted to bind. With the seal removed, the needle should have threaded in smoothly all the way. But, something was rubbing. So, I blackened the needle with a Sharpie marker and tried again. When I removed it, this is what I saw.
Notice, the marker had been rubbed off just behind the exit hole in the needle. This is where it was binding, metal to metal.
So--- I sent another e-mail to Chuck along with some pictures and and a description of what I found.
One week later --- No word from Chuck, so I sent him a reminder. I heard back from him the next day. He said he had been on holiday, but new parts were on the way. Standing by.
One week later --- I received another nozzle and needle in the mail. This time they look good! Thank you Chuck.
Trying it out
I did another sample using food coloring.
It was better, but still not as good as the H #1. So, I decided to compare the two nozzles.
The H is on the right, and the F on the left. Both needles are fully extended. I was surprised to find that the H needle is chopped off just like my original F needles. Apparently this doesn't matter. But, notice the difference in wall thickness of the nozzles where the needles emerge. The F nozzle has a definite step. In fact, the step of the F measures about 0.006", or about twice the 0.003" step of the H. My guess is that the step may cause turbulence that affects the spray pattern.
So, I did some rework on the nozzle. Here it is after being ground down a bit and polished. I figured this has got to work.
I did another sample.
It didn't make any difference. I knew there had to be something different between the F and H, so I swapped the air caps. It didn't make any difference either. By the way, when I removed the air cap from the F, this is what dumped out.
I don't know what it is, but it should have been cleaned out before assembly. But, it didn't seem to have any affect on performance.
I held the two airbrushes close together and studied them. I did noticed a difference. Here they are side by side.
Notice where the cone of the nozzle intercepts the air cap. The F is much further back. Here is a photo with the air caps removed.
The tip of the H needle is about 0.50" from the body of the brush, and the F tip is about 0.40". Both seem pretty well centered in the air path. I don't know why this would matter, but the H does perform better. Maybe there is some other difference that I am not seeing.
One more try
I was playing around with the good nozzle and needle, and I noticed that when I retracted the needle it was not centered. In fact, it was pretty far off center. As I turned it, I could see that it was the nozzle, not the needle that was off. In the past, with other airbrushes, I've found that a little off center doesn't seem to make much difference. But, I decided to check with the other two nozzles I have. I found that while one of them was the same, but the other one was well centered. I figured this combination was the best I could do.
So, I ground this nozzle down and polished it like the one I show above. Then, for good measure, I polished the needle too.
Here is a sample I did with this combination. I switched to blue, because I was running out of red.
Well, it still doesn't equal what I did with the H, but it's really not bad for an external mix airbrush. And, I think that's as good as I'm going to get out of it.
Conclusion
Even with good parts, I was not able to produce lines as fine or sharp as I could with the Paasche H and a #1 nozzle and needle.
Still, it's not a bad airbrush. For general coverage, it would have been OK just as it came out of the box. I was not happy because I knew it should be able to do better. Patrick has an H, but he prefers the F to fill in camouflage areas after outlining with another airbrush, and it could certainly do that. And, it has wide enough coverage for general use too. If you need a narrower pattern, you should probably be looking at an internal mix brush anyway.
Why would you choose it over an H? In one word, feel. The shorter nose, better balance and lighter weight make it very nice to hold. Whereas, the larger H may feel heavy or clumsy to you. On the other hand, the larger parts on the H are easier to handle and clean. And, the H has the option of 3 nozzle sizes that give a wide range of coverage. Also, you may find that parts for the more common H are easier to find.
The bad parts are troubling. Hopefully, Paasche will get this sorted out. In the meantime, if you get bum parts, contact Paasche support and I believe Chuck will take care of you. By the way, Chuck was not aware I was doing a review of his airbrush. Also, I offered to return the bad parts, but he didn't ask for them.
My sincerest thanks to Patrick Stack for this addition to my collection. I wish the results could have been more positive. There is an old saying, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth", meaning if something is given to you, don't be picky. But, if you're doing a review of the horse, you have to look. I know Patrick feels the same way.
Postscript
On the box, it says inspected by #2000. I looked at the box my problem VL came in and it said inspected by #2000. You might want to watch for that.
Duh!
It just dawned on me why the position of the needle and nozzle in the air cap could make a difference. The H needle can get 0.1 inch closer to the media. That might not sound like much, but when you're trying to do fine lines with an airbrush, it's significant.
The F and H probably have the same spray angle, but the H #1 can get closer and do finer lines. For normal use, they perform essentially the same.
To test this idea, I filed down the air cap as shown below.
Then I did another sample.
This is pretty close to what I was able to do with the H. I feel better now. The F is really a sweet little airbrush given good parts, and I believe I will find use for it. I like the feel and it's really easy to clean, even easier after my mod. I do believe Paasche should have made a special air cap for it though. In fact, if you look at the old advertisement I link to at the top of this page, it looks to me like it might have had a special air cap. The interface between the nozzles and air caps on the H and F look the same.