Badger Renegade Spirit Review
9/2013
The Spirit is the side feed version of the Badger Renegade line, which includes the Velocity, Rage, and Krome.
Unlike the Badger 100SF side feed, the Spirit's cup can be mounted on either side. A push-in plug is included to fill the unused opening.
Here is the cup and the plug. There is also an attachment for bottle feed that I did not get.
Since the outlet is at the bottom of the cup, it is essentially gravity fed. I measured the volume and it came out right at 1/4 oz. The spout on the Spirit cup is not the same size as the 100SF. It is much larger. This might result in a more secure fit. My brush came with a plastic cap for the cup.
Here is the front section of the Spirit.
The spray regulator is the fork type. This protects the needle while still allowing access for removing dried paint. It must be installed for the airbrush to spray. It does make back flushing tricky. But, the brush comes with a plastic head protector that also works well for back flushing. A bare spray regulator without any forks is available.
First Impression
Either you like the color, or you don't. People differ. I'm kind of neutral. I'd just as soon have chrome, but the dark finish doesn't bother me. I think it looks nice.
It's comfortable to hold, although the side mounted cup does make it side heavy. The balance point is just slightly aft of the trigger.
With the cup installed, it weighs 105g. Trigger action is nice and smooth.
The Components
The head assembly is the same as the other Renegade models, including the Krome. Mine came with the 0.2mm components, and there are also.33mm parts. There are no identifying marks on the spray regulator or tip.
As with the other Renegades the tip is very tiny and easy to lose. It tends to fall out when the head is removed. A little bees wax will help keep it in place. Notice the threaded section is deeper on one side of the head. It is shown in the correct orientation.
I saw one complaint that the fork of the spray regulator does not align with the body when tightened. That's true.
As you can see on the right, it is tilted. This would be a difficult thing to control in production, and my guess is that Badger doesn't feel it is worth the extra effort and cost to correct. It doesn't bother me.
The needle is polished and comes to a very sharp point. Mine has one groove on the back end to indicate size.
The trigger assembly is like the Velocity, with the rocker attached to the needle tube.
Mine has the upgraded parts with the Glydecoat finish. There is plenty of tension adjustment range.
The needle seal is Teflon and the adjustable type that is user replaceable. I didn't bother to remove it.
I noticed that the needle limiter takes more effort to turn than the one on my Renegade Rage. Here, you can see why.
Badger has added an O-ring. The Rage adjustment is very easy to turn. The O-ring adds friction to the Spirit limiter and gives it a tighter feel. But, what I found was, it also limits how far it can be set. At the end of travel, the O-ring prevents the limiter from fully closing the trigger. So, it's not going to be much help for doing fine lines. And, this is where I would want to use it.
So, I removed the O-ring. I found that a little wheel bearing grease on the threads stiffens the action nicely without it. Bees wax would probably work OK too.
Trying it out
I did my usual sample with food coloring on a paper towel. It had a very narrow spray pattern. Trigger control was good, but I used the needle limiter. It made fine lines easy.
After flushing well with water, I removed the cup and plug. I squirted some water in one of the side holes in the body and it came out the other side green. I flushed the body out well with a pumping action. When I pulled the needle, it came out clean.
The holes in the cup and spout are large enough to fit a pipe cleaner. I pushed one in the spout and was surprised that I couldn't see it through the hole in the bottom of the cup. I held the cup up to a light and looked in the spout, and could see the cause. When the cup was assembled to the spout, part of it blocked off about half the diameter of the spout hole. This probably won't matter if you flush well, but it would have been better if the spout had been kept clear. It bugged me enough that I used a round needle file and drill bit to open it up.
Conclusion
I have to admit that a side feed airbrush feels a little clumsy to me. But, I'm sure that's just a matter of getting used to it. The ability to rotate the cup to any angle could be handy in some circumstances. The head and needle are the same as the popular Velocity, and I expect it functions the same.
I'm not a fan of the tiny tip. I don't like fiddling with it. But, it does produce a nice pattern. Unless I found that I had clogging problems, I think I would leave it in place and clean by just flushing. If necessary, a pipe cleaner will fit in the opening where the tip sits.
It's a fine airbrush for fine work.
Once again, I would like to thank Ken Schlotfeldt for the sample.
Postscript
Badger makes an adapter for the Omni 6000 airbrush that allows the use of Aztek cups. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would also fit the Spirit. So, I picked one up at Coast Airbrush. It was just $2.40. Sure enough, it fits. It is part number T893. This means that any of the Aztek plastic cups can be used on the Spirit.
