Why I Prefer Gravity Feed Airbrushes Over Siphon Feed Airbrushes 

Great video, Thank you very very much for this video I really needed it to take my mind off the craziness in Florida right now. My county got spared the worst and had a tornado come through tore off part of the roof and ruined a lot of stuff but I'm soo very Thankful that no1 was injured and it's just material things and can be replaced. Many Prayers to everyone, Thank you again for the video and everyone keep yourselves and love ones safe and healthy and remember to SMILE 😃 😊

That is your choice, I have no problem with that. As for myself, I prefer the syphon feed. The bottle gives me a handle to hold, it is easy to control, I have never had a drip out problem with one. Clean up is not a problem with my Badger 200, or my new Paasche 2000H. Clean up is never a problem. A clean bottle with a little later thinner, a quick spray cleans the nozzle out just fine. Paint does stain the feed tube it has never affected the next color I spray, even if it is white as the next color. I usually shoot only one color at a sitting. Personally I would not even consider using a gravity feed airbrush, as the bottles can be filled up to a bout 3/4, generally I can do 2 coats on a car body, and I don't need to keep refilling a cup to do the job. The lid soaks in super clean for a few minutes, and it is good to go. If the bottle need further cleaning I just use a Kleenex and a touch of thinner the whole process takes me just about a minute and a half to do. Of course I always wear nitrile gloves when I am painting, and with clean up.

There is one siphon feed that is really easy change paints with, and it's Harbour Freights 12 dollar airbrush. I plan on using mine for 2k clears because it's so cheap, and it has a .7mm nozzle on it.

Glad to hear your wife is getting better and continue to do so. These panel line paints are awesome since they have a variety of options available. Thanks for the video.

The advantage of anything should out weigh the negatives. And I use a siphon feed airbrush all the time for my primers only. Storing the jars for each type of primer is better than having to mix it to use in my gravity airbrush. I am painting with primer more than I do for anything else. So having a quick way to apply them is key. And the clean up is like anything else. It's part of the job! If I know I have some priming to do, I plan to prime a lot of objects to cut down on my time. It's obvious you don't like siphon feed airbrushes. And maybe for the subjects you paint it's warranted. But they do have their place with airbrush artists/painters. I look forward to seeing the "beginners" tutorial for airbrushing. I will be watching close too. Might pick up a tip or two.

all very fair points, but I'm getting some major "There's gotta be a better *way!"* energy off of the syphon demonstration 😄

I've had a bottle feed for a while and used it a few times and was wondering to myself recently why I don't use it more...you nailed it, the clean up, I don't typically spray large quantities of the same color.

I'm about to venture into the world of paintbrushing and your videos have been a great source of help especiall paint reviews and cleaning airbrush vids i feel i wil go in confident

I'm still getting into using an airbrush. Your videos really help out getting things to work properly. While looking up information on how to use one, I've found that most people say : gravity feed for more detail work and siphon feed for larger things like shirts things you'll keep larger amounts a paint in those jars ready to go. I bought the one you just recently recommended and it does great with the 0.5 needle and Vallejo primer. I don't really like acrylics (love enamels better) in the airbrush as they dry on the tip quickly but I hope you'll cover that in the next video. 👍

I used a Badger 200 single action siphon feed for many years. Then a couple of years ago I started weathering a few small model railroad structures which needed very little of each weathering colour, literally only a drop or two. But the siphon system took far more paint to fill before I could spray the model. It ended up wasting a lot of paint so I figured I would try a gravity feed airbrush thinking it wouldn't need much paint to fill the nozzle so there would be much less waste. And I only ever used the colour cup, never the bottles. At the time I was still using solvent based paints exclusively which were quite expensive and becoming more difficult to find at ever increasing prices. Indeed there was much less wasted paint. Your observations on comfort of use, easier clearing etc., were added benefits of the gravity feed airbrush.

After having an older Badger siphon feed airbrush (20+ years ago), I would totally agree with you on cleanup. I have a couple of gravity feds now and I would never go back to siphons.

another great video. thanks for the info!!

You are so right. Started long ago with a single-action Badger siphon feed. Will never go back.

I use siphon feed for chemical spray. Gun cleaning, airbrush cleaning, large area clear coating, 3d print filler primer, and so on.

Paul from NB Canada. An interesting video to say the least. One issue you didn't bring up is that the Paschee (both H and VL) come with a metal side cup to avoid the use of the jars all together. PERSONALLY i am a gravity fed user, but the Paschee is GREAT for primer and car body size and bigger. I used the VL with the cup as i was detail painting 1/350 scale ships. The single action was GREAT when it came time to spray a 1/350 Aircraft carrier at just over 3 feet long. Just some food for thought..

Top info as usual ty

siphon feed airbrushes like the Paasche H-Series also have little metal cups that make cleanup much easier. Plus, changing colors is a snap. Paint color 1, remove cup, attach bottle with thinner, blow clean, attach other cup, paint color 2. Easy peasey! Cleaning the airbrush parts themselves is tons easier with the Paasche too! I learned on an H-Series single action. I have both. They both have their plusses and minuses.

Gravity feed is the best option I always felt. Side feed is decent, Siphon is good for basing or larger work. Issue you get is the higher PSI needed for siphon vs gravity, that makes siphon feeds generally a tad more messy as you really need to spray it due to the higher psi used. Model car bodies, priming etc Siphon works out great especially with Enamels. I use gravity for everything else it's more relaxed and comfortable, saves on paint as well.

I have one iwata siphon, for cleanup I keep a few jars full of different cleaners and when I swap colors I swap to a cleaner jar first, spray for a few seconds till sprays clean then swap to next color n so on. I also bought jars that came with normal lids for storage too so i can mix up colors then store them by swapping a lid an thats all. Also the Mr hobby magnet stand actually worked for me too lol the jar slots right down into it nicely. That said i have 1 siphon and 2 gravity, but thats also cuz there's not many quality siphons out there

My Badger 200-3 has fixed cap where the jar attaches to. So I use to spray primers and larger objects.

With you 100% on this brother, gravity feed for me. I started in the hobby with a siphon feed and once I used a gravity, I never went back.....

My first air brush will be the $40 you reviewed a couple weeks ago. Looking forward to trying it out.

Great video, how do you feel about the Paasche Talon? That’s my primary brush only because it’s my first real brush. My first was the No Name portable you reviewed a while back.

I like the gravity feed better myself too, Thanks Robert for all you do.

Using a lot less paint, easy cleaning and lower air pressure are indeed on the side of gravity feed. I busted the nozzle of my Neo TRN1, so I used my old siphon feed Badger 150, but what a pain. With the Iwata HP-B+, one drop of paint may not be enough, but two are! I would need at least 10 drops with the 150, for only spraying 2!

Very cool as always,

Have a couple of siphon feeds just for hooking up stynylrez straight from the bottle. One empty bottle full of cleaner. The stynylrez have their own long tube and cap so never clean them - cap and tape. Tips I learned from your videos. Have 5 colours of primer I can hook up. The anthem body is siphon version of the patriot so requires slightly less psi. My current brushes for general use are hp-cs and sotar As the meme says - why not both!

Thank you for the information, i think i will go with the gravity feed brush . Harbor freight has a gravity brush for around $30 i plan on getting . I am new to the hobby . I plan on using a small air compressor dialed down to correct pressure , larger moisture trap , and plan to relocate my compressor from where i will be working , with several hoses from harbor freight i have purchased . If you have any warnings for me to consider , please advise . Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Agree totally, I have a very old Paashe, looks to be the model you are demonstrating with. I prefer the gravity fed, both have their benefits. 😎

I bought the Harbor Freight siphon feed kit a year or so back, and now I have that NEOECO gravity fed on the way. Haven't used either yet, but figured it would be good to mess with both. Ultimately I figure the siphon fed will be more of my primer brush, or something to base coat/speed paint a bunch of things at once.

Love my siphon feed. I keep two seperate bottles for cleaning aside. One distilled water and one 91% rubbing alcohol. My colors I leave in my bottles with the little ball bearings. Never taped the air hole but I have rubber caps on the adapter end. Im definitely stuck in my ways but works for me fine with what I do as just a fun hobby :)

Hey all - I know this is old, but I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in as a long-time siphon-user! 👋😊 So first... Yeah you did a lil too much on the "Clean-up" portion of the siphon feeds.. LOL..🤣.. But you weren't wrong. I got a Paasche VL (bottom-fed siphon) back in the late 80's as a graduation gift and thought it was just the GREATEST THING ON EARTH!!! 😍🥰😘... I don't do a ((LOT)) of airbrushing, but I have DEFINITELY have used the hell out of it over the years. I always planned to upgrade, but I use it so rarely that I just couldn't justify kicking out the extra cash for something that I've been able to get to do EVERYTHING I wanted it to. Every project I worked on - from T-Shirts to 8ft. tall murals... came out AWESOME!!! HOWEVER.... You weren't 100% off on the clean-up & bottom-fed issues - and a few bad issues you didn't mention... and a few big benefits you didn't mention as well.. So for one thing on the UPSIDE of using siphon-cups... the HUGE ADVANTAGE of it is being able to have like 4-6+ cups on the side with pre-mixed custom colors. I know a lot of people don't mix, but some of us do. If I get a color mixed EXACTLY how I want, it's a BIG HELP to be able to pop the color-cup off, set it to the side - pop on my CLEANER CUP fulla water, paint thinner- whatever... get it purged... then pop on a whole different color - let's say "Black"... add my shadows or whatever, and "OOPS" - Lemme add some more of that "Royal Purple" I mixed up! Purge the black - pop the purple back on there.. and BOOM - I'm spraying the EXACT color again in a few minutes without having to pre-mix it again and (((TRY))) to get it to look EXACTLY the same as it did before. If I add too much red - or too much blue - too much white... it WILL NOT be the same hue or tone of purple as it was in the other areas of the painting - and now you're fuqqed!! We don't use those big jars for "colors" - unless we're doing something BIG! Personally, I primarily use the big jars to add "cleaning fluid/water/whatever...." - to purge it during clean-up or between colors. Normally we just plug those color lil cups in which are only about the size of the top-segment of your thumb; so that's the BIG upside to using siphons. The only time I've ever had it spray erratically was if a lil chunk of dry paint got in the cup-stem... yeah, now that's a PAIN!! Because you don't know if the clog is in your airbrush or in the cup. Trying to flush everything and find it to clear it is a b**ch!! So yes - clean-up IS the downside of siphons, and here's the WORST CASE SCENARIO..... To be working on something - got it looking great - bump the cup with your finger and you hear the (((CLINK OF DEATH)))!!!! 🔥💀🔥 .. What's that?? ... That's your color-cup falling out - landing on your work - splashing paint everywhere - rolling off the table - landing on your pants - jumping off your pants like a gremlin and swan-diving to the floor.... leaving a trail of wonderful colors the whole way!! You literally sit there like... 😳(blink...blink.. that didn't just happen... Nope, it didn't!!) ... OHHH... BUT IT DID FINE SIR.. 🧐 OH YES, INDEED IT DID!!! Now that alone would make most people RUN from a siphon airbrush FOREVER and put them all out of business who still make them lol.. BUT... Again - this is the WORST CASE SCENARIO!! In other words, once you get used to using them - the chances of it happening are SLIM TO NONE!! It's only happened to me like 4 or 5x in all the years I've had my airbrush since 87, and I think it was only a big disaster like maybe 2x. Because if it happens ONCE, you become so acutely aware of the danger that you begin to be SUPER CAREFUL to make sure it never happens again... to a point that it becomes a non-issue. It is then relegated to the same category as DROPPING your airbrush, and NOT ONLY having the GRAVITY-FED paint splash everywhere, but also smashing the tip into the linoleum floor!! Yeah - that CAN happen right? HAS happened right? But how often?? ... it's RARE, and usually only when you're a noob - or if dropping airbrushes & color cups REALLY becomes a problem, maybe the person is just a goofball who shouldn't be around expensive equipment in the first place. lol...🤣 So there's some REAL benefits & REAL drawbacks - no matter which method you choose.. if I showed you some of my airbrushed paintings you wouldn't believe I did them with an old Paasche from 1987 with a bent needle lol. I AM finally going to upgrade now tho because I just finished using my airbrush AGAIN, and although it once again did GREAT work with no problems, I'm sick of unscrewing the air line every 10 minutes to let the water spray out! 😮‍💨 .. yeah - even the compressor is a dinosaur, and STILL rockin like it's new! lol.. But the NEW stuff has SOOOO many cool bells & whistles - (regulators, stronger air, water drains) - that I know I'm missing out. I kept thinking that each airbrush project would be my last, and yet I keep breaking out the gear at least once or twice a year for weeks on end - for almost every new project. SO.... it's finally time to step into the new millennium with some new tech! ✌😎 PS - I'm leaning towards that 360 now because I DO want the benefits of gravity-fed, but I don't wanna give up having access to big jars or multiple colors sitting on the side either. Thanks for that info, I didn't know about it before! 👊😉

I have an old paashe siphon I inherited from my father and was the first a/b I ever had. I agree the clean up was time consuming…I only use it now for priming big projects and only with water based acrylics so the clean up process is a bit easier.

I'm a lifelong artist that is new to airbrushing. After a lot (but apparently not nearly enough) of research, I decided the siphon feed would be the way to go. I got myself a spendy Harder and Steenbeck Infinity X (siphon feed). I was going nuts trying to get any regular spray from it. After watching numerous videos, I found a review from (I believe it was Art Workshop) that reviewed the H&S Infinity, and another one comparing it to the Micron and a couple other high end brushes. His verdict on the H&S was despite it being very well built , the trigger point where it starts spraying is woefully inconsistent,, which is a nightmare when you are up close trying to do some detail work... The other thing that I think is happening with siphon feed is that it takes a lot of vacuum energy to pull the paint up the tube to start the flow. When the paint is all the way up the tube then it's a lot more responsive. Still inconsistent and very frustrating to use. I'm going to get a Micron soon.

I agree for all the reasons you gave.

I end up using both styles. I 3d print models and usually have around 20+ at a time and want to get things done in batches so siphon brushes work great being able to have large bottles to prime all of the models at a single time. When it comes to the actual painting I prefer to use gravity feed when I’m doing the more detailed work. I also have started to switch back to siphon brushes when I put on varnish as again I can use the larger bottles I have to varnish dozens of models without having to refill the gravity gun. Siphon is great for larger batches of less detailed work, but agree that nothing beats gravity brushes when wanting to switch colors often and do more detailed work

I would like toention the color cups badger has fpr their siphon feed brushes. They arent as large as the jars but they offset the cup enough to be comfortable. I do hear you on clean up but i have a sink close by so i can flush the cup out with watter then run cleaner through the whole system. End of day cleaning is a bit more intensive.

I agree !!

Totally agree Robert. I have a few AB's ( all by your recommendations) and all are gravity feed. Just find the gravity feed easy to use. Hope you are not affected by the hurrican aftermath where you live, and best wishes to all who may have suffered damage down south.

Fully agree.

I have a siphon never used the gravity but I think I need one after seeing the clean up for gravity plus the lower pressure is a plus I think being able to get in close and paint a line would be awesome

me too. and it is more trouble to wash the contener. it is easier for gravity ones

Great video

I usually prefer gravity feed but for my uses my paasche siphon feed has been my main use for painting keyboards. Perfect medium for me between airbrush and spray guns.

Hey where did you get the quick disconnect stand, I could not find one on spraygunner or amazon.

Funny enough I just bought a siphon feed Paasche a few months ago but have yet to try it (not really able to find vids on siphon feeds) so I'll probably give it a go tonight

I agree with everything you said 💯

My Casubaris airbrush system arrives Wednesday!! (Was delayed due to Hurricane Ian). Wish me luck Rex!

Do you know that the Mr. Pro-Spray series and Badger 250/350 can fit their respective paint jars (Mr. Hobby & Tamiya)? I consider myself pretty casual and use these 2 siphon models. The only times I think the advantage is you can prep the paints and fit them right away, then just do some light cleaning and swap. Pretty fast and gets the job done. You'd only need to thin them up a little, so you can use the jars for paint brushing as well.

I bought the starter paasche siphon airbrush to use for priming. I was hoping they'd work better for that so I can skip spray cans for my warhammer models. I've been having a lot of issues with pro-acryl primer through gravity feed airbrushes

Where do you get the magnetic airbrush holders?

I also have both. Started out with a siphon feed, will never go back. Clean up and color changes are the deal breaker

What is the Brand of that Airbrush holder with the magnet in the base ?

I don’t like the siphon either. It usually takes too much air pressure for one but it’s also easier to be smooth with the gravity feed. I have a couple siphon feeds that I’ll spray something bigger and not high detailed. I also have a paasche vl that I use for my 2 part clear. Other than that I only use my gravity feeds.

that's how I clean my brush too..thanks to you lol:) ima gravity feed myself

I feel like siphon cups would solve most of the problems people are having with siphon feeds. Search for "harder steenbeck siphon cup" to see what I mean. Other brands make them, too. I like the angle of the HS one and unlike some cheap knock-offs the suction pipe goes all the way to the bottom. No big jar, angled to the side so it's out of the way, easy to clean, less wasted paint, easy to switch colors, etc. The jars have their uses for high volume stuff like primers, coats and cleaners. The cups are much better for small amounts of paint.

I like gravity fed just because it seems more natural for the flow and also the cleanup

I moved away from siphon feeds 20+ years ago. Probably cut my paint usage in half. Less running of the compressor, too. I still have my original Thayer & Chandler; but it doesn't really get any use, though.

Agree, I like the gravity feed.

I definitely like gravity the most.

I use gravity feed because I mostly build 1/72 airplanes and most parts only need small amounts of paint to the point I mix by drops 1 drop pain 1 drop thinner a siphon cant work with such a small amount of paint.

I like the gravity myself good information and cleaning is nice your whole video was very insightful especially for folks looking into an airbrush. 🙂Thomas over at The Model Hobbyist

I gotta call you out Rex and I’m not being a troll but a few months ago you posted a 30 minute video absolutely praising the Pasche H siphon feed. The 60$ work-horse. How great it is and how easy it is to clean and change colors using extra bottles. Now siphon airbrush bad? I don’t get it. And you conveniently failed to mention that the siphon feed airbrush also comes with a metal cup for smaller jobs. But you are absolutely 100% correct about fine detail, it’s gravity feed all the way. I use both types of airbrushes for certain applications and do find gravity feed airbrush’s harder to clean .

I agree with you wast of time cleaning the extra parts

Hello all, Same here....I prefer gravity feed airbrushes... Again..thx for the vid...u rockssss

i always wondered if i should have more than 1 airbrush....

Siphon feed is great if you spray a ton of the same color at a time. Gravity feed is better for small quantities and/or multiple colors since cleanup is so much easier.

The only thing you can go is get a adapter for what ever paint brand you use and keep them pre thinned in the jar

Ooh! Good beginner set for airbrushing gunpla.i would stand by my NoName Tooty with the 3L tank and the badger 105 set. It has worked great in the last year. I Believe I had it setup and complete for $250 on spraygunner.

Do siphons have an advantage at all??

new to this hobby & air brushing, i purchased a mini air compressor and it came with a siphon feed airbrush, is that ok to use or should i buy a decent Gravity feed airbrush ??

I'm sure you are gonna recommend gsi creos air brush lol

if i was gonna get a siphon airbrush it would be the passahce i own the plastic type and it was very easy to clean

I’m just getting into doing scale model figures and my local hobby shop sold me an anthem 155. I haven’t used it yet but seeing how much everyone seems to hate siphon airbrushes I’m wondering if I got duped :(

Didn’t your siphon feed come with a siphon cup?

zup, thanks for the video

Nice🤙

Those were basically all the reasons why I stick to gravity feed airbrushes. I'm curious what gravity feed spray guns you reccomend. I have to clear lots of beer tap handles and I'm curious which guns you prefer.

Siphon feed is very uncomfortable for me as a lefty. The easy cleanup of gravity feed is a deal breaker for sure.

Its the other way around gravity feeds suck to clean

Хороший обзор, ждем продолжения !

I prefer Gravity Air Brushes over Siphon Feed. They are much easier to use and more comfortable to hold.

Must admit, I prefer gravity feed......But, you can fit Tamiya bottles straight on to most Siphon guns.

i just twist the jar a little to one side.

Ez just poor the thinner in the jar and shake it 😂 Backwash to keep paint from dripping 👌

I started with a syphon and then went gravity and I'll never go back.

c o o l

Well, siphon feed airbrushes just suck, ya know?

6 months ago the siphon was great in a video. Today you couldnt have come up with any more excuses. There are clears, metallics that only a siphon can handle. Big coverage areas will take all day with a gravity brush. Cleaning a siphon is alot easier than your way.

I am trying to find the airbrush display stand. Where could I find one?