This article appeared in the new German airbrush magazine ate about manufacturing airbrushes as we are with using them.
“Step by Step” published by a friend of mine Roger Hassler and His sister Anke Mattiessen will be running the US operation for
his wife. I asked Roger’s permission to reprint it here in Air- Jens marketing his airbrushes here in North America; it was
brush Technique as it’s a look at manufacturing airbrushes we Anke who translated the article from German to English for me.
as airbrush artist rarely get to see. I also know the owner of I hope you enjoy the peek inside the manufacturing of Harder
Harder, Steenbeck airbrush company, Jens Mattiessen, he vis- Steenbeck airbrushes this article provides.
ited me here in Florida several months ago, I found him to be You can check out Rogers great magazine at www.airbrush-
very passionate about what he does. He is ever bit as passion- magazin.de.
Needle, nozzle and company: third of all the parts that makes up an airbrush. Not without rea-
Do you realize how many parts there are in an airbrush instru- son does the manufacture of airbrushes fall into the specialized
ment? Many beginning air brushers already feel overwhelmed field of precision engineering.
when they see the pile of parts in front of them while cleaning “Airbrush Step by Step” looked over the shoulders of the “Hard-
the airbrush. They believe they have dissected their airbrush er & Steenbeck” staff in Germany and learned how a ready- to-
down to the last part. However, what you see is only about one use airbrush evolves from 10 ft long metal rods.
The # 1 raw material for Airbrushes: Brass
Everything begins with 10 feet long, massive metal rods, an alloy consisting of
brass, aluminum, stainless steel and copper nickel. 90% of the airbrush instru-
ment is made from these materials and is manufactured directly at the factory.
A small number of minor parts such as rubber seals and rings, plastic handles,
packaging are purchased elsewhere. The metals are produced in Germany
and the Harder & Steenbeck has had best success with them.
Brass is the most used metal in the production of airbrushes. The bodies and
the paint cups are made from it. The sensitive needle are made from stainless
steel because it does not rust. For the nozzle copper/nickel is used. This cop-
per/nickel and zinc alloy is known to be very hard and is – just like brass- cor-
rosion resistant. The quick connect is made from Aluminum
Four machines for 1800 parts
The same machine makes all parts of the airbrush; a total of four machines
are putting out 1800 different parts for the entire production line. The mod-
ern CNC lathes are programmed according to the type of part to be made.
Each part is then produced for a period of one to four weeks, depending on the
amount needed. The parts are then stock piled until enough parts are made for
approximately 6 months of production.
Up to ten metal rods can be placed into the machine, then, one after the other
they are machined based on the computer program. One load of rods lasts
about 12 hours. The machine drills and mills the end of the rods until the de-
sired shape has been accomplished. Only then it is separated from the rest of
the rod and is released by the machine as the finished part. Airbrush bodies,
nozzle parts, cups, needle, levers, quick connects and the many little connect-
ing parts necessary for the airbrush to function are made that way.
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