WT* is wrong with my Iwata?

What is it doing that makes you take it all apart?

I have three Iwata brushes and don't have any problem of that type.

Nothing wrong with your Iwata. It is the information that is wrong. Let the person know that you don't appreciate the misinformation.

If you use water based paint, here is a good cleaning suggestion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BP3bUTSxsw&feature=related

Yes, I know it is not by a modeler. She is a professional who knows what she is doing.

It is unavoidable to take out the needle and give it a good swipe. One thing that makes the Iwata popular is that their needle is more durable and easy to buy locally because airbrush needle gets bent or worn out first. The other smaller or more delicate parts, such as the nozzle, O-ring and trigger assembly should stay in place under normal usage. The lady uses an Iwata, but the process is the same for all internat-mix airbrushes.

Every airbrush needs a good, thorough cleaning after extended use. The Iwata is one of the easiest to do so if you need to take everything apart. If you don't like your Iwata, send it to me. Good luck, you will like the airbrush once you find out how to handle it properly.

I'm confused now. Above he said something about someone giving you bad info but you never alluded to anyone giving you info of any kind. Am I missing something?

And I still don't know what it is that causes you to take it apart everytime you clean it. What does it do?

After every use, I remove the nozzle and needle of an airbrush and clean those parts - including the Iwata's. It's not tough to do, and if you do it, it limits the need for complete tear-downs. I don't think there is anything wrong with your AB. Perhaps you have a different expectation of what is needed to use the brush and keep it functional?

Cleaning your AB is the "work" part of the deal. The great results are the reward.

I for one have to thank keilau and scrambler8 for their posts and the link to that video. I have been doing that exact procedure recently and I felt bad about it because I had never seen anyone else recommend it. It's good to know that I may be right after all.... I have Iwata brushes as well.

The only other thing I also do is to loosen the head asembly between uses - the only time it's tight (hand tight only) is when I'm about to use it.

Rich

Well, after a good night's sleep I'm feeling *slightly* better.  What's my airbrush been doing?  I'll do a simple colour change--nothing fancy--and will end up with a rough surface on the paint or some sort of heavy blockage.  Back when I first did my airbrush procedure research I was pretty much told that for colour changes (i.e. new colour, same paint-line), running some thinner through the airbrush is sufficient, and that's what I've been doing.  The only deviation from this when doing colour changes is that sometimes I'll use laquer thinner rather than the paint's thinner, that should be better.

Why does a full breakdown seem necessary? Because often when I do a simple needle-removal type cleaning as per the videos (thanks so much btw, they're keeping me sane )  I'll STILL get problems until a complete breakdown is necessary.  One of the videos I've seen said such a breakdown is necessary about once a month, not every other time you use your airbrush.  I must be doing something wrong and I'll have to figure out what that is.

What model do you have? Is it gravity or siphon feed?

On my gravity brushes all I do is run a nearly full cup of thinner through them between colors. I only pull them all the way apart when the needle starts sticking a little and that's mainly just to lube the needle. I'll clean it while it's apart.

For siphon feed more is required between color changes. Block off the nozzle and press the trigger to clear the siphon tube into the color cup. Remove color cup, install bottle full of thinner and spray until thinner comes out clean. Remove thinner bottle and make sure siphon tube is clear and clean. Clean color cup in thinner. For a major cleaning take it apart just like you normally would.

I avoid taking my brushes apart until needed and only take the nozzle out when something clogs the AB. For the Iwata those little buggers are $30 and I don't want to risk damage or loss by constantly taking them out.

What brands of paint are you using? Drying time on some paints is much faster. Even if you're using the same mfg., are you using the same type of paint all of the time? Try using the same brand of thinner with the paint and see if that helps.

How much are you thinning your paint, and is it completely mixed in the bottle before you thin it? In some brands, the pigments tend to congeal (sp?) and may need more mixing. As another psoter asked, is your brush gravity or siphon feed. The brush type will affect the pressure that you need to get the paint out. How long are you painting at one time? I find that all paints tend to dry faster than I would like. If possible, don't leave paint sitting in the brush too long. It can start to dry on the surface and small glogs can form.

I have two Iwata's and have no problems with them, except one time when paint worked its way into one brush's trigger mechanism and made it sticky. Don't know how it happened and it only happened once. Finally, while it may not be an option for some people, if you have to paint two colors very quickly, it is better, IMO, to have two brushes with a different color in each one. It allows you to apply paint now and clean up later. I've posted this photo in another thread, but I'll do it again. I use a Harder & Steenbeck manifold that connects to my compressor. Each of my AB's has a quick connect so they can be changed easily. This way, when needed, I can have two or three colors ready to go.

What model is my brush?

    * An Iwata Eclipse HP-CS, a gravity feed, internal mix model

What paints am I using?

    * Most commonly Tamiya acrylics, ModelMaster enamels and acrylics, but also Mister Surfacer,     Future,  etc. and I've got some of the MisterKit WWI specialist paints that I'm just dying to try     out.  Yes, I have the proper thinners for all these and use them properly, although I'd love         it if somebody would simply publish a table detailing the exact working optimal thinner/paint      ratios

Scrambler, that's a hell of an impressive setup you've got in that picture.  And thanks for the help, everybody.

One of my ABs is the same model. I use it for smaller lines and German mottle, mainly stuff where I need a finer line than the CR can make.

You use your brush with similar materials to my own. A word of advice I can think of is to use the correct cleaner for the type of media you spray. For enamels and lacquers I use lacquer thinner. For acryls I use Windex. For Future especially, use Windex. The ammonia in it is the only thing I know of that will clean out the clear acrylic.

Obviously, you know to use the correct thinner for spraying. Nobody can give you the table you seek. How paint is thinned is determined by many variables and is pretty much user preference guided by what the user sees or how one desires the spray to act. If all else were the same, manufactuers often have different paint consistancies from lot to lot, even with identical colors. That being the case, the chart would be off for every bottle of paint you'd buy. Throw in the fact that as paint ages it looses different carriers to evaporation or what not and that tosses the "chart" right out the window.

A few days ago I read a post where someone refered to thinning paint a "looks about right" kind of art. I also use the same method. After a few kits and some experience you'll get the hang of it. Let us know how it goes with the cleaning.

Update:

I did a very thorough cleaning of my brush last night and found that the little brass nipple thing  fitted inside the nozzle cap had a little wad of unidentifyable gunk wedged way up inside of it, impeding paint flow.  Having cleaned it out I immediately started getting MUCH, MUCH better performance from my airbrush.  Unfortunately I can only conclude that the little hairy gunk (not unlike the clogs one gets in a drain) must be accumulated lint from cleaning with paper towels and q-tips, making future clogs inevitable.  

Any advice on how to clean my airbrush without causing more clogs? 

Something else that gets in the nozzle is little crusty chips of paint from the inside rim of the jar. Those can sneak up on you. 

Try to avoid using qtips and paper towels to clean your AB. The only thing I regularly use is my cleaning media, a 1/4" wide paint brush, and a pipette. On a rare occasion I may wipe out the color cup with a towel. If I need to wipe out the cup I'll fill the color cup with about half a cup of thinner then insert the towel and wipe out the contents. Afterward, I'll check for fuzzies and lint before putting it away.

If I need a major cleaning I'll use thinner, pipette and a pipe cleaner followed by a blast of 120 psi air from the compressor in the garage. I still havent figured out how to clean out those tiny nozzles yet. I've been using the pipette to flush thinner though them backwards but it's not very effective.

I use coffee filters as wipes when cleaning my airbrushes. They don't seem to leave any lint or little bits and they absorb very well, but you can also get lint-free cloths which should be fine. I also bought a small brush set from Micro Mark which I use in stead of pipe cleaners.

Rich