airbrush cleaning

First of all, a warm and big welcome to the FSM community. I have no doubt you will have lots of fun discussing the hobby on here and pick up a tip or two while you're at it

Before you go and buy an ultrasound machine (it does help though as i have been told) there are some tips that will help you keep your airbrush clean and in tip top shape

First of all you will need some items that will help you get into all the corners and hard to reach places. Get yourself some denture cleaning brushes and/ or pipe cleaners. they will get into places a normal q-tip will never. The q-tips will be neccessary though too. Lastly some sparingly applied vaseline or beeswax on the threads of the airbrush and needle will help too.

Furthermore, the kind of cleaning agent i use myself depends on the medium. In case of acrylic paints i always have a cup with water next to me with a good splash of 96% alcohol in it. You should be able to get a bottle at places like rite aid. In case of enamel paints i use mineral spirits to clean stuff up. 

As a rule of thumb you will want to use the thinning agent you use while painting for cleaning as well. If it thins the paint it will clean it as well

Starting out airbrushing i found this next page over at IPMS Stockholm very enlightening. Pictures ay more than a thousand words:

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2005/03/stuff_eng_tech_airbrush_cleaning_2.htm

Though it is a pretty boring subject and a chore that can be tedious to some it is vital to have a good, clean airbrush. Not having a clean brush will cause you a multitude of possible/ probable problems while painting and will decrease the life of your airbrush.

Hope this helps you along further!

Richard

Good advice there from Kermit.

Something I've found works for me, generic lacquer thinner will clean any medium I use in my AB. For some reason I still use Windex for Future but for everything else it's lac thinner. Easy.

My new favorite cleaner for my airbrush is Simple Green.  I mix with water then spray it through my airbrush.  Then when I take my airbrush apart I clean it again with Simple Green.  

I would clean with lacquer thinner though to get rid of the dried paint in your airbrush as mentioned above. Don't know if Simple Green would take care of that.

Brian

I use Model Master Acryls almost exclusively, so for an airbrush cleaner I use Windex With Ammonia.  You can buy a nice big bottle of generic windex with ammonia for cheap, and it lasts forever.  On occasion mine will get a bit of buildup too, so in that case I'll drip a little lacquer thinner through it til it's clean again.

Hey guys.  Thanks for all of the great advice.  I remembered that I had a container with Simple Green in it.  I use it to strip the paint off of pewter minis.  I decided to soak my airbrush in it for a few hours and low and behold the paint wiped off.  I then ran some through the airbrush for good measure.  It seems to have worked pretty well.  I did notice a lot of bubbles coming from the threads and will spread a little Vaciline on them.  Thanks for that tip.  If you have any other please post them. :)

dirkpitt77

I use Model Master Acryls almost exclusively, so for an airbrush cleaner I use Windex With Ammonia.  You can buy a nice big bottle of generic windex with ammonia for cheap, and it lasts forever.  On occasion mine will get a bit of buildup too, so in that case I'll drip a little lacquer thinner through it til it's clean again.

dirkpitt77:  you may already know since you've been using windex all along, but be very careful with letting ammonia sit in your AB.  ammonia has the ability to etch brass, a large component of most airbrushes, and can ruin it if not careful.  I too use it for future, acrylics, etc but always run a cup full of clean water afterwards.

A good brew for cleaning up after spraying Acrylics is 1/3 Simple Green + 1/3 Windex + 1/3 Distilled water.  It is what I use in both my Badgers.  I believe Badger recommends their cleaning solution to be used only with their paints.

I've tried thier cleaning solution and it doesn't clean anything that I'm currently using.  So, you may be correct that it is specific for thier own line of paints.  Thank you everyone for the wonderful information you've shared with me.

AceHawkDriver

dirkpitt77:

I use Model Master Acryls almost exclusively, so for an airbrush cleaner I use Windex With Ammonia.  You can buy a nice big bottle of generic windex with ammonia for cheap, and it lasts forever.  On occasion mine will get a bit of buildup too, so in that case I'll drip a little lacquer thinner through it til it's clean again.

 

dirkpitt77:  you may already know since you've been using windex all along, but be very careful with letting ammonia sit in your AB.  ammonia has the ability to etch brass, a large component of most airbrushes, and can ruin it if not careful.  I too use it for future, acrylics, etc but always run a cup full of clean water afterwards.

I use Windex too and didn't know this - thanks for the heads up.  I'll be sure to flush out thoroughly with water after the Windex.

Chris.

That is a good thing to know about Ammonia and Brass.  I had no idea.  I took a look at Simple Green last night and didn't see Ammonia on the label.  Any idea what is in this stuff and what effect it will have on Metal and brass parts?

About 15 years ago the MTA used Simple Green to clean the ceiling in Grand Central Terminal.  It removed 90 years of soot, smoke, grime, etc., and didn't harm the mural of the Zodiac on the ceiling.  I doubt it will harm your airbrush!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Terminal#Ceiling

-Dan

Windex is a perfectly good cleaner for airbrushes, What you shouldn't do is leave it to soak overnight in the stuff. Clean it up, rinse well with water, I use distilled, and you'll be fine.

kirk4010

A good brew for cleaning up after spraying Acrylics is 1/3 Simple Green + 1/3 Windex + 1/3 Distilled water.  It is what I use in both my Badgers.

I believe I posted that mix on here way back in '03 or '04. Works good huh?

when i spray acrylics i clean with alcohol then wipe the cup down then spray some more alcohol. i let the needle sit in alcohol while i rip the AB apart and clean with again alcohol and use cleaning brushes. reassemble it then spray some more alcohol. my AB sat for month with no sticking. 

i clean the same way when using enamels. i just used enamel thinner to clean it.

Some of the answers on this thread makes me wonder.... Do you guys just spray alcohol through your AB to clean it without taking it apart and properly clean it everytime?

I mean, isn't that the highway to hardened paint and all related nasty stuff in the long run?

Could be me overzealous but each and everytime i use my AB i take it apart and clean thoroughly. Sometimes after a quickie sprayjob i spend more time cleaning than spraying...

Richard

kermit

Some of the answers on this thread makes me wonder.... Do you guys just spray alcohol through your AB to clean it without taking it apart and properly clean it everytime?

Yes that is what I do. I take it apart about every 4th or 5th time of use. Other times I will just spray out well and then remove the needle and tip and put them in the ultrasonic cleaner and then lube the needle with Badger Needle Juice and reinstall it.

I mean, isn't that the highway to hardened paint and all related nasty stuff in the long run?

If you do it right and back flush there is no problem.

Could be me overzealous but each and everytime i use my AB i take it apart and clean thoroughly. Sometimes after a quickie sprayjob i spend more time cleaning than spraying...

If you want to do that then go for it but I choose not to for the same reason Ken Schlotfeldt doesn't recommend disassembling it each time......bigger chance of damaging the needle, tip, etc.

AceHawkDriver

 

 

 

dirkpitt77:  you may already know since you've been using windex all along, but be very careful with letting ammonia sit in your AB.  ammonia has the ability to etch brass, a large component of most airbrushes, and can ruin it if not careful.  I too use it for future, acrylics, etc but always run a cup full of clean water afterwards.

Some say that but I would take it with a grain of salt. Airbrushes have been used for many years with ammonia cleaners and it never hindered the airbrush whatsoever. Exercise caution of course but don't worry about it as Windex is not that harsh. Besides the airbrush is chrome hardened which protects it.

i rip it apart and do a deep clean after each use. no matter if its acrylic or enamel. take care of your tools and they will take care of you. 

kermit

Could be me overzealous but each and everytime i use my AB i take it apart and clean thoroughly. Sometimes after a quickie sprayjob i spend more time cleaning than spraying...

Richard

Yes, I am afraid that you may be overzealous. But it depends on your airbrush. You want the airbrush in clean condition and works well all the time, but you do not want to take all the fun out of modeling. Yes, it will make you using the airbrush a lot less if you HAVE to take it apart everytime.

Mike already gave you the answer in the previous post. I just want to echo what Mike said. I do not find taking the whole airbrush apart each time necessary. (Well, I used to have to do that with my Paasche H, but have not been since I switch to the Iwata HP-CS.) This should be true for most name brand, internal mix, double action, gravity feed airbrushes.

I spray clean and then backfluch my airbrush in between colors. At the end of the day before I put the airbrush away, I take out the needle to wipe it clean. I also clean the nozzle with an "airbrush cleaning brush kit" like this:

Here is an airbrush cleaning video that I like the best.