Solvent and airbrushes

Don Wheeler

keveuh

I read on your blog Don about that jar you had where you used to flush your airbrush in, if I understood correctly it was quite hazardous because the content of that jar would be extremly flammable. I had thought about having a similar jar to flush in but then again I'll se what I can do.

I think you may be getting your Dons confused, and I don't want Don Stauffer to get blamed for my ramblings.  I was just relating my experience in my website.  I clean with lacquer thinner, which is very flammable.  I think the other Don uses turpentine, and it is probably safer.  Mineral spirits is also less risky.  At any rate, for the sake of your lungs, I'd recommend good ventilation and a respirator.

Don Wheeler

Yes, I use turpentine.  Further, with that gadget most of the stuff goes into the jar, as opposed to spraying it just into the air.  

Yeah, I suppose I should still worry about my lungs, but so far they are in pretty good shape. I started modeling when I was seven- never took a break.  Continued modeling in college, in AF, and when starting a family.  I am 74 now and lungs and heart (after a bypass) are in great shape.

Only stuff that ever bothered me was Floquil!

Texgunner: that's certainly a very optimistic way to look at it.

I honestly have no idea about how dangerous all these fumes really are. Reading what you wrote made me think about the fact that very often when you talk about spray booth people will jump at you and say you HAVE to get an explosion proof fan... turns out that those fans certainly don't exist. On youtube for example there are videos where people made diy spray booth and they say they use bathroom fans for safety reaons and that anybody making a spray booth should get a bathroom fan too. Thing is a computer fan seems to be as bad (or as good) as a bathroom fan for a spray booth.

Anyway I also think that those measures about fumes are recommended so IF anybody gets somekind of disease because of exposure to them they cannot blame the company that makes those paints because they warned about their harmful fumes and also recommended to wear and use proper protection. And as the saying goes: better be safe than sorry.

I've sprayed enamel almost exclusively for 25 years and I've never had a spray booth or even an open window.  I must be brain dead by now, huh?  Obviously, most of you guys have not worked as professional painters.  You would be exposed to paint fumes like you wouldn't believe.  Wow, spraying clear lacquer on cabinets?  Yes, we wore respirators, you had to in that kind of fog.  But in that case you have an airless paint rig pumping out gallons of lacquer.  I've brushed alkyd enamel for 8 hours at a time, painting trim and cabinets.  All it did was make me hungry as hell; I often had to stop for a barbeque sandwich on my way home.  `

We used to have a good laugh at homeowners who would complain about latex wall paint and the "horrible" smell.  "How do you guys stand the fumes?"   We would innocently ask, "what smell?"   How could the small amount of paint that we use to paint a scale model cause much of a problem? 

Gary

You don't really need a spray booth. What you can do is open your window, and place a box fan facing outside on the window. Just spray towards the fan, it should suck the fumes out.

Oh my ! Sorry ! I have mixed the Dons and I'm sorry for it !

But back to the subject, I'll use a mask and my spray booth whenever I flush my brush with white spirit for enamels or acetone/cellulose cleaner/lwhatever lacquer thinner I find to clean lacquers.

I recieved some Tamiya thinner today x-20A and it stinks more than I thought. Smells a bit like nail polish remover which contains acetone, I don't think Tamiya's acrylic thinner is as strong as acetone though.

keveuh

I read on your blog Don about that jar you had where you used to flush your airbrush in, if I understood correctly it was quite hazardous because the content of that jar would be extremly flammable. I had thought about having a similar jar to flush in but then again I'll se what I can do.

I think you may be getting your Dons confused, and I don't want Don Stauffer to get blamed for my ramblings.  I was just relating my experience in my website.  I clean with lacquer thinner, which is very flammable.  I think the other Don uses turpentine, and it is probably safer.  Mineral spirits is also less risky.  At any rate, for the sake of your lungs, I'd recommend good ventilation and a respirator.

Don Wheeler

Well I'll see how I do, for now I must figure out how I'm gonnan make my spray booth and where I'll use it, it's tough here in the room where I have my workign bench because the window is not really well placed let's say to put a extracting hose. And in the very cold winter here having the window open just beside where I spray cannot be too good.

I read on your blog Don about that jar you had where you used to flush your airbrush in, if I understood correctly it was quite hazardous because the content of that jar would be extremly flammable. I had thought about having a similar jar to flush in but then again I'll se what I can do.

keveuh

Okay I understand now, so it's not problem flushing the airbrush with a bit of acetone after using lacquers, but I should make sure I do it in my spray booth then and wear a mask and gloves.

Thank you very much for your help.

Even for flushing, I do not use my spray booth.  I only use it for rattle-cans.  I do my airbrushing at workbench- there is so little overspray I don't think I need a booth.  I have a little "airbrush cleaning station" that I built to catch the thinner from flushing. It is a jar plus a couple of pieces of 3/4 inch PVC water pipe.  First piece goes straight up, then a forty-five degree elbow.  I used a jar with a plastic lid so I could glue pipe to lid.  I hold the nozzle of airbrush right in the opening of the pipe, most of thinner goes into jar.

Never immerse the brush itself or parts of the brush in solvents for an extended period. Flushing it out with lacquer thinners will not damage it.

Okay I understand now, so it's not problem flushing the airbrush with a bit of acetone after using lacquers, but I should make sure I do it in my spray booth then and wear a mask and gloves.

Thank you very much for your help.

The only seal in the Revolution CR's paint path is the needle seal, which is PTFE & solvent resistant;

I think the statement is related to health & safety - it's not that solvents cant be sprayed through the Revolution CR, it's just that spraying neat solvents in certain situations can be more dangerous than spraying paint / solvent mixes.

Also keep in mind that although the needle seal is solvent resistant, there are other seals such as those in the air valve that are not, so immersion in solvent isn't wise (this applies to virtually all airbrushes) as swelling & deterioration can occur.

Actually, most (if not all) of Iwata's airbrushes now come with a PTFE (Teflon) needle packing set. The Teflon needle seal is solvent resistant, so you should have no problems at all.

If you look http://www.iwata-medea.com/images/iwata-pdf/Revolution%20IM_REV2.pdf, scroll down to the parts guide. Item #5 is the Teflon needle seal.