Effective Acrylic Paint remover, Windex vs Ajax

Windex cleans Tamiya acrylics extremely well. But its ammonia isn't too good for airbrushes. Ammonia isn't an ingredient of Ajax. I'll try it.

The active component seems to be ammonia.

Is that bad for the airbrush?

Johan, apparently it's fine to spray thru quickly, and I think windex is only a small proportion of ammonia.  I found this quote:

Do NOT use any cleaning solution with ammonia in it.

Ammonia is a great cleaning solvent for water based paints, however, ammonia doesn't like brass or chrome.  This means an icky green substance will build up inside your airbrush (brass core) and the exterior chrome plating will peel off.

at:

www.airbrushguru.com/cleaning-your-airbrush.html

hope it helps.

According to Colgate, Ajax All-purpose Cleaner doesn't contain ammonia. Is this what you bought?

Hi,

Thank you for your help and clarification guys!

I am afraid that the product does contain ammonia.

Luckily I can see no sign of corrosion on the bare brass parts in the AB.

I will give the all purpose a go to but I guess that there is nothing like a free ride anywhere...

Best Regards

Johan

Just use denatured alcohol (AKA methylated spirits in some locales). No corrosive effects on metals and it just rips acrylic paints off faster than you can blink.

I was wondering if denatured alcohol would be okay to use. Good thing I have some. I had been using Windex myself to clean my airbrushes and never knew it wasn't good for that.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I've read somewhere that denatured alcohol fumes are extremely toxic and damage brain cells. I once used denatured alcohol but couldn't stand its smell.

Chrisk-k

Correct me if I'm wrong. I've read somewhere that denatured alcohol fumes are extremely toxic and damage brain cells. I once used denatured alcohol but couldn't stand its smell.

Denatured alcohol is basically ethanol (albeit in a higher concentration), which is the same type of alcohol in beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages, to which other chemicals are added to render it undrinkable. At one time, Methanol (methyl alcohol) was added as a denaturant (hence the name "methylated spirits). Methanol is extremely toxic. Use of methanol as a denaturant is declining in favour of other chemicals, but it is still used by some manufacturers.

On the other hand, Isopropyl alcohol, which is used as the base for many acrylic paints, is more toxic than ethanol, but less so than methanol.

Inhaling the vapours is far less hazardous than actually drinking it. Assuming you use adequate ventilation, it shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for the clarification!  

The CEO of Badger has written a note that shooting ammonia-based solvent does not damage Badger ABs at all. So, I guess using Windex to clean ABs is fine.  

Click the link to see the CEO's note.

http://wgconsortium.blogspot.com/2013/02/windexammonia-bad-for-airbrushes.html