how do you guys handle swapping colors in the airbrush

Thanks for all the great advice guys!

Just a last minute thouight, I keep my needle bearings adjusted a bit on the tighter side, to prevent flow back while painting or cleaning. I see zero evidence of residue getting back into the aft portion of the AB, the bearing internals stay clean. When I have the AB body cavity clean I push the needle forward, then clean it off.

Just about any method that actually does get the AB cleaned between colors is fine, many options. As to damaging parts by dis-assembly, by using care they are very durable bits. Some of mine are decades old, original parts, still work as new.

No such thing as overkill. You'll figure out what is best for you.

First time you ressurrect an A/B that was put away with paint in it, you'll become a cleaning freak.

Thanks so much for your reply guys! Ive become pretty quick, but the more you mess with the parts, the more chance of dmg or loss. So glad to hear your method.

Just as an fyi..my strip down:

Dump excess back in container

Unscrew back

Loosen needle nut & pull needle out (i dont like stickin paper towel in cup w/needle there. Afraid im gonna bend it)

Then i unscrew the tip the needle inserts into and immediately shoot some cleaner thru. Clean with the floss stick thing.

Clean cup and use floss stick in the hole at end of cup

Immediately put back that small piece needle screws into back cause its so easy to lose.

Clean needle, insert

Clean tip with qtipn screw on

Fill with a few drops of cleaner...spray & backfeed. Sometimes ill go up really high on pressure if i feel it needs extra cleaning

Repeat with water

So yea i guess some overkill haha. Still looks brand new tho lol. 

Thanks for the tips guys!

Exo ...you don't have tare down the airbrush every time you change  color's. 

Here's how I do it ,,,, first ..if I was planning on painting one or two colors I'd start out with the lightest to the darkest of the shades im painting. Say ..white then black afterwards. .after Im done with the white all that's need is to flush out with the thinner of choice till its clear ..then load up on the black ..after your ab is empty fill with thinner and place your finger tip against the tip back flushing ..then flush out the rest with more thinner. Wipe clean the cup ..I use a paper towel dipped in thinner . It's ready for next time ..once a month I'll take apart my airbrushes and give them a thorough cleaning with lacquer thinner ..but it's not necessary to dismantle you AB for every color change. .as long you thoroughly flush and back flush on till it sprays clear your fine ..oh yea sometimes I'll leave a drop or two of thinner in the cup .this will help against if there's anything between the needle and tip from sticking to each other. 

5-high 

Mines gravity, much prefer to my old siphon.

I wipe out the cup with thinner soaked paper towel, pull the needle and wipe it, get down in the body where the needle runs through the cup and swab that out with a thinner soaked Q tip, put the needle back in, runner thinner through it including backflushing, good to go.

I do a full strip and clean if I'm switching enamel/ acrylic and vice versa. I've created some interesting compounds in the past.

A trick I did when I was building airplane models, or armor. Get out a pile of kits and go through them painting all the parts on the sprues, color by color. Flat black, rubber, interior green, silver. That can speed things up later.

Ships, not so much but there's not a lot of different colors.

Haze Gray all the way...

With my siphon feed AB's I remove the front bits, withdraw the needle enough to still fill the bearing center, then use syringe to spray thinner into the body cavity, using an interdental brush to ensure all paint reidue is removed. Also clean the siphon feed intake port.

Gravity feed AB's are another matter, much easier to rinse clean. I remove the front bits, needle withdrawn a bit, then with sryinge spray downward through the cup, also from the front into the interior, using interdental brush for ensured full cleaning.

Maybe overkill, but prior to doing this I did find spotty color interruptions once in a while. Paint can hide in many little places, full cleaning only takes perhaps 4-5 minutes, I think well worth the time.

But I'm old and retired, plenty of spare time.

Patrick 

If spraying similar colors, I remove the paint cup, rinse it out with thinner, swab out the pick up tube, airbrush cup socket and paint tip, then flush with about a half paint cup of thinner.  For colors like metallics, white then red or vice versa, I completely strip the airbrush.  You should always strip and clean your airbrush when done at the end of the day.

Awesome. Thanks for your reply!

I just spray a few cc's of the appropriate thinner through the AB and go on to the next color.  No problems at all with this.