will lacquer thinner kill an airbrush?

Yep, but it was never left in the AB, soaked or otherwise. Just cleaned then flushed with distilled water.

But lesson learnet, I only use laquer thinners know.

Yea!    Back in after being unable to log in ...

damouav

If it's not removed from the AB it can remove the chrome... I had been using a home made AB cleaner that consisted of distilled water and windscreen cleaner and noticed that the chrome in the cup on my Iwata had been "dissolved".

if you used Windex or similar window cleaner that contains ammonia in your home brew, that is what ate your chrome and brass.    Ammonia, even a dilute mix, is a caustic base pH and will in time affect metal surface.   Don’t leave your airbrush parts soaking in Windex or ammonia

Windex/ammonia is a good tool for cleaning acrylic paints. Better before they cure completely. 

No, but blow it all out.

Lacquer Thinner will disolve any dried paint, acrylic, enamel, lacquer and will leave your AB clean. As mentioned do not soak specially the back parts where the needle bearing and air valve are located. I use dental miniature round brushes that have a mint green handle (from Target). They snake right into the paint passage and into the tip loosening any paint in there. I then fill the cup with LT and spray at 40 psi wide open to blow out any junk.

If it's not removed from the AB it can remove the chrome... I had been using a home made AB cleaner that consisted of distilled water and windscreen cleaner and noticed that the chrome in the cup on my Iwata had been "dissolved".

I use either water or, in the majority of cases laquer thinners which, as already pointed out, removes residue and evaporates quickly.

There was an Aztec brush made a number of years ago that some people reported problems after cleaning with lacquer thinner.  With one exception, that is the only brush that I have heard of having problems.

The one exception is cleaning the air valve, which I do not clean in normal cleaning.  I had a sticky air valve on my Badger and tried to clean it with lacquer thinner.  Didnt work- ruined it.  A new air valve put it back in operation (and I probably would have needed an air valve in any case.

Awesome, thanks all. It's definitely my preferred go to cleaner since it's the hottest solvent, and it's a must use for mr. surfacer and the tamiya primers.  I thought I'd read somewhere a while back that it could be hard on the airbrush, but I bet that was in reference to soaking as well. 

Funny I just read earlier today that ammonia based products are hard on airbrushes, has anyone ever heard that one before?  I know I've used windex to clean up after spraying Future/Pledge and never had any issues...  So maybe that's inaccurate as well?

Same as the above, I've used it for cleaning airbrushes for decades, using Iwata, Paasche and Badger brands. Have experienced zero issues with it so far, but do agree with Stikpusher, I don't leave anything soaking for any length of time.

I’ve been using lacquer thinner for many years in my various airbrushes with no apparent ill effects. I use it as both a thinner and a cleaner at the end of a session. I think that it evaporates too quickly to harm the soft parts. Now if you were to leave those items soaking in the stuff, such as in a sealed jar, that may cause problems...

I'm no expert in this (or anything else) but have been using lacquer thinner as my primary airbrush cleaner for over a decade without any issues. I use it because it cleans everything and does it well.