Trying a few airbrush cleaners out

Mike, i'm tellin' ya bubba, that mm acryl solvent will cut through 2 week old dried mm acryl paint like hot butter friend!! it smells just like "Orange Glow" floor cleaner to me but i've tried that before. it has an orangy twang to it (twang is redneck for smell)!! you can dilute it with water 50/50 and i doesn't seem to affect its cleaning power whatsoever. what ever you do, don't breath in a cloud of that crap after you flush you airbrush with it, i liked to had caughed my head off one day when i accidentally inhaled some overspray from it!!! good luck. later.

Thanks Chris.

Many of the concoctions we spray through the airbrush will do that.
I have had an asthma attack from inhaling the Medea airbrush cleaner in the air in the past and the mixture of Simple Green, Windex and water that I always mention also does that to me.

I just sprayed some MM Acryl flat black through my Badger 360 and tried the different cleaners in the color cup and none of them really cleaned the cup as well as I had expected. There was a small spot of black in the color cup that didn't want to come off with the cleaners and an old paintbrush that I use to scrub the airbrush with when I clean it.
The Acryl Cleaner did seem to be the best of the three though in that regard.
I agree with you Chris as the Acryl cleaner smells familiar but I just can't place it.
It reminds me somewhat of Windex but different. Maybe it smells like Castrol Super Clean? Hmmmm.
Gip where are you brother?
Nothing seems to beat lacquer thinner in it's cleaning ability but I was hoping for an environmentally safe product that would.

Mike

Mike.....
try de-natured alcohol.........
it's friendly to all the AB seals and gaskets.........non-toxic........leaves no film.......and i believe when last i purchased some at a U.S. local market it was a coupla bucks for a quart.....
and it cleans fresh, residual and dryed acrylic paint with little or no elbow grease.....
hope this helps ya...........

Mike, I don't know how well it would work for cleaning an airbrush, but the best thing I've found for general cleanup of non-cured acrylic is Formula 409 spray cleaner. For brushes and things like that it removes acrylic as well as anything I've found. It's water soluble so I spray a little on a brush, rub it between my fingers, and dunk it in the bucket of water I keep there.

I've tried the Createx and it doesn't seem to do much with model-type acrylics. Works great on their acrylics though.

Thanks for the input guys.

Rik,

I have used isopropyl alcohol before but it is not exactly easy on the nose.
Doess the denatured alcohol smell less?

Scott,

I have used 409 in the past for cleaning my airbrush after spraying Createx T-shirt paints and it worked fairly well, although I thought it was very similar to Windex. I think each manufacturer's cleaner does tend to clean their products better as you said but since I have been using MM Acryl I am not going to pay the outrageous price they want for the Acryl cleaner. If it comes down to that then I will just put on my dual charcoal cartridge respirator and use lacquer thinner as it is cheap by the gallon and cleans better than anything.

Mike

I use Badger's cleaner as it works well but for the tough stuff I use laquer thinner.
John

Thanks John.

I asked Ken at Badger about their acrylic cleaner for Model Master Acryl and he said that it might work but they formulated it for removing Badger's paints.
I emailed my buddy Scooter about it and he said this:

QUOTE: I haven't used the Testors Model Master Acrylic, so I can only speculate. From what you have said, I suspect that it isn't a water base paint. Acrylics can be solvent based, water based, or water borne. If lacquer thinner cuts it and the windex-simple green doesn't I think it is either solvent based or water borne. You can find out for sure by requesting MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) from Testors for the paint and for the cleaner. They are required by Federal EPA law to provide them to any user who requests them. They will show the chemicals that are involved, and from there you can determine what the make up is. You can also simply smell the cleaner (not for long,lol) and see if it smells familiar and if so, you can go find the "real" solution. It is doubtful that Testors is making a proprietary cleaner, they are probably repacking and labelling some other chemical that is commonly available. Denatured alcohol works well for some acrylics (even though it is not a solvent), and Mineral Spirits works for some. Both are still hazardous materials, but not as invasive as lacquer thinner or Acetone. Another thing you can try is nail polish remover, it is a low grade acetone with aromatics added, and will usually do a good job of cleaning up acrylic paints. Just remember, anythng you spray through an airbrush that will remove paint should not be breathed directly without a good respirator. Even the Windex and Simple Green is tough on your lungs.

He also recommended a spray-out that I have been wanting to make.
I will post it in another thread.

Mike

are you telling me that mm acryl solvent didn't satisfy your ambitions?!! man, i've always thought that stuff was the bomb when it comes to acrylics!! it removes dried acrylic paint from my resevior about like lacquer thinner does enamels. hmmm. the stuff smells very familiar to me as well. later.

Another dangerous but excellent one I have found is just plain ol' regular gasoline! It will cut through anything! Just dont use it too much, just little dabs otherwise it will eat away at glass and plastic very fast. I mix it with water and it works just as fine.

Chris,

Are you saying that the Acryl cleaner remover MM Acryl paint that well or are you talking about another acrylic?

See if you notice the same thing as me and remove the top from the Acryl cleaner bottle and smell it. Then remove the top from the Castrol Super Clean bottle and smell it. I think they smell really similar.
Is Testors using Super Clean without the purple coloring in it and charging $3.50 or more for 4 ounces?

Mike

yes, it removes mm acryl the same way as other acrylic paints. i don't have a bottle of castrol super clean friend. i do know this, MM Acryl Dried Paint Solvent will craze styrene and super clean won't right? is that the cleaner your speaking of, it comes in the same container as Airbrush Thinner that testors sells in a glass container?

Chris,

The cleaner looks like this:


Mike

thats not the one i'm talking about mike, although it may be the samething. the one i'm talking about is in the photo below. later.

Chris,

I believe that is a different product designed as it says, for removing dried paint.
Createx also make a cleaner like that to soak the airbrush parts in overnight.
If I have to go to that much trouble then I would just get the lacquer thinner out and be done with it.

Mike

i don't soak the parts friend, you can just dip a q-tip in the stuff and wipe down your whole airbrush and it will take any and all acrylic paint off instantly.

HEY,
I know this is late but i just got an airbrush and im doing a search. But would laquer thinner clean enamels too? Would it hurt the internals of the airbrush?

Randy

Randie,

Lacquer thinner is fine for cleaning an airbrush.
Just don't get it into the air valve area as it has a rubber O-ring that lacquer will attack.

Mike

HEY,
Ill have to wait until the airbrush comes in to be able to see what you are talking about but thanks for the quick answer. I figured there was a few orings in there. I may just stay away frm laquer thinner unless im doing some heavy cleaning.

Randy

Randy,

There is nothing wrong with spraying lacquer thinner through the airbrush and cleaning the color cup with it.
The only thing to not do with it is to run a pipe cleaner soaked in lacquer thinner down the needle tube of the airbrush as some people do.
This is a risk that is unnecessary and possibly harmful to the airbrush.
This is the way that the lacquer can get into the air valve. If you clean it properly it will not damage the air valve because the lacquer will not get into that area.
I have never run anything down the length of the needle tube and all of my airbrushes operate perfectly.

Mike

HEY,
Thanks for the tips mike, i really appreciate it. Do you use the same kinds of thinner to thin the paint as you do to clean the airbrush? I did a search and alot of the threads are kinda unclear as to this. Thanks again.

Randy

In some cases the thinner you use when a paint is in liquid form isn't strong enough to clean it once it has dried in the airbrush. Usually it will, but sometimes it won't. If you are spraying enamel, try mineral spirits (which is the same thing I use to thin them) for cleaning your airbrush and if that doesn't cut the paint move up to laquer thinner. Use either of those in a well ventilated area or use a resporator or something to capture the fumes; you don't want to breathe them for long.

HEY,
Ya im having a buddy of mine prder me a respirtapr for me beacuse he does finishes on furniture for a living, so he would know what kind of respirator is good. I need to get a spray booth but they are expensive and i dont really have anywhere to put it, but im gonna try anyway. What would you use the thin acrylics for painting? Thanks for the answer on enamels.

Randy

Randy,

I use Model Master Acryl paint and thin it with a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and filtered water in a 50/50 mixture.
I normally mix it in a 2:1 ratio of paint to thinner but sometimes go to 1:1 for fine lines. Straight water might even be better as the alcohol speeds up the drying process of the acrylics and they dry fast enough without the alcohol.
If you find them drying too fast then pick up a bottle of retarder at a store to slow down the drying time. They sell it at places like Michael's and other art supply places.
I then clean the airbrush with a mixture of 2 parts filtered water, 1 part Simple Green and 1 part Windex. It works as good as any commercial brand I have tried and is much cheaper.
If you have tough paint spots then just clean that up with lacquer thinner and then follow up with shooting some more of the above mentioned cleaner through it followed by filtered or distilled water.

Mike

HEY,
Thanks man. That is exactly the kind of tips im lookin for, cheap, home made "recipes"to help out with saving money but not giving up on the strenght of the product. Thanks again.

Randy