Cheaper way to Cleaning my paint brush

What kind of airbrush do you have and what kind of paints do you use?

If your airbrush is not plastic and has solvent-resistant O-rings you can use laquer thinner or mineral spirits if you use laquer or enamel paint, or if you use acrylic paints you can use MikeV's famous mixture of 2 parts distilled water, 1 part Windex, and 1 part Simple Green. Windex by itself will also work for most acrylics. With either of those I'd recommend a thorough flushing with plain water to get the ammonia out since it can darken some types of metal.

Since you are using Tamiya thinner I suspect that you are using acrylic paints. They are pretty easy to clean up. I usually keep a big 5-gallon bucket of water around and flush out my airbrush with water between colors. When I get done for the day, or if the water doesn't flush everything out, I use the special MikeV mixture mentioned above.

I'm using Tamiya acrylic paints, airbrush is Badger. Thanks, James

You're good to go then. Acrylics are easy to clean up and you don't need mineral spirits or laquer thinner unless you let the paint dry in the tip. Mike's Magic Mix or Windex will work great on Tamiya acrylics.

Good to see another ham around here to!
73's de WA4TTK

QUOTE: Originally posted by MusicCity Mike's Magic Mix

Actually, Ken at Badger told me that the above mentioned cleaner recipe was on Badger's website also. I haven't looked for it yet though.

Mike

When I spray acrylics I use a product called Airbrush Cleaner (can't get more generic than that) made by EZ Air... it is a soap based solvent with Calcium Carbonate in it. This stuff cleans the exterior as well as the interior of airbrushes, it's a lot like soap. And it's enviromentally friendly.

I wash out my bottle with water, make sure no paint residue is inside, then put about a 1:4 ratio of this cleaner to water. Spray it through my brush until clear, then remove the nozzle and let it soak overnight in the same bottle (if I am done) to remove the external coat from the tip.

you can get it at Michaels or Hobby Lobby... I think it only cost about $1.50 or so and I've been using it about 3 months without having to buy another.

For tough jobs I spray 91% isopropol then put the nozzle in the same said cleaner...

I like it because I can get any overspray off my skin with it etc a lot easier than soap and water... it also is good at dissolving dried acrylic...

the only warning is against prolonged exposure to skin.... the calcum carbnate will dry it out skin and irritate it if applied and allowed to sit without washing...

I use plain old Isopropyl alcohol from my chemist.
then I flush the brush out with clean water.
The Isopropyl smells identical to the Tamiya thinners available at my LHS and works .
It will even get rid of cured tamiya paint with a little elbow grease - it also works on Gunze - and will clean vallejo but cannot be used as a thinner.

Thanks all for the advises. Today I went to LHS to pickup some supplies, shop owner told me "Denatured Alcohol" will also do the jobs.