Mineral Spirits Question - Help please!

I use lacquer thinner. Turpentine is a funny substance and is not the same as mineral spirits. Mineral spirits are Paint thinner, in fact that's typically what I find on the can. Very oily though and takes time to get it all cleaned off. For cleaning, lacquer thinner or mek or acetone is what I use IMO.

Ted

I'm a bit confused - are you saying that all paint thinners are mineral spirits? - so I just want a can of paint thinner - but there are so many different kinds of paint thinner, I don't know which one I need!

Here's the brands I use. http://www.kleanstrip.com/thinners.htm

The can I have on my shelf says Paint thinner, than under that it says Mineral spirits in smaller letters. Same blue and gold can though.

Hope this helps.

Ted

Mineral spirits are organic solvents derived from the petroleum distillation process. They are typically long chain hydrocarbons. They are excellent for thinning enamels, cleaning airbrushes after using enamels, and enamel or even oil washes.

Lacquer thinners are also organic solvents but are more severely refined products; they may contain xylene, toluene, and other similar solvents. These materials are typically ring-based (ie, benzene) organic structures. They are "hotter" than mineral spirits. Use this thinner for lacquers, but also for cleaning out your airbrush.

Acrylic thinners also use organic solvents, but the key is that they are water soluble. Materials include isopropyl alcohol, and (I suspect) some glycol ethers. Use these thinners for spraying, washing, and cleaning your airbrush after using acrylics. You may also use rubbing alcohol (70% isopropyl), windshield washer fluid (methanol), and even tap water with a drop of dishwashing liquid as acrylic thinners. My advice would be to use the recommended manufacturers' acrylic thinners first (if you can get it), and then experiment with the other stuff to see what works best for you.

Hope this helps a little
Gip Winecoff

I don't know the label comparisons for the chemicals and the alternatives you mentioned, but I'll add a little to the airbrush cleaning part... Everything on the airbrush can be cleaned with lacquer thinner, but I believe some people have experienced it destroying rubber rings. I have not let the Iwata's rubber rings touch lacquer thinner. Recently, I have repeatedly wound up with a lot of Turpentine substitute on the o-rings though. It happens while spraying the thinner back into the can. TurpAtine is what it's called, and it hasn't done any damage to the rubber rings yet. I don't know what country you're in, so I'm hoping it will be easy to get a few extra rubber rings so you can test them in the chemicals you want to do airbrush cleaning with.

What styrene said.

I will just add that by "hotter", styrene means that lacquer thinner will attack paint and plastic more aggressively than mineral spirits. It also evaporates more quickly. That's why it is so good for cleaning purposes. That's also why its so BAD to breathe.

When I use enamels or auto lacquers, I run a small amount of lacquer thinner through my airbrush after spraying to clean out the paint. Every so often I also use a cheap ultrasonic unit to clean the airbrush parts. I put the parts in a small jar full of lacquer thinner, then put that jar in the water bath of the ultrasonic unit. In a minute or so the parts are as clean as the day I bought the airbrush. I find it does a better job of cleaning paintbrushes as well.

I use Testors airbrush thinner to thin while airbrushing. I use Mineral Spirits to thin bottle paints and artists oils that I brush paint.

I will have to go to my DIY store and look at various paint thinners I think. Were you refering to the same thing when you talked about the o-ring and the rubber ring jdavidb?

Do you find that Turpentine or Turpentine substitute is enough to clean the airbrush? I also get the impression that it is enough to use only mineral spirits or lacquer thinner on their own to clean the airbrush? I ask these questions because I read an airbrush article on this website (the abc's of airbrushing I think) that says to clean your airbrush after spraying enamels that you should initially spray mineral spirits through the brush, and then disassemble the brush and clean with lacquer thinners

QUOTE: Were you refering to the same thing when you talked about the o-ring and the rubber ring jdavidb?

The rubber one is the only one I'm talking about being cautious with. Teflon is the other kind of o-ring which might be inside your airbrush. Teflon won't get damaged by these thinners.

QUOTE: Do you find that Turpentine or Turpentine substitute is enough to clean the airbrush?

I haven't used real Turpentine, but Klean Strip Turpatine does great. With mineral spirits, I had to rub parts with brushes or q-tips a lot more to clean them. With Turpatine, I just kinda swish around with a nylon brush for a second and it's clean.

QUOTE: ...clean your airbrush after spraying enamels that you should initially spray mineral spirits through the brush, and then disassemble the brush and clean with lacquer thinners

Spraying through the assembled airbrush first helps because it cuts down on how much paint is still in there when you break it down for a full cleanup. I do that spray through with Turpatine just because it's much more powerful than mineral spirits.

Could you tell me which ring is the rubber one, as the site where I bought my airbrush from (dixieart) just lists everthing as o-rings? (Its an Iwata HP-CS) My airbrush hasn't arrived yet, which is why I don't know which is the rubber ring by the way!

Numbers 5 and 6 on the parts schematic are rubber. They're on the outside of the airbrush... http://www.dixieart.com/Eclipse_Schematic.html They have different slots in the parts purchase section, but they're both the same... 94 I6051 Wow they charge $4 each for those. That's to much. If I ever ruin mine, I probably won't replace them.

Thanks for the advice. Do you use the Iwata 'super lube' that dixieart sell in your airbrush - is it necessary to buy some or a similar product?

no I don't use lube. I don't know if it would make a difference either since I haven't used it before. I like the trigger how it is.

QUOTE: Originally posted by bezics Could you tell me which ring is the rubber one, as the site where I bought my airbrush from (dixieart) just lists everthing as o-rings? (Its an Iwata HP-CS) My airbrush hasn't arrived yet, which is why I don't know which is the rubber ring by the way!

If I may chime in.
The only rubber O-ring is the one in the airvalve and there should never be any reason to get thinner in that area...period! The people that ruin that O-ring usually do it by two bad cleaning procedures which I recommend you not do to an airbrush.
One is soaking the entire airbrush in lacquer thinner or other caustic substances.
This will cause that O-ring to swell and possibly crack over time.
The second bad thing to do is to disassemble the airbrush and run a pipe cleaner soaked in thinner down the needle tube. There should be no reason to do this unless you messed up and got paint in there somehow by accident. If you have to soak the airbrush overnight then either remove the airvalve assembly and soak the entire airbrush, or submerge just the body of the airbrush with the airvalve pointing up out of the thinner so as not to get the airvalve wet.

I also highly recommend Medea Super Lube or Badger Needle Juice as they smooth the action of the airbrush and help keep paint from drying on the needle.
I even put some on my finger and smear it around inside the color cup to lessen the paint's ability to dry to the inside of the cup. This makes it a little easier to clean.
I believe these lube products may contain Teflon and that is what causes them to work so well.

I hope this helps.

Mike

Mike, I actually do the pipe cleaner thing once a month or so depending on how often I've been using my airbrush lately. However, based on one of your good suggestions, I invert the body of the brush so that the cup is down and the oring is up. I don't really know if this is a terrible thing to do, but I find that I do get a small amount of paint when I do it. I assume that's caused by me not having the trigger all the way forward every once in a while when I let off of the air.

He's talking about all areas behind where the paint enters the airbrush. That's all area that shouldn't need cleaning with thinner. If it does, those bits which can contact the needle are all removable and can be cleaned piece by piece.

In the Iwata Eclipse, the body behind this area is mostly wide, which means no contact with the needle except for only a little tube probably 1 cm long behind the color cup. That area might rarely need a nylon brush with thinner put through it. I'm sure this is a body which will never need to be soaked.

Thanks for everyone's help. I think I'm a bit clearer on this issue now