HELP!!!! Badger 155 won't spray!

Eep, never mind, I seem to have fixed it, we'll see though. Please respond to wgy this may have happened though. I took of the spray regulator (not the head though) and did a little cleaning there, and now it sprays air. We'll see about paint.

It aprays paint but barely. I still need help. It sprays at a low pressure kind of. It;s really weir. It's definitely not spraying like it normally does.

Also, the head will not come off!!! I even tried little mini pliers but it is stuck there! I can't get it off.

hm sounds like ti could be clogged... you say you can't get the head off at all???? mine is tight but not that tight... I used a pair of pliers wrapped in masking tape to loosen it the first time I cleaned it.. after that it comes off ok.. sometimes I have to bear down with the fingers but it still comes off...

check the uptake tube where the bottle inserts into... make sure THAT is not clogged or thick in paint... I notcied mine always had paint the first coule of times I used it so now I always hit the uptake tube with a thinner soaked Qtip between colors... then the dry end to get the rest...

I wouldn't try to force the tip off... might wait for Mike as he might know a better way to get it off...

---edit---

once you get it off you might want to go for the 30hr cleaning just to make sure! soak the parts in laquer thinner for 10 min then clean with qtips and toothpicks to wipe or scrape the paint out...

hmmm just thought of something... maybe your trigger isn't hitting the button for the air just right... you can remove the needle, seat the trigger on the little button and press to make sure it is releasing air, then carefully reinsert your needle... I had that happen once and that was what it was...

of course you say now that you get SOME air... wierd...

PS did you ever get the decals I sent you??

I was thinking the same thing Tom.
Are you sure the trigger is pushing down on the airvalve?
I have never had it where the head would not come off.
Did you clean it well enough? If you have dried paint in there it may take some soaking to get it off again.

Mike

Tom, yes I got the decals, thanks a lot. Those stencils will be life savers. Now, more detail, I will try to get the head off again, I only tried with little pliers that were basicaly toys. (I got them for .50$) I am pretty sure the trigger is seated properly, and am also pretty sure the problem is with the tip assembly. I do have paint in the attachment tube, and I don't know how to get it out, although I scraped most of it out with a very blunt x-acto blade. I took the tip spray regulatro off and cleaned some gunk in there, and now it sprays air and water normally, and I haven't tried with paint yet. I will tomorrow. So you guys think the problem is with paint clogging the tip? That's what i think anyway... thanks for the help.

Mike, about the head I do see a little dried paint there. How would you reccomend I go about soaking it? Tomorrow my 155 is gonna get such a cleanin it ain't gonna know what hit it, except for a vague suspicion that it was loads of lacquer thinner mineral spirits, windex and tamiya thinner.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Tankmaster7 Mike, about the head I do see a little dried paint there. How would you reccomend I go about soaking it?

The head is tight from the factory so it is necessary sometimes to use a pair of pliers on it the first time as was already mentioned by tho9900.
Just hand tighten it after that.
Is this the first time you have tried to take it apart?
If it is stuck with paint then find a shallow container and put some lacquer thinner in it and stick the head of the airbrush in it and let it soak for a while and see if it helps.
Do NOT soak the entire airbrush as you do not want lacquer in the airvalve assembly.

Mike

Cool Tanky... sorry it took so long but glad ya got them! yeah the stencils will go miles towards making the model "fill out"

as far as soaking, just use laquer thinner... it doesn't care WHAT kind of paint is in that brush. it will dissolve it... if the tip still wont come off, submerge the tip in laquer thinner for 10 minutes, spray some laquer thinner through the brush then wom distilled water... see if the tip will come off then, it might be dried paint in or around the threads causing it to be stubborn.. at the least it will allow you to spray again... I would email badger is it doesnt come off though and see what they recommend... they might say send it in vs using pliers...

I have the feeling soaking it in laquer thinner will let ya get it off though.

Mike, yeah. I've taken the needle out and most of the other things, just not the head. Tomorrow though I will soak the head in lacquer thinner, clean it out, wipe out the attachment tube, reassemble th whole think, and blast some lacquer thinner through it. That should fix the problem.

You may have gotten some dried paint / crud down in the air valve. It shouldn't happen, but it does. There are only 5 parts to the air valve, and it's easy to clean, but the parts are small and easily lost. If you need instructions on how to take it apart let me know.

Scott, instructions would be rally helpful. Thanks.

Refer to This Page for a parts list.

1) Unscrew the air valve (part 50-013) from the airbrush body. If it's tight you can CAREFULLY use pliers to unscrew it.

2) On the bottom of the air valve (where the hose screws on) there is a hole that fits an Allen wrench. Use an appropriate Allen wrench to unscrew the cap (part 50-015) (if you don't have an Allen wrench that fits you can CAREFULLY use some pliers to unscrew it. It shouldn't be very tight).

3) Once the cap is off the spring, plunger, and o-ring will come out. Clean all parts in laquer thinner **EXCEPT** the o-ring. If there is buildup on the o-ring, use something like alcohol to clean it.

4) Lube everything with airbrush lube and reassemble.

OK thanks. Right now the tip is soaking in lazquer thinner. We'll see what happens after a couple of hours.

After reading all the other posts, I might also mention that when you reassemble your brush some airbrush lube (or in this case, Vaseline) on the threads for the head will help prevent it from binding in the future. The Omni has an o-ring between the head and body and I also lube that from time to time.

OK, head came off, and various components are soaking in lacquer thinner. already thorughly scrubbed all the tip assembly parts, and quite a bit of gunk came out. I cleaned out the assembly tube with a pipe cleaner soaked in lacquer thinner. If that doesn't fix the problem I dont know what will.

I can't see how paint would get into the airvalve since the 155 has a needle bearing to stop that from happening. It can happen on gravity-feed airbrushes though if the needle is removed while there is still paint in the color cup.
That is something you never want to do with a gravity-feed.

Tanky,

For now on make sure you do a more thorough cleaning when finished with the airbrush so that this doesn't happen again.

Mike

Mike, miraculously, all this was from the first time I used it! I cleaned it pretty decent after that, but the first time I sprayed a tad of thinner through it and left it. I'm running out of lacquer thinner though. Where can I get some that doesn't come in really tine really expensive MM bottles?

Go to Walmart or a hardware store and you can buy it by the gallon for a lot less money in the long run. I don't remember what it costs but I think it is around $7 a gallon or thereabouts. If that is too much thinner to buy then get a quart of it and pour it into the container the MM came in.

Mike

yeah Tanky - it runs about 3 dollars a quart at wal mart... and a quart should last ya awhile..

make sure you backflush, and when through spraying for the evening wipe down the needle... every so often pull back the needle about 1/3 and take off the tip and inspect it... see if it is getting buildup in it.. 10 min in laquer thinner will take care of that if there is...