Whats your airbrush clean up ritual?

Badger make Regdab and Iwata's Medea division sells Super Lube. Available through online stores such as Bear Air and Dixie Art. Your LHS may stock them, or can order them for you. I've heard glycerin will work as well, and that's found at your local drug store.

I didn't know about lubing the needle. I find sometimes for the first few seconds the needle catches a little as it pulls back.

What are good things to lube with?

Since I use acrylics I follow the same rituals as provided above (Windex, back flush, distilled water) though I pull the needle every time and put a dab of Medea Super Lube on the front half of the needle. I use an old 1 gallon Crisco oil container and stuff it full of old, shredded furnace filter. Then I cut an "X" shape into the side about halfway up. I can easily stick the tip of the AB in and spray out left over paint, windex and distilled water into it. I leave the top off to vent off the extra air. The filter catches any paint particles and I find that the alcohol in the Windex helps evaporate out the liquid.

I understand what you're saying, and that's why I have invested in a dedicated spray booth as well as an ultrasonic cleaner.  Here's my clean up rituals:

when I am spraying one color after another -- gravity fed brushes

-- dilute remainder of color, pour out.  Dip the brush in a small bucket of water I keep near my booth.  Spray color cup of water/Windex, "backwash", I may spin off the chuck and wipe off the needle if I'm going to be spraying drastically different colors.  Similar colors, not as big of deal.

time: 2-3 minutes max.  If I want to only spray a couple of colors, I usually have a couple of brushes primed and ready.

when I'm spraying one color after another -- side feed

-- pretty much the same, except I tipped the brush on its side, and use my squeeze applicators directly in the brush itself.  time is actually faster with this type of brush.

when I cleaning up for short time -- taking a break

-- pretty much the same process, except a more thorough cleaning of the cup, disassemble the brush, wipe down the needle in the interior.  If I've been spraying for a long time, I might spin the nozzle off and clean it out (iwata's have pretty small nozzles, so I don't do this all the time)

time: 5-10 minutes

when I'm going to hack things up, or periodic deep cleaning of my brushes

-- I use an ultrasonic cleaner.  The kind you use for jewelry.  Handy to get old crap off your brush.  I disassemble it, put it in, run it through.  Use some lacquer thinner for anything caked on.  Thoroughly clean the nozzle.

time: 15 plus minutes per brush easy.  I don't do this one a lot, or try to avoid it.  I'd rather be spraying!

as foreign extractor, have you thought of just putting a fan in front of your open window?

 

I use Tamiya Acrylics exclusively.  So....

1. Carry the airbrush and compressor (still connected to the air hose) to the bathroom sink.
2. Pour out any remaining paint in the paint cup down the drain.
3. Turn on the compressor, put my finger tightly over the tip of the airbrush, push the trigger and pull it all the way back and let 'er rip.  This backflushes most of the paint out of the paint brush and siphon tube (making sure to hold everything upside down and low in the sink as the paint will splutter back into the cup and just flow into the sink.
4. Fill the paint cup with water and spray the water for a bit through the airbrush into the sink.
5. Put some windex into the paint cup and flow that through for a bit. (The amonia totally breaks up and disolves the acrylic paint)
6. Disconnect the the airbrush from the airhose and close the sink stopper
7. Remove the back of the airbrush and the other parts that don't require cleaning and put them off to the side.
8. Remove the paint cup, needle, and the various tip parts and spritz them with windex as I set them in the sink.
9. Thoroughly spray all the bits with windex, rubbing it gently along the needle and other parts with my fingers.
10. Spray the cup and siphon tube innards with a liberal amound of Windex. 
11. Spray the airbrush main assembley with Windex as well, both where the paint goes into the brush, and where it comes out.
12. Rinse each piece thoroughly with water with the sink plug open just a crack so water can drain but the parts won't go down the drain (yes, I've had to fish an Airbrush part out of the p-trap.... )
13. Shake or flick the parts to get as much water off as I can and set them on a nice, clean towel to dry.
14. Shortly thereafter I reassembly the airbrush, hook it up to the compressor and blow lots of air through everthing to blow out any remaining water.

That whole process only takes about 5 minutes or so now that I have the hang of it.

My routine is pretty much on par with the other guys here.  The only difference is I use Badgers *Over-spray Cleaning Chamber.  It is essentially a thick plastic bottle container with a hole in the lid to accept the airbrush nozzle.  Inside you just stuff a regular sized paper-towel that soaks up the wet spray and doubles as a filter for the fumes.  It's cheap and available at www.baderairbrush.com or at well stocked hobby shops. 

This is my clean up routine when I'm done for the day having used enamels:  This usually takes me approx. 5-10 min. on average and I take my time to get the airbruah clean.  There's no reason to skimp and be hasty on the "end of the day" clean up.  For cleaning in between colors, I perform steps 1 through 3 for all my airbrushes to include; Iwata gravity feed HP-CR, bottom feed HP-BCS, Paasche-H, Badger 150 and Anthem 155.  For acrylics, (Tamiya, Gunze, Polly Scale, Revell, Xtracrylix) I use Windex for the cleaner instead of laquer thinner. 

1. Dump out any paint in the color cup/ bottle into a waste paint can (Never down the drain or pitch it out in the lawn!)

2. Fill the color cup/or bottle with laquer thinner and use a Q-tip to swab the inside of the cup or bottle to disolve any dried paint.  Spray out into my cleaning chamber until empty.

3. Re-fill the cup/ bottle with Laquer thinner and spray a second time untill empty.  I periodically spray onto a clean white paper towel to check if any paint is still present in the airbrush works.  If so repeat this step.

4. Fill and spray thinner through the airbrush a third time, check using the paper towel and spray out untill empty.  Next disassemble the airbrush, wipe the needle with Laquer thinner and use Q-tips or pipe cleaners for the various openings, holes, etc. 

5. Dab a little Super-Lube or RAGDAB lubricant on the needle and reassemble the airbrush.  Done!

For my Paasche H which I use for acrylics, I typically spray two or three color cups of alcohol or ammonia through it.  During the process, I'll put my finger over the tip two or three times to back flush.  Every now and again, I take out the tip, and give a more thorough breakdown type cleaning.

For my Badger 200NH (essentialy a single anction Anthem), sometimes I'll spray two or three color cups of thinner through it, catching the spray in my Aztek cleaning station.  Unfortunately, the crown on the Badger prevents my finger form adequately sealing the airflow for a proper backflush.

So more often, first clean the color cup with some thinner and an old paintbrush.  Then flush out the majority of paint from the airbrush with a pipette or two of thinner.  I then unscrew the cap from the body while leaving the needle in place, clean out the paint chamber and needle with a bit of thinner and an old paint brush.  I then do the same to the inside of the tip, and screw everything back together.  As with the Paasche H, every now and again, I'll do a more extensive full breakdown including removing the needle.

In terms of effort, difficult, or time, there's really little to pick between the methods or the paint type.  The acrylics do dry faster and sometimes little bits will become so stuck on that I don't really get them cleaned off until I do a full breakdown and clean with lacquer thinner.  On the other hand, they don't affect the painting performance in the slightest, so I'm not too worried.

My typical Bagder cleaning method, although including a partial break down, really consists of unscrewing one part, and can be accomplished in about the same length of time as it takes to drain two of three color cups of thinner, so it's not a major task one way or the other. 

 

 

I generally use enamels, but depending on the colors I'm switching between, I won't break down the brush completely. If its going from one color to another that is similar, I will clean out the cup and then spray a couple cup fulls of cleaner through the airbrush. If I'm switching between colors that are dissimilar (black to white) I will break down the airbrush and clean it good. I use Q-tips and pipe cleaners on the whole thing with lacquer thinner for enamels and odorless mineral spirits for the acrylics.

I pour out the excess acrylic paint, wipe out the cup then  blow 1/2 a cup of windex through the nozzle. I then take the needle out and place the needle and front portion(cup forward) of the AB into an ultrasonic cleaner filled with windex. 5 minutes later I pull the AB out, dry it off, lube the needle, reassemble and store it until the next paint session. Greg.

Zomok wrote:

the problem I have with acrylics is the dry needle tip thing , I do use xtracrylics on occasion as I find the color match of them is great but I ve never be happy with the coverage.

One or two drops of acrylic retarder mixed into the thinned paint will solve the tip dry problem, and give you a better finish besides. Make sure you use a retarder intended for art use—don't get it at your local hardware store!

the problem I have with acrylics is the dry needle tip thing , I do use xtracrylics on occasion as I find the color match of them is great but I ve never be happy with the coverage.

That depends on which airbrush you are using. I have two: a single action Paasche V and a T&C Omni 4000, which is a double action. I use acrylics almost exclusively.

With the Paasche, I dump any remaining paint, rinse the cup with tap water once or twice, then rinse it with Windex, dump, add Windex, spray and backflush, dump. Pull the cup and drop it into a jar of Windex for later cleaning. I have a siphon bottle of Windex or Simple Green solution that I plug into the brush, spray out a vent hole in the booth with the aperture wide open. I then do the same with deionized or distilled water. Blow water out, clean cup, ready for next color. As I have two cups, I can just plug in the next and spray a second color immediately. Process takes about five to ten minutes.

For the T&C: dump excess paint. Rinse cup with water. Rinse cup with Windex, backflush, dump. Inspect, rerinse with Windex if needed. Flush with distilled water. Blow dry. Ready for next color. Takes about three to five minutes.

For long term storage, or after a very heavy painting day, I strip either brush down to its component parts, clean, dry, lubricate and reassemble. For the Paasche, that's about half an hour. For the T&C, that's about fifteen minutes.

Your mileage may vary.

Ditto what Bud said on the acrylics.... since I switched to acrylics, clean up is tons easier. When I finish with a nozzle or spray jar, I give it a blast of Windex and drop it in a water/windex solution. Final clean up is blowing windex through the brush at higher PSI, then I clean up under warm water. No smell, no fuss. I've even started pulling my Aztek nozzles apart every time- quick and easy and it cleans them thoroughly.

I only use Acrylics so after I get done spraying and I am ready to clean up I spray Windex in the cup 1/2 way and trun my PSI up to about 40 and spray till it's all out then I fill the cup up with distilled water and spray that out. Now every 5 times I use the A/B I take the needle out and clean it all out using the Windex and Distalled water.

I use an old butter dish with a hole in the top and paper in it when I spray it out. That way it wont get all over the place.

It takes me about 10 mins from the time I start cleaning it till I am done

Bud