hello everyone,
ok, i have always used acrylics. now that im switching to enamels, can i use regular paint thinner or mineral spirits to clean out my airbrush when switching between colors or just when im done spraying? by using those compared to the testors brand (or whatever brand) airbrush thinner/cleaner its saves quite a bit cash!
any words of advise or help will be apprieciated.
thanks
william
Hi William,
I use mineral spirits to clean and save the brand name for thinning.
Paul
I do the same thing, but make sure all the spirits are out before spraying acrylic , i use a lil testors acrylic thiner to clean out the spirits and get it ready for some acrylic.
Yes! Definitely don’t use the expensive stuff
Lacquer thinner is probably the cheapest but the smell is strong.
It does clean better than anything for enamels but if smell is a concern then go with cheap mineral spirits as recommended by the others.
I bought a 1-pint size Weber brand “odorless turpenoid” at Hobby Lobby for $9. I have not used it yet. Any comment?
I use acrylic paint most of time. But am thinking that I may need enamel some time occasionally.
There is still alot to be said for using enamels…they simply spray smoother for some reason. But there is ofcourse the health and environmental issues to consider… The stuff is nasty really.
Completely switched to acrylics myself because of the fact they dry faster. But thats just about the only real reason.
The run of the mill white spirit (EDIT: i meant mineral spirit…language barrier…sorry) should work out fine thinning and cleaning enamels[:)]
Just ventilate thoroughly after spraying! Not the first time i kinda neglected to do so and ended up with a headache.
Richard
[dto:]
I’ll ditto also
Be careful of generic “paint thinner” these days. Some of it is pretty crappy and contains a lot of solid residue. Stick with turpentine or mineral spirits- that is, something that has a well-defined chemical makeup. The paint thinner that has a milky appearance- a cloudy white, is really bad. Okay for cleaning your hands, wiping paint off workbench, but cannot be used to thin paint, and I have even stopped putting it in my airbrush. With the solid residue I am afraid some of it will stay in AB passages, and I have no idea what would dissolve it if it stays in there.
I do’nt use the expensive thinner to clean my air brush. I save that for the paint as well. I clean with Wallyworld thinner even though it stinks then I use laquer thinner to finish cleaning. I do that between changing colors as well as for the final cleaning of the session. It takes more time but in the end is well worth the extra effort.
wow! thank you everyone for responding sooooo fast! very helpful! i think im going to start using the forum more and more!
again,
thanks everyone!
william
Be careful with the odorless thinner. I tried using it and stopped. It had a bad reaction with some of my enamel paints causing them to clog up my airbrush.