I have the Badger Double action 150 airbrush and while I was painting I had to stop and sand my F-15 in couple of places. I started painting again about 5-10 minutes later and noticed the airflow was drastically reduced, but the paint still came out, I figured it would go back to normal after a few seconds of spraying. Well it didn’t. It then it started spitting and spraying off to one side, then it just stopped spraying entirely. I then thought “oh I had better clean the nozzle”. I cleaned said item, and it worked for a couple seconds then stopped it (that was spraying with water) spraying all together no air flow coming at all. I then upped the air pressure and it worked (with water again) great, I was getting a high flow of water and and a normal full spray pattern. I then changed from the cup to the bigger glass bottle with Windex and it stopped working again and air flow again was reduced[soapbox]. I went back to the little metal cup and it refused to work also[soapbox][soapbox]. Both cups were free of obstructions and nozzle was clear to, I could see daylight through the other end. I soaked the nozzle in enamel thinner over night and still no luck. The nozzle is clear and the rest of the brush works fine. What is causing the failure here? HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLP[:O]!!!
Likely the paint has travelled up the body and has got into places it shouldn’t be. I would remove the trigger mechanism (it has O-rings that will get wrecked by the thinner) and give the entire body a soaking and cleaning.
The 5-10 minute interruptions can wreck havoc with airbrushes, especially if you are using acrylics which can dry extremely quickly. I’m assuming you’re using enamels, but if you are using acrylics stop using the enamel thinner. It causes acrylics to glob up something fierce!
As a matter of fact, I was using acrylic. That was my thought also, that maybe some paint had gotten somewhere it should not have, however; when the nozzle is off air travels through the brush and out just fine. I here that soaking an air brush in brake fluid really cleans out the whole gun, is that true?
Thanks for the reply!
Enamel thinners do not play well with acrylics, especially Tamiya. Causes it to gunk up real bad. Triarius would have a multi-syllable technical word for it [swg], but I’m feeling a bit off today so I’ll stick with “gunk”. Brake fluid is one way of cleaning it up, but a simpler one might be dumping the whole brush into a tub of Windex with ammonia. The O-rings will be unaffected by it, and it’s a whole lot easier to clean up than brake fluid!
Problem fixed! Even though I was able to see light through the nozzle, there apparently was just enough dried paint flipping and flapping at the tip to cause the clogging. All I did was poke (very lightly) the tip with a very pointed tip of my exacto knife, and presto removed the microscopic piece of dried paint. Thank God! I was really starting to worry that my Badger’s were going the way of my previously owned Azteks.
Badgers should be good for 20-30 years or even longer if you keep them tuned up. I have a Badger 150 that is at least 25 years old. It was given to me by a friend who used it for artwork and illustration.