first off, i dlike to thank tom (tho9900 ) for giving me his airbrush and mailing it to me aalll the way here in singapore from texas for free. thanks tom
ok now for the question, will shooting paint store thinner hurt the airbrush ? how about alcohol ?
also, what kind of canned air adapter will fit the aztek airbrush ? i dont have a compressor.
No problem. I buy laquer thinner a gallon at a time from the hardware store. I even soak the airbrush in it whe it gets cruddy.
Acrylic and enamel thinners, like Tamiya, will not harm the Aztek.
Iso alcohol, Windex, Future, Retarding agents will also not harm the Aztek.
But DO NOT run any lacquer based paints or thinners through it, like Alclad 2, for it will die a horrible death.
Thats what happened to my 470 brush.
Got it fixed, and to date, is still my fav for fine detail painting with acrylics.
Hmmm. Can I ask John P and tweeti1 to clarify please - one of you seems to say laquer thinner (is that what we in the UK call cellulose thinners?) is no problem and the other does? I need to spray Alclad 2 shortly and do not want to hurt my Aztec.
Many thanks.
lacquer thinners are lacquer based [duh] and i believe that’s what it’s called in the uk. I don’t recommend using them in an aztek, since the aztek is about 90% plastic. Also, if you are looking for a new airbrush, I suggest you hop on down half a page to the airbrush forum.
the alclad 2 is lacquer based. without primers, the alclad 2 might craze/wrinkle the plastic.
enjoy. -1337 productions-
According to Testors: (The nozzles and non-steel needles are made from) acetal resin copolymer. Acetal resin is used selectively by NASA in the space program because of its light, stable ,and nearly unbreakable nature. Acetal resin, unlike metal, does not deteriorate through contact with solvents; and its manufacturing tolerances are much more precise and uniformally produced .
In other words, the Aztek nozzles aren’t ordinary “plastic”. They laugh at lacquer thinner. At least mine do - I don’t know what happened to tweety1’s.
As for a canned air adapter, you can order everything you need from the www.testors.com web site.
i got an adapter, but now im seriously confoosed about the cleaning. perhaps i should clarify what i want to run through it. i want to run paint store “thinner” through it. i dont know its composition precisely, all i know is that its called “thinner” or will running “spirit” or “turpentine” be better? im afraid that here in singapore, hardware store clerks speak chinese, so me asking for mineral spirits isnt going to illicit much comprehension.
Hey Reg! sorry I didn’t have time to answer your email yesterday, I was at work and a bit busy… there is a topic (not too old) on cleaning the aztek on the painting and airbrushing section… I will email you today and tell you what I used etc…
you got the adapter thing to work? cool!
I’ve run everything through that airbrush BUT laquer thinner (never painted with laquer through it, so don’t know what it would do) with no probs…
i just realised that this is posted in the wrong forum. jeez im getting alot of brain farts these days. i need to pay attention more [:P] hope nobody minds.
I would like to hear how can lacquer thinner and/or paint melt the plastic on a couple of Aztek airbrushes and not be a problem on others hmmmmm? Is it possible somebody is not basing their answer on facts? There are many types of plastic. Some are affected by certain solvents while others are not. I should think an airbrush manufacturer that made an airbrush that is unsuitable for use with lacquer would say so in the owners manual. Also why would a manufacturer make an airbrush that is not suitable for lacquer. Does it say in Azteks manual not to use use lacquer or are a couple of you using a "he said, she said " basis for you statements? It can`t be both ways.
traskos has pretty much summed up what i was thinking. for the moment im going to use acrylics and not run any laquers, i was just planning to use what i believe is laquer thinner to clean the airbrush up.
just wanted to add my 2 cents:
i have run abt 1/2 gallon of lacquer thinner through my Aztek and used lacquer thinner
to clean the ‘body’ as well w/ no ill effects. the airbrush body and nozzles are made of some type of resin (as stated above) and are impervious to any thinner i have hit them w/. i often put the detached nozzles in a small conatainer of lacquer thinner to soak after prolonged use.
that being said, the internal components may not be that stout, therefore you should not soak or submerge the body in thinner. in normal operation, thinner would not get into the ‘mechanical’ parts of the airbrush.
on to traskos’ question :
tweety said the the AB died a horrible death.
1337 suggested that the thinner might harm the plastic nozzles.
i think you added 1337’s well meaning but incorrect suggestion to tweety’s unspecified
death notice.
tweety never said they melted, deformed or anything specific.
in the absence of details i will suggest that if lacquer based paint was allowed to harden inside the nozzle or around the piston of the AB, that would kill the Aztek w/o ‘melting’ any components.
I have contacted the importers in the UK (Daler Rowney) who have confirmed that cellulose thinners will not harm the Azteck airbrush - they just recommend flushing through as normal - it seems that this also applies ot lacquer as I mentioned both mediums.
A470 Airbrush Instructions item No. 24: “Accessories - bottles, caps, nozzles, etc., may be soaked in water or No. 65160 Cleaner, or appropriate thinner for more thorough cleaning. Dry and store in clean place until next project.”
The Pictorial Instructions that accompany the words shows those components soaking in a tray and the tip of the nozzle-less air brush sticking into water flowing from a faucet.
There is no prohibition in the instructions with respect to any fluid, cleaner or thinner. There isn’t any prohibition in the instructions from taking the nozzle apart either, but there are no instructions as to how to and I vaguely remember reading a Testor’s warning not to.
My guess is that many if not most of the problems with Azteks is that spraying cleaner through a nozzle just isn’t very effective at cleaning it.
As far as facts go, I’ve had nozzles submerged in lacquer thinner for at least 24 hours with no deleterious effects. I think I took the rubber-like washer off though. However, I haven’t done that in a while since I’ve found that it’s much more effective to disassemble the nozzle for cleaning once in a while. There’s a post in “Painting and Airbrushing” - Aztec (sic) 101 - about how to.
On the A470, there is also a “roller” on the rear of the air brush that switches it between single and double action. I wonder if everyone who has had a bad experience with that version of the Aztek understands that…
Wild William,
You are right .Tweety said the airbrush died a horrible death. I dont know what that means and evidently you dont either. Then you give " the benefit of the doubt disclaimer." Your words,"Tweety never said they melted, deformed or any thing specific " Thats right, in reality he didnt say anything Tweety, just what happened to your AB? Wouldnt letting any kind of paint harden up in your AB make a very thourogh cleaning be needed? Once paint hardens up the thinner that was used when applying it wont disolve it. If you are refinishing a wooden table and it has an enamel finish, paint thinner or turpentine wont get it off. You will have to use a paint and varnish remover. I have, at one time or another., let every kind of paint I use harden up in an airbrush and it has always caused them to die this "horrible death." Never did the thinner I used to spray the paint disolve it after it hardened up. After taking them apart and and soaking , just a short time, in Acetone they all come back to life..Also WW. there are many, many things I dont know. One of which is what is an airbrush piston?
I am not being a smart a** with that question . None of my airbrushes have a part called a piston and I`m wondering if Aztek may have a part they call a piston?
Dave
perhaps the piston refers to the blunt needle located in aztek brushes ? it oves up and down in a shaft, similar tot he movement in a piston
I use laquer thinner and Alclad and have NEVER had any problems with my Aztek…[;)]
hmmm…
maybe it didn’t melt
i still say for the price of about 6-8 nozzles you can have a brand new badger 155 from dixie art [$49 without anything]
lacquer thinner is not lacquer based. It is composed of Ketones,Tolulene and petroleum based poducts. There are many varieties and strengths of lacquer thinners. The laqcuer thinner you get ih an auto paint store may very well be a lot different than that bought in a hdwre. or big box store.
Dave / Traskos,
i hope you did not think i was busting your chops.
i had read thru the thread, and it seemed like we had jumped to a conclusion
w/o enough evidence.
believe me, there’s tons of stuff i don’t know too.
i just mentioned it because i have an Aztek, and i have soaked nozzles overnight w/ no ill effects.
bear in mind for the following, my Aztek is double action.
what i am calling the ‘piston’ is the rod that you can barely see if you unscrew the nozzle and look down into the Aztek body. it moves when the trigger moves back and forth (in double action mode) and it pushes against the back of the spring loaded needle that is in the nozzle.
despite Testors claims that you never need to clean the body, paint can get down in the crevice that surrounds this ‘piston’ and get gummy, making it want to stick.
btw - if it is stuck, you can break the innards by forcing the trigger.
and, yes, that is the voice of experience speaking!
the thin plastic ‘arc’ on the cleaning tool is for scraping around the piston.
Tailspinturtle -
the ‘roller’ at the rear of the Aztek does not really switch it from single to double action.
it is best used for adjusting paint flow while in single action mode.
as you turn the roller, it actually pulls back (or moves forward) the trigger.
this lets you get the paint flow you want first, then you can just depress the trigger (w/o pulling it back) and spray paint at that setting.
the ‘switch’ for single / double action on the Aztek is whether you use the trigger in one dimension (up/down) for single or two dimensions (up/down and backward/forward) for double action.
moving the trigger up and down (pushing into the body of the brush) controls the air flow,
moving the trigger back (toward you or toward the rear of the brush) controls paint flow.
the roller also controls paint flow, and allows you to set it for single action use,
or to make a ‘starting point’ for double action use.
i get the best results by adjusting w/ the roller on a piece of newspaper to get a nice
spray that is not ‘too wet’ (ie, running down the side!)
then i can just shoot the kit pieces in single action by pushing down the trigger.
i hope this is helpful.
i am not trying to bust anyone’s chops or sound like a know-it-all.
it took me a while to get sorted out on my Aztek, and a friend of mine actually did all the ‘figuring out’ part.
but once i got past the ‘learning curve’ (or the “how the heck does this thing work?” part)
i have gotten good results from this AB.
i just want to share what i know, because i know all too well the frustration of trying to sort out new equipment.