Ok, sorry. Verrry dumb question, but i just got my first AB…Should i just spray thinner through it or take it all apart and clean it? Thinner works for enamels but what about acryls?
Windex. The amonia in it cleans acrylics.
Spray thinner between colors in one session. Disassemble and clean thoroughly at the end of the session. For cleaning after acrylics use acrylic thinner/airbrush cleaners, windshield washer fluid, or denatured alcohol.
I spray only acrylics. Remember I have that old Crisco container with a whole cut in it about a third of the way up from the bottom. First I wipe down the color cup with a paper towel and swab out the paint from the very bottom. That leaves less paint to clean up. I then fill halfway with Windex, crank up the pressure to 30 or 40 psi, insert the tip into the Crisco jug and spray until empty, I do that twice. Then I make sure all the paint it cleaned up by pulling the needle. If it’s clean then I put the needle back and fill the color cup with distilled water and spray that through. Then I make sure the cup is dry with another piece of paper towel and spray air through until it’s dry. And that’s it. I’ve only broken my brush down once for a serious cleaning since I got it last summer.
Enamels require a more fastidious cleaning, which is why I avoid them. I’m basically butt lazy!
I agree with stikpusher,blow thru w/thinner between colors, then disassemble and completly clean at the end of each session. Started that for a couple of reasons - would occasionaly get small flecks of dried paint coming out of the airbrush (and off course they were the wrong color!). The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I did a paint session a couple of days before I left for AT (Guard summer camp). Simply flushed it out w/thinner like I normally did (I thought) and put it away. But I didn’t get all the paint out because when I got back and went to use the brush, everything was frozen up. Finally got everything loose enough to come apart by disassembling what I could and soaking everything in laquer thinner for a couple of days. (came very close to throwing it away). Now for my own peace of mind, I disassemble and clean at the end of each session.
On a final note, if you use enamels as I do, laquer thinner is the only route to go, either for flushing between colors or for the total disassembly clean up.
The best advice I ever recieved on A/B cleaning was to NOT strip it down unless you are experiencing problems. Everytime you break it down you stress all the seals and leave yourself open to leaks and broken seals.
Do as bgrigg says, I spray into a white papertowel until I see no evidence of color, then spray distiled water through it. Make sure you store your A/B in a climate controled room, heat and humidity wreak havoc on an A/B.
I use Acrylics and as others have said I empty the cup and wipe it clean. I then spray windex until clear. Spray a half cup of distilled water through it then change colors. When finished for the day I clean it the same way and then partly dissassemble the AB. I then put the pieces in an ultrasonic cleaner full of windex. Never had an issue involving old paint. Greg
Do they make clear Windex?
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen clear window cleaner. Alternatively, you could use either straight ammonia or alcohol, which is what I use for cleaning acrylics.
I think Rich was making a joke “spray Windex until (it’s) clear”.
But yes, they DO make clear window cleaners!
Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt, bgrigg, but I was actually serious. I totally misinterpreted “spray Windex until it’s clear”, wondering how the heck would I know when the paint was all cleared out with blue window cleaner? [:I]
Ahh well, no one should be a bit surprised by my modeling naivete at this point. [;)]
LOL Ya know, you didn’t have to admit to that! But I’m glad you did. Shows an honesty and character I can respect!
Windex looks “more” blue than it really is. It doesn’t really alter the colour of the paint, so when you don’t see paint, it’s done. Well, mostly done. I always rinse with distilled water after for two reasons: ammonia can stain stainless steel black (which is a misnomer, it stains alright!) and using tap water may cause mineral buildup in places you don’t want mineral buildup!
I’m not sure that I agree with you. Tamiya Dark Yellow mixed with blue Windex yields green, at least it did last weekend when I painted a pair of Panthers, and if it change the color it could mask it as well.
As far as spraying thinner, only to the point of no longers seeing paint, I think that is underdoing it a bit. When cleaning my Paasche H, after cleaning my color color cup and filling it with a colorless cleaner, the obvious paint seems to disappears from the stream after several seconds, (no more than half a color-cup worth of thinner used )even though there is at that point some residual paint still in the air brush. When cleaning my airbrush that way, I won’t declare it “clean” until I’ve sprayed at least one or two color cups of cleaner through it, even though the stream seemed clear after only half a color cup.
After doing an acrylic airbursh session and doing the flushing, etc, with window cleaner, I use fingernail polish remover for a final flush and cleaning.
It is water based, has acetone for a powerful acrylic residue remover, yet has glycerine for a preserving lubricant as well as a perfumed scent that is not as bad as other solvents.
I get the generic stuff from Wal-Mart.
Tom [C):-)]
I never mix window cleaner in my acrylic paints.
I simply use the Wal-Mart 93% alcohol as an acrylic thinner, since it is 7% water, and the higher percentage of alcohol speeds the drying time.
Tom [C):-)]
I’m not suggesting anyone thin paints with Windex. It’s blue enough to tint paint! But not so blue that it doesn’t spray “clear” when the paint is cleaned out. If you go back and re-read my technique you’ll see it says (pertinent part in bold):
I never thought about the blue thing…So what about windshield washer fluid then? Can you use tap water or must it be pure distilled water?
Cleaning with windex or washer fluid is quite different from using it to thin with. If it isn’t crystal clear before you mix it with paint, it ain’t gonna get any clearer!
I use distilled water as I live in a mountainous region and we have very hard water. Shower heads get clogged with calcium buildup in about six months, and I have to take ours off and soak it in Vinegar to get rid of it. If it can clog something with holes as large as a shower head, it will definitely mess up my precious!
Distilled water is pretty inexpensive. I bought a gallon jug at the grocery store for less than $2 bucks last summer and I still have just a bit less than half a jug left. You can make de-mineralized water at home by boiling water rapidly and leaving to cool completely. Then decant by carefully pouring off the water without disturbing any sediments. If you leave the last inch of water behind you will end up with pretty clean water. You would need a still to make “real” distilled water as it is boiled to steam and then allowed to condense back into a liquid in a different container. But I think if you’re going to all that trouble you might as well be making 'shine! It’s a whole lot easier to just grab a jug of store bought distilled water when you’re at the grocery store.
I was perhaps overly brief, and thus misunderstood. I would never use windex to thin paint. I use it only as a clear. The mixing to which I referred was when I cleaned out the color cup AFTER painting. For thinner, I always use Tamiya’s thinner. I don’t know if there is any benefit vs using alcohol, by since I use it ONLY for thinning, I don’t really use enough for cost to an issue.
For me it is not so much of a cost issue, but more of a practicality and simplicity issue.
To buy “So-and-So’s” special acrylic thinner means a 25 mile drive to the LHS.
To buy Wal-Mart’s 93% alcohol is literally a trip around the corner, and a quart runs around $2.00, and it works. (DUH)
By the same token, I get half gallons of blue Windex type window cleaner at the local Dollar Tree store, which is nearby Wal-Mart, for $1.00 plus tax.
And in both cases, I have them available for household use as well.
The window cleaner I get makes a great bathroom floor cleaner as well when used straight out of the bottle.
Tom [C):-)]