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What can I soak my airbrush in to clean it?

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varois83 - 03 Feb 2008 20:06 GMT
Hi

I use an Iwata eclipse and have had it for a few years now with good
results. I don't model all the time and keep it in its original box in
a cabinet after each use.
I use windex to clean it and water in the sink, I airbrush exclusively
acrylics.
I just ran into a problem for the first time as the needle got stuck
and wouldn't move in and out of the hole where the paint comes out of.
After taking it completely apart I realized that paint had accumulated
inside it, not a lot but enough to create the problem.
I want to take the whole airbrush apart and soak it all into a
solution that will strip all these little bits of paints. What can I
use?

Thanks a lot

Patrick
flak monkey - 03 Feb 2008 21:27 GMT
> Hi
>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> Patrick

Laquer thinner seems to work on my Iwata, also used more or less exclusively
for acrylics. Sounds crazy I know. Ammonia solution gets the thumbs up too.
varois83 - 03 Feb 2008 22:49 GMT
> Laquer thinner seems to work on my Iwata, also used more or less exclusively
> for acrylics. Sounds crazy I know. Ammonia solution gets the thumbs up too.

Hi

Can you recommend a brand of Lacquer thinner or any will do?
Either Lacquer thinner or ammonia, do you just soak all the parts in
it? How long?
Any risks of any kind?

Sorry to sound stupid, I love my airbrush.

Thanks again

Patrick
Bruce Burden - 04 Feb 2008 04:17 GMT
: Can you recommend a brand of Lacquer thinner or any will do?

    Any brand will do. I buy it at one of the big box stores, in
  the yellow/orange and blue cans. Lacquer thinner is pretty much
  lacquer thinner, and you are only using it to clean with. Although
  I do use it to thin Floquil primer...

: Either Lacquer thinner or ammonia, do you just soak all the parts in
: it? How long?

    I used to leave the tip parts of my Paasche 'H' in a jar of
  lacquer thinner, assembling the bits when I was ready to paint.
  With my T&C airbrushes, the long needle makes that unrealistic,
  so I just clean the parts using pipe cleaners, q-tips and paper
  towels.

: Any risks of any kind?

    I would not suggest subjecting plastic to lacquer thinner for
   extended periods.

    I have had your problem with my T&C Omni 4000 - I dunk the
   back of the needle in lacquer thinner and run it up and down the
   body of the airbrush, trigger, spring and needle holder several
   times, otherwise it will set up. I only need to this with the
   Omni, a gravity feed, and not the Vega, a siphon, probably because
   the paint has little opportunity to get back near the body of the
   airbrush with the Vega.

                            Bruce
Signature

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "I like bad!"                         Bruce Burden    Austin, TX.
       - Thuganlitha
       The Power and the Prophet
       Robert Don Hughes

varois83 - 05 Feb 2008 10:15 GMT
Thanks Bruce, that's very helpful.

Patrick
varois83 - 11 Feb 2008 01:27 GMT
> Laquer thinner seems to work on my Iwata, also used more or less exclusively
> for acrylics. Sounds crazy I know. Ammonia solution gets the thumbs up too.

Hi

This is the original poster. I did soak all the parts of my iwata
eclipse in ammonia today. Tonight I cleaned them a little deeper with
a tissue then I rinsed and dried.Put it together and plugged into the
air compressor, ho my god what a difference, it is so powerful now, I
am totally amazed.

Thanks again

Patrick
Dave Ambrose - 11 Feb 2008 02:45 GMT
> This is the original poster. I did soak all the parts of my iwata
> eclipse in ammonia today. Tonight I cleaned them a little deeper with
> a tissue then I rinsed and dried.Put it together and plugged into the
> air compressor, ho my god what a difference, it is so powerful now, I
> am totally amazed.

I also use pipe cleaners to keep my Iwata's innards clean. I spray
laquer and am always amazed at what comes out on the pipe cleaner.

Cheers,
Dave Ambrose
CortxVortx - 03 Feb 2008 22:59 GMT
varois83 <varois83@netzero.net> wrote in news:4ef7b1a0-45f2-4f62-a4c2-
b8542e434f4f@u10g2000prn.googlegroups.com:

> Hi
>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> Patrick

If you have access to a chemistry lab, you can do what I do: sonicate
the parts in acetonitrile (methyl cyanide). Knocks acrylic right off.

Signature

"Evolution can be mean -- there's no 'dumb-a.s' vaccine." -- Jimmy
Buffett

teem - 05 Feb 2008 01:56 GMT
>varois83 <varois83@netzero.net> wrote in news:4ef7b1a0-45f2-4f62-a4c2-
>b8542e434f4f@u10g2000prn.googlegroups.com:
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>If you have access to a chemistry lab, you can do what I do: sonicate
>the parts in acetonitrile (methyl cyanide). Knocks acrylic right off.
T&C,Thayer & Chandler?,they still around?,I had one back in thee70s at
art school.
Bruce Burden - 05 Feb 2008 04:17 GMT
: T&C,Thayer & Chandler?,they still around?,I had one back in thee70s at
: art school.

    They are part of Badger now, but they are still available,
  as are parts. Given that the airhose connection was for Badger
  airhoses, and they were also based in Chicago, I guess this was
  not an unreasonable development.

    I like them for their slim barrels, and spacing from the
   air valve to the paint supply, whether it be the Vega (siphon)
   or the Omni (gravity).

    And, yeah, I choose the airbrush depending on how much paint
   I need to shoot, although I also had a very rude experience with
   shooting Tamiya first (thinned with Gunze Mr. Thinner) and then
   moving to Polly Scale - at some point, the air passages in the
   Omni (the Vega needed a new barrel o-ring) got clogged, and the
   paint "glopped" more than atomized.

    Yeah, I should have quite when I really noticed this issue,
   but I was pushing to get the painting finished. Now I get to
   remove the paint, and I have not decided if I will sand the pieces
   or chemically strip them...

                            Bruce
Signature

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "I like bad!"                         Bruce Burden    Austin, TX.
       - Thuganlitha
       The Power and the Prophet
       Robert Don Hughes

 
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