hazmail Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Cleaning/Repairing Your Airbrush - My airbrush has been spattering lately, the paint cone is out of shape, I knew it needed a new 'O' ring in the head cap, and the nozzle needed centering so I decided it was time for a full clean and overhaul. I have had this brush (PS 900) for about 12 months and have only given it about three full cleans in that time. Here's a link to 'General Cleaning' : TEAM3SIX - * RC Airbrush Cleaning After removing the needle and nozzle cap, you can be seen how much gunk gets stuck in the behind the scenes areas of a brush. After cleaning mine I nearly always immerse the tip, and fill the bowl with denatured alcohol (metho) and leave it in this until I next use it, but as you can see it still does not remove all the paint. [/img] [/img] To do it properly you need some small brushes, so go and raid your partners make up bag, mascara brushes are handy but I have found these tiny dental brushes pretty good too. [/img] Get a good magnifying glass. Have a close look at the nozzle cap, needle and the head cap / nozzle alignment, in mine I found faults in all these which were easily fixed. The needle cap had burs around the inside which catch paint as it is leaving the nozzle, this will make it spit paint, to fix this I got a jewellers file and gently filed these off, and as someone else suggested (Lincoya I think), it should be polished with some sort of car polish (without silicone in it), you will have to search for this!!. The needle has an uneven taper so I sanded it with 400 then 1000 grit 'wet and dry' until the taper was long, even and 'needle sharp'. To find out weather yours is bent or out of taper, put your glasses on, go out in the sun with your magnifying glass, and have a look at it while rolling it around between your fingers, you will soon see it. Here is a link on how to do this, or repair a bent needle : How To Fix A Bent Airbrush Needle - Video [/img] The next thing I found wrong was the nozzle was not centered in the nozzle cap, it was actually touching on one side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Pete I like your idea on storing the brush when not in use . Those tips are a pain sometimes when the paint dries and clogs up. Theres nothing like setting your brush down for a minute or two and then your fighting a clogged tip.Im going to try this one out, better than what Ive been doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA Delta Posted April 26, 2009 Report Share Posted April 26, 2009 Pete great tutorial. You are the one who convinced me into buying my first airbrush (PS9000). Then you shared all the do's & don't with this brush, saving me countless hour of frustration. I personally can't thank you enough. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverdoctor Posted April 27, 2009 Report Share Posted April 27, 2009 HAZ; Thank you! Great tips; I'm going out and get the sulfuric acid today!?? Hope I didn't read that wrong. I too have a Iwata knock off that sprays off center; never knew it could be fixed. ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...