.dsaavedra. Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 when rinsing your brush after use prior to storing, and in between colors (waterbased paints), do you rinse with water or isopropyl alcohol? my friend said that using water could cause some parts inside to rust (i'm not sure i agree with this, i would think the airbrush is of a high enough quality that it won't rust when i rinse it with water) and he reccomended i use alcohol. so my question is will i be fine using just water to clean it or should i use alcohol? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJBarron Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 I'm no expert by no means but all I use to clean my air brush is waterdowned windex. Just squirt the chanber clean and then run some of it through the gun itself like I would the paint and I haven't had any problems with the gun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 Several posts I have read on here have said that the ammonia in Windex can, over time, cause the chrome to flake off of the airbrush. While I shoot Windex through my airbrush between color changes and before final cleaning, I use warm water (as hot as I can stand) to do the final cleaning. It may be overkill, but I take the airbrush completely apart and wash it this way after each paint session. As far as "rust", I don't see any way this can happen. It is my understanding that most modern airbrushes are built out of brass and then chrome plated. Neither of which "rust". There are much more experienced people on here who can give a better answer than I can so keep checking back. RayburnGuy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68KingFisher Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 I've never seen any signs of rust in any of my airbrushes due to cleaning with water in over 30yrs of airbrushing, and i've run alot of water and waterbased paints thru them, so i'd say its safe to use all the water you want. Thats all I ever use for clean up when using acrylics...alot of guys like to add something extra, from made for airbrush cleaners, to windex, alcohol, Simple green, Fantastic, etc...I could never tell that it made much difference in clean up time.....I use a little squeeze bottle that has a long snout with a tiny tip on it that I keep filled with water....I aim the tip into my paint cup and squeeze....the harder I squeeze the bottle the more pressure I get from the water, which really cleans the paint off the sides of the cup quickly. Normally, once the paint cup is clear of excess paint i'll add water to the cup and then boil it a couple of times....What I mean by "boiling or backflushing" is where i'll take a soft rag or paper towel thats folded into a pad and i'll start spraying the water thru the airbrush at full trigger pull...then i'll gently push the tip of the airbrush into the folded towel....this will make the air blow back into the paint cup....WARNING:...(Its at this point you can easily splatter all the water and paint in the cup all over you and everything near you, if your not careful).....you'll get a feel of how to do this better once you've done it a few times...then you'll be able to tap the pad against the tip of the airbrush on and off several times which causes a pumping style of boiling action within the cup, but more importantly within the body of the airbrush...this technique really does a good job of clearing any leftover paint quickly...you'll see the water in the cup turn from clear into whatever color paint you used last....dump the water and repeat the process till the water stays clear....pull the needle, and wipe it down and I'll do another quick boil just to make sure no color is left inside.....especially when i'm changing paint colors and I dont want to contaminate the next color, but also when i'm done for the day and I don't want paint to dry inside the body...After you get the hang of doing this, you can get pretty quick at color changes....takes just a few seconds really.....Just for the record, I seldom ever break down any of my airbrushs for cleaning unless i'm having some type of problem with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.dsaavedra. Posted September 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 cool deal. i figured i'd be fine using water. sometimes this friend of mine thinks he knows a lot more than the does thanks for the tips kingfisher! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 Is this the same buddy that dropped your airbrush? We have to forgive our friends their faults and trust they will do the same for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.dsaavedra. Posted September 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 he took it apart, i dropped it. but yeah same guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR KNOW IT ALL KIND OF Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 I have a water bottle I mix with water and purple power that I use to clean out the gun between colors. After a good week of painting I take lacuqer thinner and really clean out the gun needle and tip etc. Then I use spary gun oil and oil the parts. Sometimes when you think its clean it still has left over dried up paint that is hard to get out with just water or alcohol. Keeping your guns clean is the #1 thing that is key to painting good baits. A clean gun is a happy gun. The Rookie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.dsaavedra. Posted September 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 the oil doesn't interfere with your paints at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
