How Do I Clean Inside Airbrush And Nozzle

[.dsaavedra.]

How do i clean inside the airbrush, like behind where the paint cup is, and inside the nozzle? these areas are so small and hard to get to i cannot think of what to use to clean inside them. i've had the airbrush soaking in water overnight to soften any gunk that may be in there.

my brush wasn't functioning properly so i figured it needed to be cleaned real good inside, which it did.

[fivefishwish]

Most airbrush suppliers (TCPGlobal.com, coast.com, etc.) sell cleaning pots that will clean just about the entire airbrush. anything else can be cleaned with 50/50 windex n water with small pipe cleaners. Hope that helped.

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[.dsaavedra.]

you mean like a sonic cleaner?

[Bloxygen Boy]

Your local craft store will sell a variety of pipe cleaners. Some are shiny and made of a hard plastic even...an assortment will really help when cleanup time comes. I use the "regular" furry ones and dip them in solvent and then work them in and out of the gun.

Bloxygen Boy

[whittler]

  On 1/1/2010 at 10:16 PM, Bloxygen Boy said:

Your local craft store will sell a variety of pipe cleaners. Some are shiny and made of a hard plastic even...an assortment will really help when cleanup time comes. I use the "regular" furry ones and dip them in solvent and then work them in and out of the gun.

Bloxygen Boy

Dave, go to your local drug store and look in the dental care section. You will find all sorts of small brushes used with electric tooth brushes and many of them are adaptable for cleaning airbrushes. You might have to epoxy them into a longer handle but they work great.

Edited January 1, 2010 by whittler

[BobP]

It depends on your airbrush. If you have a brush with a .2mm tip, there may not be a cleaning brush small enough to fit its barrel after removing the nozzle and tip parts. Badger and Paasche airbrushes have larger barrels that will accept a small cleaning brush. For my Iwata, I disassemble it and soak the parts at least overnight in an airbrush cleaning solution. It contains chemicals specifically designed to loosen paint (better than plain water or water with dish soap). Run cold water through it afterward and a surprising amount of gunk comes out. I do a quick and dirty cleaning after each session and an overnight soak/clean every few months.

[.dsaavedra.]

i used an old bent needle to scrape out a good amount of gunk from inside the nozzle, and used the butt end of the needle to scrape our a little bit of gunk from inside behind the cup (what is this part called anyway?). there is still some gunk inside there though, i can tell when i slide the needle in.

[LEOLURES]

If you go to a drug store or walmart buy Dills pipe cleaners. They seem to work the best and dont fall apart. They are usually in a yellow envelope type package. I mainly use lacquer paint and to clean up I dip the pipe cleaner in thinner and clean the air brush with that. Does a great job. If you own a Badger airbrush they have a small tefflon or nylon piece on the inside that periodically needs replaced by their company at no charge. Hope something here might help.

[RayburnGuy]

Not sure what type of paint your spraying, but if it's water based then Createx makes an Airbrush Cleaner and an Airbrush Restorer. I use the cleaner after, and sometimes during, each painting session. It's made to spray through the brush. The Restorer is designed to soak the front end of the brush in for a couple hours at a time. I think some folks may even leave it in overnight, but I followed the directions on the bottle and only soak the brush for a couple hours at a time. The Restorer loosens all the gunk that gets built up over time that the normal cleaning leaves behind. This is what BobP was talking about. Hope this helps.

Ben

[DeltaMan]

Instead of going down to wal-mart and buying something you might be able to utilize some things that you have at home. I use carburator cleaner and soak only the parts that come in contact with the paint, also you could possible use paint thinner or lacquer thinner. I even use q-tips, to clean it out and after I spray paint I do my best to clean out the brush when the paint inside is still wet by spraying some soapy water through it.

[.dsaavedra.]

thanks for the suggestions. with the exception of pipe cleaners and tiny proxy brushes, it seems most of what you are recommending is for cleaning out the front end of the brush, like from the paint cup forward. i have gunk built up in the little channel that the needle goes through behind the paint cup. and inside the nozzle, which can be tough to get ANYTHING in there to clean, even after a soak.

[RayburnGuy]

  On 1/20/2010 at 1:47 AM, DSV said:

thanks for the suggestions. with the exception of pipe cleaners and tiny proxy brushes, it seems most of what you are recommending is for cleaning out the front end of the brush, like from the paint cup forward. i have gunk built up in the little channel that the needle goes through behind the paint cup. and inside the nozzle, which can be tough to get ANYTHING in there to clean, even after a soak.

Everyone develops their own way of doing things and what tools to do them with. The only thing I've found so far that will get into the tiny places your describing is a set of tip cleaners like the ones used to clean cutting tips used in oxy/acetylene torches. You can pick up a set at your local welding supply. Use them gently as they can actually deform the hole in the nozzle if used too aggressively.

Ben

[Tom in Sweetwater]

Just a note on all the ideas above: They are all good and will probably work, but the utmost care should be taken not to scratch the surface anywhere on the inside of the brush. This will cause a more rapid build-up of gunk and and a shortened life-span of your brush (ask me how I know, lol)