Needle Cleaning

[O'l Robzilla]

Hey Guys, found something today to clean Needles for your paint guns that won't scratch or bend your needles. I'm in Canada so bare with me on this. We have a product up here called a magic eraser made by "Mr.Clean" it's a cleaning sponge infused with cleaning agents. It's quite soft and light, you can poke the needle with ease through it and run it back and forth. It's quite remarkable how well it works! Hope this might help. Take care, and Paint On!

[Goose77]

Ol' Rob, thank you for the tip. Cheers, Ed

[O'l Robzilla]

What ever I can do to help. All info is good info! I'm glad it was useful.

[ravenlures]

I also use a sanding sponge cleans it up nice you can use the sponge side or the fine sanding side.

[ctenn]

I use a small diameter bottle stuffed tight with 0000 steel wool. I run the needle back and forth a few times or insert the needle and rotate it a number of times. Seems to work without any damage that I can see.

Carl

[O'l Robzilla]

I was thinking the other day about micro scratches, if we use something abrasive to clean out needles and have micro scratches the paint will stick to the needle and won't flow as nicely and might start a spot for a paint glump to occur. And what do you guys use to clean your tiny needle caps?

[RayburnGuy]

I've never had my needle get so dirty that it required any of the steps you guys have talked about above. When I'm done painting all I do is fold a paper towel double about 3 times and soak it in acetone. I then put the needle in the fold and apply pressure with a finger and thumb while rotating and pulling back on the needle. After the needle is wiped down I push it through the acetone soaked paper towel while spinning it. This avoids putting any scratches in the needle which can give paint something to cling to.

 

Ben

[Richard Prager]

I sptriz the needle with water and wipe with my fingers between almost every color change. Especially white, black and any iridecence or pearls

[SW Lures]

Cleaning the brush is a most. If well taken care of, just water in general is all that is needed. I'm like Richard as far as the needle goes, a squeegy through the fingers will do it even at the end of a paint session (but several times maybe). I do start with a quick check at the beginning of a paint session, then I do my thing. For a thorough cleaning I use chemicals like above and use a soft material to wipe the parts down.

@ Ray, X2 on how they clean. Scratches are not good for brushes. Even outside of the airbrush, the chrome surface don't like them.

Take Care,

Dale

Edited January 10, 2016 by DaleSW

[Skeeter]

Anything that is abrasive should not be used to clean a needle. Anything that removes material changes the dimensions of the needle and will eventually affect spraying. You should need nothing more than the thinner that you use for the paint on a paper towel to clean it. Unless you rinse your gun thoroughly after using chemicals to clean your gun then you are leaving residues to mix with your paint. This could affect all kinds of things including color, adhesion, and durability.

 

I clean my entire gun after each color. That way I am sure that there is no contamination of the next color to be shot. I am not a fancy painter. But, my paint jobs are clean. No over spray, grainy surfaces, etc.  Keep your gun clean and choose good paint. Cleanup should be a snap.

 

For lacquers and enamels use lacquer thinner or acetone. For water based I use hot water. If I have to I use hot soapy water with dish detergent. Then the gun gets completely rinsed in hot clean water to remove any residue from the soap.

 

All of this may sound time consuming. But, most of us that shoot a lot can tear down our guns and put them back together like a marine. Clean guns produce the best results.

 

Skeeter

[Venutian_Lures]

I've never heard of someone using abrasive materials to clean any parts of an airbrush, that is a new one, and can't imagine it's safe to use on a needle. Needles are sensitive little pieces of your airbrush, the tiniest defect will have your paint doing all sorts of things you don't want it to do.

I use a method similar to RayburnGuy, paper towel soaked in airbrush cleaner and run it down my needle a few times between certain color changes and at the end of my painting sessions. Finish off with a paper towel soaked in water to get the excess airbrush cleaner off and viola. Clean as a whistle. 

As far as the caps, a q-tip soaked in air brush cleaner and run around the inside of the caps a few times is sufficient in cleaning those little guys out, same with the fluid bed.