Question: How to get thinner and cleaner out of their containers?

[Nutsforcars]

Yes, you read it right, I might be dense but I don't know how get lacquer thinner and mineral spirit out of their bulky, large 1 gallon metal containers and into small, more manageable jars.

When the containers were new and full, I used a pipette/eye dropper to suck the solvent up and fill it in a reserve glass jar, as used for airbrushing.

Now the level has gone so low, that I cannot reach with the dropper. I tried pouring (even bought a funnel) but the rectangular shape of the container and the location of the opening made it impossible to control the flow. I do not want my work area and/or floor covered in solvents. This is a health and safety issue for me. What can I do?

As an additonal question: Can I use plastic containers to fill with lacquer thinner/mineral spirit? I have some nice bottles (e.g. from nail polish remover) that held solvents before and are much easier to handle than the bulky thinner containers.

Any help is appreciated
Jens

[MPWR]

Go into your local R/C hobby shop, and get one of the squeeze bulb 'fuel pump' thingies that R/C plane guys use to transfer fuel. It won't last forever with laquer thinner- eventually the solvants will attack it- but you should be able to use one for a year or two. It's the best solution I've found....

As for smaller containers, I'd be careful with plastics. Some solvants are safe with some plastics- but I certainly couldn't tell you which and which. You really don't want to guess wrong. I have some smallish glass jars that I decant thinner into. I expect something like a glass mayo jar would work fine.

[wouter1981]

I use plastic straws to get cleaner/thinner out of there containers. cheap and expandable.

[SteveK2003]

I believe I've seen a 'pump' type dispensor for the large metal containers for thinner. I think it was on Micro Mark's website.

[mooble117]

i'm fairly new at modeling, so i don't know that much about solvents, but how about a siphon tube, like the kind used to clean fish tanks?

[klutz_100]

Carefully pouring it into a jar through a funnel is not an option here for some reason?

[rickerzipper]

Try tipping the can to the point where you can reach the fluid with the eye dropper ;-) .

Cheers, Rick

[Nutsforcars]

Thanks for the tips. I will try the bulb pump. On some of the other questions, pouring is not really a solution as the solvent really splashes around the opening and a lot gets lost (and evaporates in my workspace). I tried the tipping to reach but now it's low and is very hard to reach

Cheers
Jens

[Scale-Master]

I got lucky at the bulk food/club store a few years ago. Gallon cans of soy sauce, same style as lacquer thinner cans, each with a little snap on pouring cap. A few caps were laying around the palettes from damaged cans. I grabbed one, works awesome. There must be a place to buy them cheap, but even at a couple bucks, it would be worth it for the cleanliness, convenience and no more spillage! It snaps on and off very easily, here it is leaning on the cap of a can... - Mark

Before this dealy came along I used funnels and basters to extract the thinner...