Serious Airbrush problems! HELP PLEASE!

[ImolaEK]

Well i started to shoot some Dupli Color Silver that i had drained a week ago with my Paasche VL. So i start shooting, immediately i feel that the airbrush clogs up. So i quickly take the airbrush apart and along with all the parts are huge chunks of Silver. Now this brought back memory to when i destroyed my Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS with some Testors Acrylic Silver. So i quickly tried scraping the silver off the nozzle and the body. Then i start scrapping off where the paint goes in an huge chunks keep coming out. So now i see everything clean and i go to give it a shot of cleaner. When i go to pull the trigger for paint, all i see is bubbles in the bottle. Instead of the paint coming out it seems like air is coming into the bottle of cleaner. What is going on! Did i scrape a part that i wasn't supposed to touch!? Did i break my nozzle!? All i keep getting is bubbles inside my paint bottle and no paint is coming out!!!!! Did i screw up the airbrush again!?!?!

Anyone that has had this problem please help!
I KEEP GETTING BUBBLES IN MY PAINT BOTTLE AND NO PAINT IS COMING OUT!!!

[freakray]

If you're getting bubbles in the paint bottle the nozzle is clogged, did you make sure you cleaned it out and reassembled it properly?

[ImolaEK]

Originally Posted by freakray

If you're getting bubbles in the paint bottle the nozzle is clogged, did you make sure you cleaned it out and reassembled it properly?

Yes, I cleaned it very thoroughly. My greatest fear is the body of the airbrush being broken. My next attempt is to place the whole airbrush in Windex. Should i place the nozzle in some Lacquer thinner?

[Vric]

Which kind of paint Diplicolor is ?

Windex will act only on Acrylic paint (like Tamiya, not like Testor)

[freakray]

If you place any part of the airbrush in any sort of solvent based cleaner, make sure you have removed all the seals whether they be rubber or nylon.
If you didn't previously this could be the start of your problems.

[ImolaEK]

Originally Posted by Vric

Which kind of paint Diplicolor is ?

Windex will act only on Acrylic paint (like Tamiya, not like Testor)

Dupli Color is Lacquer.

[Vric]

Originally Posted by ImolaEK

Dupli Color is Lacquer.

Windex will not do anything to Lacquer then. You seed Lacquer Thinner (any hardware store have that) It's about 3$ for 1L.

As for my experience, Windex only work on Tamiya acrylic paint, not on lacquer.

[ImolaEK]

Originally Posted by freakray

If you place any part of the airbrush in any sort of solvent based cleaner, make sure you have removed all the seals whether they be rubber or nylon.
If you didn't previously this could be the start of your problems.

I think thats where i really screwed up my Iwata. I stuck the hole airbrush in lacquer thinner, then when i went to shoot paint the trigger didn't even move! I still haven't dumped the Airbrush into any type of cleaner. I'm really scared of doing so. Can i place the nozzle in lacquer thinner? is that ok?

[Vric]

if it's metal, you can. My Badger Anthem is all Metal, so I can clear every part with lacquer thinner (this stuff clean any kind of paint btw)

But I also killed my first Aztek airbrush with Lacquer thinner (damn platic "airbrush")

[ImolaEK]

Originally Posted by Vric

if it's metal, you can. My Badger Anthem is all Metal, so I can clear every part with lacquer thinner (this stuff clean any kind of paint btw)

But I also killed my first Aztek airbrush with Lacquer thinner (damn platic "airbrush")

But when i stuck my Iwata Eclipse into lacquer thinner it didn't function properly. The trigger was stuck!

[mike@af]

I've used Windex for all sorts of paints. Its not as strong as lacquer thinner, but it works excellent as a final cleanup. It got Model Master gunk off that had been on the body for a year or so.

[ImolaEK]

So far, i don't think its anything with the body. I took out the nozzle and placed the bottle with water under the airbrush, ofcourse without the nozzle no paint come out. So i pushed down for air and the air came out perfectly and no bubbles went into the bottle. So i think Ray was right, the nozzle seems to still be clogged. Should i place the nozzle in Lacquer Thinner?

[ImolaEK]

Ok i placed the nozzle in lacquer thinner. I'll wait some time for it to clean up. Then, i'll give it a shot and tell you guys how it is.

[Ansel Marrow]

i just picked up my airbrush and i was spraying a model with enamel metallics, and yes there are lots of metal flakes while cleaning, but i soaked each and every bit (except for the rubber washer) in thinner. enamel thinner to be exact. everything is nice and shiny, no problems. USE THINNER TO CLEAN THE AIRBRUSH AND LOTS OF IT.

[Vric]

When I clean my airbrush, usually I spray a 1/2oz of thinner (just like paint, I spray thinner)

After that, I clean every part with thinner and pipe cleaner (you know the soft tube)

then I use dry pipe cleaner to finish the work

usually take me 10 minutes.

I never put all my airbrush in thinner (no need of that, only 3 parts need cleaning + small part of the body that the 1/2oz of thinner clean at 95%, other 5% is with pipe cleaner)

btw, I have a small article on my web page about Airbrush cleaning.