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Hello.

I bought an airbrush and a compressor and now I'm ready for some painting.

But I'm afraid to start before I have the tools to clean it.

Could anyone explain what is needed to keep an airbrush clean and get a free flow every paint session?

Best Regards!

I'd recommend watching a few youtube videos on the topic. Search for cleaning airbrush, airbrush maintenance etc. Seeing what is done is much better than just reading it.

Summary:
- Don't let paint dry in it. If you have to walk away for a few minutes, you should clean it before you go.
- After each colour spray (distilled) water through it for a while until it looks cleaner. Then finish with some thinners for good measure. Then you can go onto your next colour.
- After each session, give a little more thorough clean. Do what you do after each colout, plus make sure the tip is clean. Also hold your finger over the tip to blow back any fluid into the well to finish.

Every x painting sessions or month or so, give it a good clean. I'd recommend an ultrasonic cleaner. Be careful when you pull it apart - make sure you know how to put it back together again. Some bits you need to be very careful with to not damage - the needle and nozzle especially. Don't immerse the airbrush in a cleaning solution, stick to water.

Thanks Yonan!

I actually never thought about what to do when changing colours!
For me an ultrasonic cleaner sounds to be a bit overkill, atleast when Im just starting out. Do you have another option for this?

I just take my airbrush apart after every paint session and clean each part with airbrush cleaner.

The first couple of times I used water, but it took much longer to get the paint out. With the airbrush cleaner you basically just wipe it off.

Ultrasonic cleaners are a "hands free" way to get at all the nooks and crannies, but they're by no means necessary - actually, some people discourage their use because they strip lubricating oil off of parts that never even see paint (the whole back half of the brush - air valve, trigger assembly, etc.).

Between colors, I spray water until it runs clear, followed by a bit of rubbing alcohol. If I've gotten any tip dry, I usually just scrape it off carefully with my fingernail - although that isn't really the best practice, I've yet to damage even my rather fine needle. If it gets bad or I'm done for the time being, I'll remove the needle and carefully wipe it down (always moving toward the tip) with an alcohol-soaked paper towel, which I also use to remove any runs of paint that may have dried in the color cup.

For a more thorough clean, I disassemble the front end (remove needle, nozzle, air cap(?), etc.) after spraying alcohol and blowing some back, then use a set of airbrush cleaning brushes - a few sizes of twisted wire jobs with nylon bristles; pretty widely available and rather cheap - soaked in rubbing alcohol to soften and chip off any built up paint gunk.

I'm still a relative newbie when it comes to airbrushing, so take this with a grain of salt, but I've been getting by just fine with these rather basic practices, thus far. Aside from the brushes, everything I need I already had laying around. Some more aggressive solvents would likely speed things up, but I haven't found them necessary. A cleaning station (glass jar with an opening for the brush tip and a filtered vent to contain fumes) would be handy, but since 70% isopropyl is the worst I spray, it's not that pressing a need, either.

Just a few quick tips I've picked up over the last 6 months or so with my airbrush:

-clean it with rubbing alcohol, but always run some water through afterward.

-when thinning acrylic paint (I use Vallejo GC), I like to use rubbing alcohol instead of water. The alcohol evaporates very fast, leaving the model with almost a powder coat-like finish. Water tends to just run the color into the cracks and crevasses and you end up having to spray your models multiple times. Especially true with dark colors.

-When thinning varnish, use water, never alcohol. Same for cleaning the airbrush after spraying varnish, just run water or airbrush cleaner.

-Be very careful when removing the small pin nozzle (or whatever its called). You will likely have a special tool to take it off included with your airbrush, like a miniature wrench, but do not overtighten it. I had one where the threaded piece broke off, effectively ruining the entire airbrush because there was no way to remove it.

-Even if the bottle says airbrush paint, you will still need to thin it considerably. I tend to do a 1:1 ratio of paint to thinner, slightly more if its not specifically airbrush paint.

-You will experience clogs on a regular basis, so learn to strip down the airbrush before you ever start painting. You may even have to do this several times to get a particularly stubborn clog out. Invest in some dental picks (those little brushes made for cleaning braces). They work great for cleaning the small openings!

-Before you start painting, if your airbrush is a gravity feed (a large number are), always run some water or cleaner through to make sure there are no clogs. Just spray your hand or a paper towel. This way, if there is a clog, you don't have to worry about dumping your paint mix out, clearning the feed, etc, you can just jump into stripping it and cleaning.

All in all, I love using my airbrush. It really speeds up base coating and can be used for great effects.

 ClassicCarraway wrote:

-Before you start painting, if your airbrush is a gravity feed (a large number are), always run some water or cleaner through to make sure there are no clogs. Just spray your hand or a paper towel. This way, if there is a clog, you don't have to worry about dumping your paint mix out, clearning the feed, etc, you can just jump into stripping it and cleaning.

that's a good tip. I usually just check the trigger action (make sure the needle moves smoothly) before I start, but this sounds smarter.

To add my few cents worth to the bunch...

The first thing you need when you are cleaning your airbrush is someplace to clean it at. The parts are often tiny, stupid tiny. If you have cats, kids or something else which can get near your work area...find some place that they can't get to. Sometimes you may need to step away while parts dry off before reassembling things...and you do not want to have to find a nozzle or spring that ended up on the carpet.

Next - don't use anything that contains ammonia. Ammonia will destroy the chrome finish (and can actually eat away at the chromium in stainless steel parts as well). Like red on ork vehicles - it makes them go faster. However, chrome also doesn't something more important than that...it provides a surface finish which is molecularily smooth. The chrome atoms are deposited one at a time, and they fill in small scratches and divets which may exist on the parts as a result of the casting and machining process of the brush. These little defects can cause disturbances in the air and paint flow which if you are doing very fine free hand work can become problematic and register almost like a fine sable brush with one hair that sticks out to the side.

So - on to cleaning... What paint are you using? Ideally, you will clean before the paint has a chance to dry. As Yonan mentions, if you run a bit of solvent through the airbrush after you complete use of a color or finish. Distilled water works well enough for most acrylic paints. Alcohol works as well (rubbing alcohol from the drug store is as good as more expensive alcohols from hobby stores). Keep a roll of ordinary white paper towel handy. Spray on it until you don't see any trace of the color from the paint you were using...then spray a little bit more just to be on the safe side.

If you are using oils or enamels or some of the other relatively exotic finishes - you will need a solvent which is suitable for them. I normally use odorless turps - though others will work as well.

In either case - you don't want to use a product that is sold as a "thinner" as opposed to one which is sold as a "solvent". Some thinners actually have binder in them in order to maintain the suspension of paint particles. When they dry - they are comparable to other clear coats...just a lot less viscous.

Once you have finished using your brush for the day - fill it up and spray out everything. Take your finger and hold it gently over the tip and open the valve slightly in order to back flush the paint channels (you will get bubbles coming back into the paint cup). Spray out the solvent and then store the brush in a safe place.

Every now and again (how often will depend on how much you use it and what paints you use) you will need to tear it down and do a more complete cleaning. The specifics will depend on the paints you use - but take it apart and give everything a good cleaning inside and out with a solvent like turps. It will remove dried paints and other gunk which may develop inside the brush.

In order to get into the little passages of things like brush nozzles - I use interdental brushes. They are comparable to the expensive brushes which are sold in airbrush cleaning kits - but cheaper and generally softer fibered so less likely to cause scratches.

Once all the parts are cleaned up and dry - grab a bottle of airbrush lubricant and apply to the moving parts (and some unmoving parts). Reassemble and then spray some distilled water through the freshly cleaned brush to make sure everything is put back together correctly and no foreign objects are in the air or paint stream.

There was a thread awhile ago here that I felt addressed a lot of concerns for first-time and novice airbrush enthusiasts. It was posted by DreamKnight and can be found here.

The video from that thread:

i chuck my airbrush into a cup full of simplegreen between painting.

its been working fine for going on two years now and i paint all the time.

As for tools, get a MACK kit

http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/maaiclkit.html

And a nozzle cleaner

http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/noclset.html

 Erik_Morkai wrote:
As for tools, get a MACK kit

http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/maaiclkit.html

And a nozzle cleaner

http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/noclset.html

Don't get them. You'll just ruin your airbrush by making tiny scratches on the insides.

If you are using acrylics or other water based paints the best cleaner is water. When you stop painting, shoot clean water through the brush until it comes out clean.

A couple of great videos to watch:

WGConsortium basics video series
Ken Schlotfeldt (the Badger dude) tells about airbrushes

Also what Sean_OBrien said.

I read through all the stuff listed above, and there isn't too much I can add that hasn't already been spoken.

Thoroughly clean your airbrush after use (full rip down, no holds barred). I use rubbing alcohol and windex (no vinegar, no ammonia) with soft pipe cleaners (careful not to scratch!) to clean my airbrush. I then rinse it thoroughly with distilled water and let it air dry.

Always lubricate after cleaning. I found a precision lubricant pen at my local Radioshack:
http://www.amazon.com/Zona-Tool-Company-36105-Precision/dp/B000BRJFNU/ref=pd_sbs_auto_20
Lubricate all threads, moving parts, and any locations that parts may rub together.

Getting airbrush specific tools and cleaners are USUALLY better than alternatives, but I'm too much of a DIY guy to be restricted to specifics. Good luck, an airbrush is one hell of a tool.

I'm only a casual user of my airbrush but I wash out with distiller water then leave the cup in water while I clean the main body of the airbrush with Testors AB cleaner or Revell Colour mix and a stack of cotton buds (cur tips in the states?). Then another wash of with distiller water to get rid of any chemical residue.