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How do people handle dealing with drytip when airbrushing?

I have seen one one video a guy using a toothbrush (though he doesn't show how exactly) and another where a chap uses kitchen towel on the tip.

I find that sessions of airbrushing are often spoiled for me by dry tip ending up stopping play till I take the airbrush apart and give it a full clean. I'm sure this is me not handling this problem correctly.

Advice gratefully received.

If problem is only dry tip, I use simply fingers to take paint off

 Naberiel wrote:
If problem is only dry tip, I use simply fingers to take paint off

I do the same. Another way to do it is to use a cotton bud moistened with cleaner.

You shouldn't have to break down your airbrush just because of a little tip dry.

Maybe in not flushing the system often enough, allowing some paint to cure in the mechanics or something....

Dont think so, more probably its too big psa or too thick paint.

It's weird but since I started using Vallejo Airbrush Thinner I have not had a problem with dry tip. That and I generally shoot around 10-15psi.

 darefsky (Flight Medic Paints) wrote:
It's weird but since I started using Vallejo Airbrush Thinner I have not had a problem with dry tip. That and I generally shoot around 10-15psi.

I only have a problem with tip dry when I'm doing detail work. For spraying large areas I don't notice much build up on the tip.

Doing detail work it's the bane of my existence. I just use a tissue, pinch the tip with my finger with the tissue in between. I found if I just use my fingers without the tissue I can get the very tip clean but there'll still be some paint built up around the base of the needle near the nozzle, using a tissue gets it all.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 darefsky (Flight Medic Paints) wrote:
It's weird but since I started using Vallejo Airbrush Thinner I have not had a problem with dry tip. That and I generally shoot around 10-15psi.

I only have a problem with tip dry when I'm doing detail work. For spraying large areas I don't notice much build up on the tip.

Doing detail work it's the bane of my existence. I just use a tissue, pinch the tip with my finger with the tissue in between. I found if I just use my fingers without the tissue I can get the very tip clean but there'll still be some paint built up around the base of the needle near the nozzle, using a tissue gets it all.

When your done cleaning your brush are you using any needle lube?

 darefsky (Flight Medic Paints) wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 darefsky (Flight Medic Paints) wrote:
It's weird but since I started using Vallejo Airbrush Thinner I have not had a problem with dry tip. That and I generally shoot around 10-15psi.

I only have a problem with tip dry when I'm doing detail work. For spraying large areas I don't notice much build up on the tip.

Doing detail work it's the bane of my existence. I just use a tissue, pinch the tip with my finger with the tissue in between. I found if I just use my fingers without the tissue I can get the very tip clean but there'll still be some paint built up around the base of the needle near the nozzle, using a tissue gets it all.

When your done cleaning your brush are you using any needle lube?

Yep, the Badger stuff, I never really noticed much difference with needle lube to be honest. Maybe there's a slight difference, but not enough to eliminate the problem.

I have 2 brushes and one has much longer needles (the exposed portion of the needle) and tends to operate at lower pressures and with that it seems to get tip dry worse than the other one.

Sometimes I spray enamels, with enamels the problem isn't nearly as bad, but I still occasionally have to clean the needle, except instead of having to do it constantly I only have to do it once every few minutes (and again, I'm talking about fine detail work here, it builds up faster and the build up has a larger effect on the spray pattern when doing fine detail work, when not doing detailed spraying I usually don't notice considerable tip dry).

One thing worth mentioning, I have 2 iwata hp-cs and one gets a lot more dry tip than the other. Seemingly, it is because one has a needle slightly off center with the cap, while the other is dead on.

Neither is really an issue, but the perfectly centered one requires a lot less tip cleaning, which I do with one of those pointy q-tip things that I steal boxes of from my wife (they are for nails)