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So, like many of us on here I have often found myself really (Really!) frustrated by how easy it is to have a spray-can of Armypainter color primer to clog up, rendering an otherwise half-empty can into a completely useless brick. The spray line is completely awesome in how it covers and dries super-fast, but the cans are a huge downside to have to fight with for those results. Lots of people, and even the Armypainter site itself always falls back on the method which does indeed work for most rattlecans- turning them upside down and spraying until they go clear. Well, besides being a complete waste of propellant and paint, I have never found that to work in the slightest on AP cans. They just keep spraying paint out.

Not only that, but the male-tip style of nozzle that AP uses is hard to find replacements for because most brands of rattlecan use female tips. But I found a way to make that male tip work to my advantage.

I recently came up with a homebrew method- which after dozens of uses has so far been completely without fail- of keeping the tips from clogging. You need a bottle of 91% Isopropyl Alcohol, and any kind of tiny syringe. As a dad, I commandeered one from a past childrens medicine, but I'm sure any small syringe will work as long as it has a pretty robust tip.



The next thing you have to do is modify the tip of the syringe so it will receive the male end of the rattlecan nozzle. In some syringes you can probably cut back the nozzle until the dosage hole is large enough, in my case I just used a large nail and forced it into the tip of the syringe until there was a hole large enough to force the nozzle connection into far enough to make a tight fit.



Now, after every use of an AP can, I remove the nozzle. Then over my bathroom sink, I use the syringe to draw a couple of cc's of Isopropyl Alcohol into the syringe, and then stick the nozzle on the end. Now just simply spray the alcohol into the sink through the nozzle. With the first spray, you can easily see a sludge of primer flush out of the nozzle. Just to be sure, I always repeat this process one more time. You will probably also need to use a fingernail to scrape a little paint buildup from around the small grey plastic section of the nozzle.

Then, with the nozzle still on the syringe, turn on the tap to hot water, and stick the nozzle under the flow and suck water through it into the syringe, and flush it back out a couple of times. Pop off the nozzle, and carefully screw/push it back onto the can. Before each spray session, I do a quick little test spurt onto some cardboard to make sure that any remaining water droplets are forced out onto something other than the models I am trying to prime, so the primer coat doesn't get tainted.



I came up with this method after I wanted to use up a can I had been given as a gift, after completely swearing off the entire Armypainter line for several years- there was no way I was going to continue to spend 15 bucks a can, when practically every single can I bought jammed at some point, one so bad it actually would not STOP spraying-even after removing the nozzle!
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So far I have been through three cans with absolutely no trouble. It was such a simple maintenance method that once I had the idea, I hate to think of all the wasted cans and money this would have kept going.

Good tip, too bad that my last can has run out of propellant making it utterly useless although I may try to recharge it with a butane refill

I just started using those cans and was not aware of this problem. Thanks for the tip

I've not had this problem with any of the AP sprays I've used to date.

For some other brands where I was having this problem, I had a can of compressed air on hand, and after spraying would take the nozzle off and push a quick blast of air through it.

I find them quite dusty too with the over spray,

Wierd. I have never had a problem with the paint itself, it always goes on buttery smooth as long as I spray the right distance in low humidity. It's just that without constant maintenance, the tips clog very easy because of the paint chemistry of AP sprays (how it dries super fast), so I was desperate for a solution, and my wife is a chemistry teacher so offered some advice.

She said that Iso would the the best thing to dissolve the paint residue while leaving no residue of itself behind to spoil future sprays, so i had to brainstorm how to get it through the nozzle better than just simple soaking.