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I am not exactly sure what the problem is here. When i put the nozzle it sprays only air, but when i remove the nozzle the paint sprays like crazy - unfortunately I cannot paint like that, cause the needle will drop off. Can the needle be damaged, since I soaked this damn nozzle into Vallejo airbrush cleaner and also in ISO and the result is still the same. Can the nozzle be actually clogged? Or the needle is not with straight tip and it self clogs the nozzle?

What sort of airbrush do you have? Are you using a dual action properly?

What pressure are you spraying at?

Ffyllotek wrote:
What sort of airbrush do you have? Are you using a dual action properly?

What pressure are you spraying at?

Regardless of the pressure no paint is coming out from the nozzle. The Airbrush is Chinese garbage HS-30, but I did not expect to be useless after only 2 rhinos. Note that I try to clean this as neat as possible, but I have no idea what to use to clean the inside of the nozzle.

 DalinCriid wrote:

Ffyllotek wrote:
What sort of airbrush do you have? Are you using a dual action properly?

What pressure are you spraying at?

Regardless of the pressure no paint is coming out from the nozzle. The Airbrush is Chinese garbage HS-30, but I did not expect to be useless after only 2 rhinos. Note that I try to clean this as neat as possible, but I have no idea what to use to clean the inside of the nozzle.

Neat acetone SO LONG AS YOU DON'T LET IT CONTACT THE RUBBER SEALS.

One other important part is - are you using a gravity fed or suction type?

If it's the former then what's probably happened is a typical clog. If your airbrush is good you should be able to remove the nozzle tip with a supplied tiny spanner (that's what it's for) and see either the tip or the tube in between's situation. If it's the latter it's possible that the piping of the jar or the jar's air intake has been clogged. I use .5mm wire to scrape the stuff out and it usually works fine.

That's got one of the short nozzles yeah?

Get an old toothbrush, yank out a few bristles and shove them down the nozzle, use a flossing sort of motion to clean them out. If you have a spare needle you don't care about can use it to carefully force the gunk that's built up inside the nozzle through the end. The nozzle might still have a hole which the needle goes through but the surrounding area could be caked in dried paint which you need to get rid of.

Otherwise google "airbrush nozzle cleaner" and you'll find a range of implements designed to scrape out the nozzle. Regular pins used for sewing might work but they need to be thin, most the sewing pins I have don't fit down most my nozzles (some fit down the larger nozzles though).

Do this after letting the nozzle soak for a while in cleaner so all the gunk is loosened up, then reassemble the airbrush and shoot cleaner through it to try and force anything remaining through it.

If it's one of the larger nozzles you can do the same thing, but try and clean it a bit with a pipe cleaner first.

It is a gravity feed brush. I've tried with random needle to scratch the inside but I am not sure If i really do anything.I will try with polish remover or something, it has acetone in it it should help...

 DalinCriid wrote:
It is a gravity feed brush. I've tried with random needle to scratch the inside but I am not sure If i really do anything.I will try with polish remover or something, it has acetone in it it should help...

I don't know why but whatever it is in remover that isn't acetone drastically reduces its effectiveness. You can probably get pure stuff out of a chemist, or definitely off ebay.

Well i soaked it, I cleaned the inside with a tootpick and with quite a lot of tweaking i manged to make it spit... it is not spraying but it is spitting water now. I dare not to think what will happen If i use paint, but I have to fix this.... somehow

You can actually fit a toothpick through it? You need something that pushes all the way through as the gunk most likely to clog it will be the stuff nearest the outlet.

Also check if the needle is actually going in and out when you pull the trigger, if it's not the trigger collar thingo might need tightening (the thing in front of the needle chuck).

I am using a tailor needle soaked into acetone and rubbing it like crazy. Then for one long hour I tried spraying Isopropyl Alcohol or Airbrush Thinner. At first it was spitting, then when spray iso was fine and when I attempted water it was spitting. With some more cleaning and spraying I can finaly spreay water just good, but I did not tried any paint yet.

What actually killed me here Is that before the clog I've tried to give vallejo primer a second chance and here is the result...

What is the difference between one long hour and one short hour?

Kidding aside it seems I have the same problem as you. I ended up buying a new air brush. Before I could spray water, now I can't spray water even with the needle out. Like WTF? I don't understand what is going on.

How can I see the needle tip come out the other end, but no water coming out even if I take the needle out.

I think what I might have to do is buy a new tip. Not sure if that is the problem or not for me. Might be the same for you. I can't say since I don't know much about air brushes. but after seeing this post, it seems I have the same problem as you.

I never thought of using acetone, but now will try that. Let the tip soak in acetone over night.

It's best if you figure out WHY it's stopped working, airbrushes are reasonably simple devices and even the cheap ones will have a reason why they aren't working and you don't want the same thing to happen again with a new brush. If air is blowing and the needle is moving out of the nozzle when you pull back the trigger, the problem most likely exists between the paint cup and the paint outlet of the nozzle.

I posted this in the other thread but maybe worth checking out here as well...

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
You might have already cleaned it and maybe I didn't explain it well. When you put paint in the cup it flows down the passage way that the needle passes through and down to the nozzle. To clean it out you remove the nozzle and needle and shove a pipe cleaner back up through where the nozzle was and you'll see the other end of the pipe cleaner appear in the paint cup.

When I started out with airbrushing I was spraying through until it was clear and just assuming that passage was clean because nothing more was coming out, but actually there was a gradual build up occurring which I didn't really notice and then one day it just stopped spraying and I discovered the caked in paint and had to scrape it out.

It may or may not be your problem though, just throwing it out as a suggestion.

Also as I said make sure the needle itself is actually moving when you pull back on the trigger as there's a collar that may have come loose so the needle itself isn't moving or isn't moving as far as it should.

You can spray with the back cap removed (the thing that hides the needle chuck) and then manually pull on the needle chuck rather than using the trigger and see if that allows the paint to flow.

Well the origin of my problem was this Valleko Crap... oops primer that totally clogged the nozzle. It took me hours to clear it with acetone so I can at least shoot water. Im non stop working lately and I dont have the time to try how it will work with paint. The difference between long and short is that this one hour felt like 5 hours....

99% here - you've got a clog. I'd get away from trying to solve it with chemical cleaners, there's generally not a great replacement for just physically digging out the clog.

I'm guessing your brush came with a diagram like this, but if not I think this is for the HS-30:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51BeWi80KrL._SX300_.jpg

A better picture someone made (of a similar enough airbrush):

http://cf.sweetsugarbelle.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Airbrush-Assembly-and-Parts-600x305.jpg

Your problem is almost definitely in #5, and unless you're using that tiny wrench to remove the nozzle (which is that little piece) you likely aren't getting to the clog. Just be gentle when removing (and esp. re-tightening it) as it's thin metal, and you can damage it by going too hard on it.

Target wrote:
99% here - you've got a clog. I'd get away from trying to solve it with chemical cleaners, there's generally not a great replacement for just physically digging out the clog.

Yeah, when I clogged my airbrush (paint passage and nozzle) I cleared it in about half an hour with IPA.... but it was basically soak in IPA for a few minutes and then dig for a few minutes, soak for a few minutes, dig for a few minutes.

The main thing was knowing where the paint had clogged it so I actually knew where to focus my digging efforts as it was back when I didn't really understand how airbrushes worked.

If air is blowing out properly and the needle is moving properly it really narrows down the possible choices for problem.

Target wrote:
99% here - you've got a clog. I'd get away from trying to solve it with chemical cleaners, there's generally not a great replacement for just physically digging out the clog.

I'm guessing your brush came with a diagram like this, but if not I think this is for the HS-30:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51BeWi80KrL._SX300_.jpg

A better picture someone made (of a similar enough airbrush):

http://cf.sweetsugarbelle.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Airbrush-Assembly-and-Parts-600x305.jpg

Your problem is almost definitely in #5, and unless you're using that tiny wrench to remove the nozzle (which is that little piece) you likely aren't getting to the clog. Just be gentle when removing (and esp. re-tightening it) as it's thin metal, and you can damage it by going too hard on it.

Thanks for providing me this info, but everything you described I did about 10 times already The day after tomorrow I will try shoot some Mr. Hobby paint or primer and see If i managed to clear the clogged nozzle. I think I will never, ever try acrylics even with the Flow Improver.

One thing to keep in mind that I didn't think of initially - sometimes you're just pouring clogs in. Using paint that's been sitting around for a while/crusted up and opened/closed frequently gave me tons of fits (and is why i stopped spraying citadel paints in general). The little flecks of dried paint generally aren't noticeable, but can/will clog a ~.2mm opening at times.

My go to nowadays are P3 paints (i thin 50/50 with vallejo airbrush thinner) and vallejo air primers. Beyond that I rarely spray anything else. I also pre-mix and store in dropper bottles, rather than trying to mix in the cup of the airbrush itself.

GL once you start spraying again! Hope it improves!

I think you're not supposed to mix anything with the vallejo surface primer. I've been getting much better results when I don't thin it down with anything. I am using one that is labelled acrylic polyurethane surface primer.

aquietfrog wrote:
I think you're not supposed to mix anything with the vallejo surface primer. I've been getting much better results when I don't thin it down with anything. I am using one that is labelled acrylic polyurethane surface primer.

Yes, i used the same and it is really strange why it clogged since it should spray like silk without any thinners or flow improvers...
I really don't know what to use this primer for... maybe for basecoating my foam made terrain ruins, but let's don't convert another thread into my Vallejo PU primer.

*edit*

Wrong thread.