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Iwata Eclipse Spray direction changing


opus999

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I was using my Iwata Eclipse tonight, and the spray direction seemed to be more downward than it should be.  I rotated the needle, but the direction stayed the same. I gave it a thorough cleaning (described later) but the problem persists.  On top of that, when I opened it up to get some real coverage (1:650 Enterprise has a lot of acreage!) it began to spatter.  This has never happened to me before.  I turned up the PSI (from ~12 to about 20) and the spattering went away, but I've been using it at 12-15 PSI since I got it a couple years ago with no issues like this.

 

Just yesterday I was making very fine lines with the same paint mix and ~12-15 PSI.

 

The paint was Model Master Enamel mixed about 1 part paint to 2 parts Mr. Leveling Thinner.

 

A "thorough cleaning" means flushing the airbrush with a full cup of lacquer thinner, then taking the needle out and cleaning it with lacquer thinner until it shines and soaking the nozzle for a about a minute or so with lacquer thinner. I do this after every painting session (about 90% of the time) This cleaning has kept it working the way I like for the last 3 years now (as long as I've had it).

 

What could be wrong? Some limited internet searching hasn't helped yet. Although I did read about people tearing their airbrushes completely apart to clean and I would need to learn how to do that.  I assume it's necessary at some point, but don't know if it would help my problem or not.

 

I've been modeling since I was 8 and using an airbrush since I was 16, but I am embarrassed to say I actually know little about airbrushes! From 16 until I quit about 15 years ago, I used a model master airbrush and knew nothing about how to thin paint or what pressures to use.  Only when I got back into the hobby and my wife bought me my current airbrush have I really learned how to paint.  Unfortunately, while I've learned quite a bit about airbrushes, it's not enough for troubleshooting yet!

 

Any ideas?

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Perhaps the nozzle is split? If so, rotating the nozzle should have changed the spray somewhat.

 

In any event, check out the troubleshooting page on Don's Airbrush Tips. He's got a wealth of info on his page. Teardown is actually pretty simple, but be careful as the bits can roll about.

 

HTH

-- 

dnl

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First thing, check that there is nothing stuck in the nozzel, dried paint is the most common but other things get in there, I had a piece of bristle from the paintbrush I use to help clean the paint cup, it had ended up length ways between the nozzel and needle.

Check for damage to the nozzel and the tip of the needle with a magnifying lens, run the needle tip down the pad of your finger as you twist it and feel for any burrs.

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13 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Perhaps the nozzle is split? If so, rotating the nozzle should have changed the spray somewhat.

 

In any event, check out the troubleshooting page on Don's Airbrush Tips. He's got a wealth of info on his page. Teardown is actually pretty simple, but be careful as the bits can roll about.

 

HTH

-- 

dnl

Hmm... I will need to check the nozzle.  I will need to figure out how to check the nozzle. :) Thankfully we have the internet now so it shouldn't be too hard.

 

Thanks for reminding me about Don's Airbrush tips! I found that page a while ago and had forgotten about it!

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54 minutes ago, colin said:

First thing, check that there is nothing stuck in the nozzel, dried paint is the most common but other things get in there, I had a piece of bristle from the paintbrush I use to help clean the paint cup, it had ended up length ways between the nozzel and needle.

Check for damage to the nozzel and the tip of the needle with a magnifying lens, run the needle tip down the pad of your finger as you twist it and feel for any burrs.

I've had bits of paint stuck in the nozzle. I watched an entire paint cup of Alclad drain through the front before I could do anything about it because the needle wasn't seating right. In that instance, flushing the whole thing with a couple of cup-fuls of Lacquer thinner did the trick, but not in this case.  It could be that I need to bite the bullet and tear it down to soak.  So, I need to educate myself how to do that and what cleaner to use!

 

I did feel for burrs and the needle seems fine.  I haven't examined the nozzle or needle tip with a magnifier just yet, but it will be next on my list!

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12 minutes ago, colin said:

The Eclipse nozzel is one of the easier ones to clean and you don't need to unscrew it, in fact you shouldn't, once you unscrew the front off the body the entire nozzel assy' will pull out as a unit

That's good to know.

 

My first airbrush in high school was a badger 150.  Being a 16 year old dink, I thought I knew what I was doing and tore the whole thing apart to clean and it never worked right after that! I'm just a little older and wiser now, but I still have a subconscious fear of goofing it up... ;)

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Nothing to really goof up, have a look at the Iwata site for a schematic of the airbrush, I would start by just removing the needle then unscrew the front off and give the nozzel assy' a good clean and a check over with a magnifier first

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Give the nozzle a good clean, you can gently put a toothpick inside and rotate it to help old paint loosen up, I do that with my H&S nozzles. Just make sure you don't push all the way through so you don't damage the tip. 

Also soak and clean up the nozzle cover, if there's dried paint on the air hole it can cause issues (and the fact that you needed to increase the air pressure a lot is a good indication).

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For cleaning the nozzle, see if you can get some "paper points." They're too soft to damage the nozzle, but can clear out debris after the nozzle has had a good soak. I found some on e-bay

xxf-paper-points.jpg

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On 12/21/2018 at 10:53 AM, colin said:

Nothing to really goof up, have a look at the Iwata site for a schematic of the airbrush, I would start by just removing the needle then unscrew the front off and give the nozzel assy' a good clean and a check over with a magnifier first

I found a schematic and it looks pretty straightforward. Friday night I unscrewed the front and looked at the nozzle with a magnifying glass.  I don't see any splits or cracks, which is good. I slowly moved the needle in and out and some gooey multicolored paint came out, so maybe it just needs a good cleaning.

 

I drug out the old Testors airbrush to finish a project that I need to get done before tomorrow, but I can work more with this next weekend.

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On 12/22/2018 at 12:26 AM, bmwh548 said:

Give the nozzle a good clean, you can gently put a toothpick inside and rotate it to help old paint loosen up, I do that with my H&S nozzles. Just make sure you don't push all the way through so you don't damage the tip. 

Also soak and clean up the nozzle cover, if there's dried paint on the air hole it can cause issues (and the fact that you needed to increase the air pressure a lot is a good indication).

As I mentioned above, I had some gunk come out of the nozzle when I was messing around with it, so I'll bet it needs a good cleaning.  I looked inside the nozzle cover, like you mention, and it was full of paint. So maybe that's adding to it. I got an Iwata airbrush cleaning kit on Friday, so next weekend I can really tear it down and clean it up.

On 12/22/2018 at 12:38 AM, dnl42 said:

For cleaning the nozzle, see if you can get some "paper points." They're too soft to damage the nozzle, but can clear out debris after the nozzle has had a good soak. I found some on e-bay

xxf-paper-points.jpg

That's brilliant!  Thanks for pointing me in that direction.  That beats rolling up paper towels tightly to try and get in the crevices!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I found some time to tear down my airbrush and give it a good cleaning. I took the nozzle out and soaked it along with the nozzle cap.  I bought an Iwata cleaning kit at the LHS a couple of weeks ago and used the various brushes to clean the paint channel between the cup and the nozzle. I looked "down the barrel" and it was shiny clean when I was done.  The cleaning kit came with a really high power magnifying glass with light and I used that to inspect the nozzle and needle and both looked OK.

 

I gave it the paint test tonight and it is working the way it should. So, I guess that solves that problem. And it goes to show that i should tear it down a little more often...

 

I was amazed how much junk came out of that airbrush!!

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