Doggy Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 Some how I've managed to clog my tip with some Vallejo MA. I've tried soaking the tip in x20a, iso alcohol and Vallejo thinners, nothing has cleared it. Any ideas, or do I need to buy a new tip? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 Mr Tool Cleaner will sort it mate, failing that a drop of Tamiya Extra thin cement will dissolve it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggy Posted December 28, 2020 Author Share Posted December 28, 2020 Thank you, I'll try the thin cement now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmwh548 Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 Lacquer thinner. Careful with rubber seals if you have any. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggy Posted December 28, 2020 Author Share Posted December 28, 2020 7 hours ago, bmwh548 said: Lacquer thinner. Careful with rubber seals if you have any. What do you mean by lacquer thinner, do you mean the stuff used in the auto industry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyB Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 Lacquer thinners = cellulose thinners. Hth, Bill. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggy Posted December 28, 2020 Author Share Posted December 28, 2020 Yeah I've got some in a bottle, just can't find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 Next time you're shopping for model stuff, get a few cans of Premi-air Liquid Reamer. It's akin to cellulose thinners in a spray dispenser that will remove all kinds of paint, and useful for dried up gunk of acrylic or enamel variety. If you spray cellulose/reamer into any liquid acrylic like Vallejo, which is latex based, it will turn into a curdled rubbery mess. Just so you know As an aside, if you ever get a stained or dull needle, careful sanding with a white polishing sanding sponge will bring it back to shine. Just be careful not to stab yourself, your sanding sponge or anyone nearby. Needles are painful and easily bent 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggy Posted December 28, 2020 Author Share Posted December 28, 2020 14 minutes ago, Mike said: Next time you're shopping for model stuff, get a few cans of Premi-air Liquid Reamer. It's akin to cellulose thinners in a spray dispenser that will remove all kinds of paint, and useful for dried up gunk of acrylic or enamel variety. If you spray cellulose/reamer into any liquid acrylic like Vallejo, which is latex based, it will turn into a curdled rubbery mess. Just so you know As an aside, if you ever get a stained or dull needle, careful sanding with a white polishing sanding sponge will bring it back to shine. Just be careful not to stab yourself, your sanding sponge or anyone nearby. Needles are painful and easily bent I mainly use Vallejo now so I might give that stuff a miss. It's actually a new needle kit too, I thought I was being super fussy to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 (edited) You could try buying a Sonic cleaner, a good friend and my tutor for all things modeling swears by his. Personally Ive an Iwata with a .2 needle myself, sadly it only uses Enamels and true Lacquer paints. Acrylics like Vallejo and AMMO by Mig have pigments that are too big to safely use in it. So now Ive got about 50 bottles of paint which I can only spray through my .35 neo or my .5. So it rarely gets touched ow a days. I hope you sort your issues and get it back up and running. Edited December 28, 2020 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggy Posted December 28, 2020 Author Share Posted December 28, 2020 1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: You could try buying a Sonic cleaner, a good friend and my tutor for all things modeling swears by his. Personally Ive an Iwata with a .2 needle myself, sadly it only uses Enamels and true Lacquer paints. Acrylics like Vallejo and AMMO by Mig have pigments that are too big to safely use in it. So now Ive got about 50 bottles of paint which I can only spray through my .35 neo or my .5. So it rarely gets touched ow a days. I hope you sort your issues and get it back up and running. That might be one of the reasons I have so many problems with my HS evolution. I never have and grief with my cheap sparmax sp35. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrov Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 If you still have a good amount of paint left in the airbrush iso alcohol "curdles" the paint and the curds turn into chunks that refuse to come out. I generally use lots of water to clean most paint out and add iso alcohol at the end and let it sit a bit. I would avoid using an ultrasonic cleaner though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggy Posted December 29, 2020 Author Share Posted December 29, 2020 11 minutes ago, Petrov said: If you still have a good amount of paint left in the airbrush iso alcohol "curdles" the paint and the curds turn into chunks that refuse to come out. I generally use lots of water to clean most paint out and add iso alcohol at the end and let it sit a bit. I would avoid using an ultrasonic cleaner though. That's kind of my technique. I rinse it with water then flush it with homebrew gun cleaner the finally clean it with thinners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrov Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 6 minutes ago, Doggy said: That's kind of my technique. I rinse it with water then flush it with homebrew gun cleaner the finally clean it with thinners. Leave the tip soaking overnight in paint thinner(vallejo) see if that helps. What is in your gun cleaner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggy Posted December 29, 2020 Author Share Posted December 29, 2020 2 hours ago, Petrov said: If you still have a good amount of paint left in the airbrush iso alcohol "curdles" the paint and the curds turn into chunks that refuse to come out. I generally use lots of water to clean most paint out and add iso alcohol at the end and let it sit a bit. I would avoid using an ultrasonic cleaner though. That's kind of my technique. I rinse it with water then flush it with homebrew gun cleaner the finally clean it with thinners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrov Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 (edited) If it is still clogged i would soak it in acetone or lacquer thinner for a couple of hours and see if that does the trick. Also how do you determine if it is dirty/clogged? Edited December 29, 2020 by Petrov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggy Posted December 29, 2020 Author Share Posted December 29, 2020 It's clear now but I've picked up some good tips. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McNamara Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 When I got back into plastic modelling a few months ago, I searched out my trusty, but old Badger 155 Anthem. It had been laid up for many, many years and the trigger action felt like i was rubbing two bricks together. On taking it apart I found real difficulty in removing the needle. Applying a drop of penetrating oil and alittle ptience solved that problem, but even after a thourogh cleaning its feel and performance left much to be desired. I dropped it into my ultrasonic cleaner for 20 minutes. It uses water with a few drops of proprietary US cleaning fluid (detergent) added. After this it was very much better but still not quite right so I gave it anouther round of cleaning. The amount of rubbish in the water proved what had been removed. The Badger works OK now. It did need a good extenal polish with a bit of duraglit afterwards, but it came up like new. I would not advise this technique for regular airbrush cleaning but when a problem such as the OP outlined arises, US cleaning can be useful. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggy Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 25 minutes ago, John McNamara said: When I got back into plastic modelling a few months ago, I searched out my trusty, but old Badger 155 Anthem. It had been laid up for many, many years and the trigger action felt like i was rubbing two bricks together. On taking it apart I found real difficulty in removing the needle. Applying a drop of penetrating oil and alittle ptience solved that problem, but even after a thourogh cleaning its feel and performance left much to be desired. I dropped it into my ultrasonic cleaner for 20 minutes. It uses water with a few drops of proprietary US cleaning fluid (detergent) added. After this it was very much better but still not quite right so I gave it anouther round of cleaning. The amount of rubbish in the water proved what had been removed. The Badger works OK now. It did need a good extenal polish with a bit of duraglit afterwards, but it came up like new. I would not advise this technique for regular airbrush cleaning but when a problem such as the OP outlined arises, US cleaning can be useful. John I have access to 2 cleaners in work but they're full of dirty vehicle parts and I'm seldom at work due to lock down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P_Budzik Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 On 12/28/2020 at 1:35 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Personally Ive an Iwata with a .2 needle myself, sadly it only uses Enamels and true Lacquer paints. Acrylics like Vallejo and AMMO by Mig have pigments that are too big to safely use in it. So now Ive got about 50 bottles of paint which I can only spray through my .35 neo or my .5. So it rarely gets touched ow a days. It's not that the pigment in the Acrylics is larger. All opaque pigments are large when compared to the pigment in transparent paint, which is what the fine .2 nozzles are designed for. It's the characteristic of the binder. Acrylic paints polymerize. The polymerization is very rapid and builds up on the tip of the needle and then into the nozzle ... it's called "tip dry." Your enamels cure (dry) through oxidative cross-linking, like oil paints ... so they stay fluid when they come off the needle tip, making them more user friendly. True lacquers aren't a great choice because they work through solvent evaporation. As far as I know, no "lacquer" model paint used today is a pure old school lacquer. The all have an acrylic component. If you want to understand paint types and how they relate to an airbrush, you might find it helpful to take a cruise through my airbrush web pages: https://paulbudzik.com/tools-techniques/Airbrushing/airbrushing_for_modelers.html . Paul 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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