Cotton Buds & Airbrushes

[Pielstick]

Over the weekend I was using my Iwata HP-CS (0.35mm nozzle) and was having some problems with what appeared to be restricted paint flow. No matter how much I thinned the paint or increased the air pressure I wasn't getting anything like the paint flow I should have had. I checked the needle for any paint build up and there was nothing. I put some Liquid Reamer (xylene based cleaner) through the airbrush, and that usuall shifts anything but it was still blocked. It wasn't until I removed the nozzle and ran a cleaning brush through it I got a big lump of cotton fibres and congealed paint come out! I have been using cotton buds soaked in thinner to swab out the colour cup when cleaning the airbrush, and all I can think of is the stray fibres have worked their way down into the nozzle over time and eventually clogged it. I also did a quick check of my H&S Evo Silverline (0.2mm nozzle) and sure enough there were the beginnings of a similar build up!

So lesson learned:

Don't use cotton buds to clean the colour cup, and backflush the airbrush more often!

Edited February 21, 2011 by Pielstick

[kev67]

Yes that is a lesson learned, I use cocktail sticks but usually just leave the parts to soak in airbrush cleaner

[Mike]

I use cotton buds all the time in my 'brushes, and never have this issue... mainly I'd imagine because I strip my airbrushes after each color & clean them.

[SaintsPhil]

I also use them all the time with no issue (although I'll check the nozzle before I use it next time). Is it possible it's the 'type' of cotton buds, the ones I use tend not to break up and are good for a few uses.

Phil

[spitfire]

I use cotton buds and pipe cleaners all the time on my airbrush, the pipe cleaners are the worst culprits for leaving bits behind, but I clean and strip my airbrush everytime that I use it.

Den

[Paul A H]

I find the same deposits in my Iwata, but I hardly ever use cotton buds. I normally just wipe out the colour cup with a piece of kitchen roll. I know the deposits look like fibres, but I don't think they are. I think it's something to do with the paint (I use Tamiya paints) because it never happened when I used enamels

[The Hooded Claw]

So lesson learned:

Don't use cotton buds to clean the colour cup, and backflush the airbrush more often!

Further Lesson to learn

NEVER backflush an Iwata. The manufacturer specifically states NOT to do this as it can damage the O'rings and seals.

THC

[whitestar]

Further Lesson to learn

NEVER backflush an Iwata. The manufacturer specifically states NOT to do this as it can damage the O'rings and seals.

THC

Thats strange because in my Iwata HP - CS Instructions it is very specific that you DO Backflush as it works like gargling

and there are plenty of Iwatas being backflushed in AB Tutorials on You Tube

Sorry to rain on your parade

[Paul Brickles]

I use cotton buds all the time in my 'brushes, and never have this issue... mainly I'd imagine because I strip my airbrushes after each color & clean them.

After each colour!! wow Mike you must get through some cleaning product!

Edited February 21, 2011 by Paul Brickles

[Mike]

After each colour!! wow Mike you must get through some cleaning product!

..what with Dan drinking it too, yeah - although I have good stocks

[Pielstick]

I think it's something to do with the paint (I use Tamiya paints)

Very interesting as I have been spraying lots of Tamiya paint lately. I was actually trying to spray Alclad when it blocked.

..what with Dan drinking it too, yeah - although I have good stocks

I can just imagine the Daily Mail now......

"Every year thousands of modellers gather for one weekend in Telford which culminates in an airbrush cleaning product fuelled rampage through the streets. Police struggle to deal with the violence as arguments about the most accurate representation of RAF Sky or the depth of Airfix panel lines spills out onto the streets. Elsewhere shady gangs fight turf wars over the control and distribution of such highly sought after substances such as the old formula Johnson's Klear, Tamiya Extra Thin Cement and Gunze Sangyo Mr Surfacer 500. The Daily Heil... er I mean Mail spoke to a woman who's life has been shattered by this epedemic sweeping the country. She told us of her husband "He was such a nice person, full of life. Then he became involved in scale modelling. One day I caught him building a Hobbyboss 1/48 Tornado - destroying his body and mind with such a shoddy kit. Then I found out he was backflushing his Iwata several times each day. It was all just too much and I feared for our daughter's safety and we just had to leave." Police forces up and down the country struggle to deal with the blight of scale modelling induced violent crime. The Prime Minister has addressed Parliament on the subject, talking of an international web of insidious organised scale model producers stretching from Japan and China to Germany and even as far as our shores in Margate."