I read on t'internet that popping the important bits in an ultrasonic jewellery cleaner was the solution. I have one in a cupboard so dug it out and stuck in some batteries.
According to Eileen's Emporium, water is perfectly good as a cleaner (they could easily have sold me something "right") so I toped it up and left the bit in for a soak as the ultrasonics did their thing.
The results were unimpressive.
Assuming the paint was too well attached, I gave them a bath in Supastrip paint stripper then back into the ultrasonic water.
Results were a little better. I then tried the stuff that came in a packet with the cleaner. It looked suspiciously like washing up liquid, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Someone tell me what I'm missing, please.
13 comments:
As a well respected journalist Phil you really should check your posts for typos. Quite a few in this latest post.
What is the working frequency? It really needs to be greater than 40kHz.
I think that you might have got corrosion on the parts; as far as I can see from your photos. The green looks suspiciously like brass corrosion. Maybe try some metal polish or T-Cut first.
My "fail" with an ultrasonic cleaner was when I discovered my old Rotring drawing pens. I used my wife's ultrasonic jewellery cleaner (don't let her know) to get rid of the dried up ink. Result; Salvador Dali style pens - all nicely warped. Meh.
A few possibilities spring to mind:
* It's possible that some paint (or perhaps tarnish / rust) deposits might have really stuck fast to the surface and then built up - which might cause a blockage etc..
* You already know that different solvents work (or otherwise) to different extents, with different types of deposits - so you might be looking at experimentation.
* I can also vaguely remember some stuff from my A Level Chemistry. (I know - I was in my late teens at the time - I'm now in my mid 50s - so I might also have forgotten some stuff ... .) Even when you find a solvent which works on a deposit, you've got more chance of getting things to dissolve with a number of treatments with small amounts of solvent than you'd ever get with one treatment with all the solvent you would have ended up using. I seem to recall a load of calculations which somehow proved this - but this was rather a long time ago ... .
* In addition to the repeat treatments, it might also be worth allowing the airbrush parts to soak for a short time before using the ultrasonic bath.
I'm sure somebody will be along soon with far better ideas than mine - but I see no harm in "getting things moving".
Incidentally, if you get fed up of using cellulose thinner for cleaning airbrushes etc., I'm sure you're aware that the stuff has other uses in modelmaking.
If nothing else, I've found that it can make a very effective solvent adhesive for polystyrene kits. (This shouldn't really have come as much of a surprise to me when I stumbled across it the other year - as some of the same solvents are sometimes used in both.) Of course, if you, or anyone else, choose to try this for yourself, it might be best to exercise caution at first - perhaps trying a drop on a couple of sections of the "runners" that kit parts come on.
When I clean mine I do it manually using a combination of cellulose thinners, aerosol airbrush cleaner, cocktail sticks, pipe cleaners, and kitchen roll. Takes a while.
Which explains why I rarely use an airbrush...
Hi Phil, The pain looks and sound pretty firmly stuck. I'd bring out the big guns and go for an over night soak in Nitromors. Then before rinising a careful going over with a cocktail stick whilst wearing goggle and gloves. But not for all of it
I think you actually have 4 parts there. I believe the fine conical tip is a separate piece that unscrews. It may be held in with a washer that will not survive a soak in the Nitromors. The other thought is: what condition is the needle and the body of the airbrush. There are so many parts of an airbrush that have to function perfectly together to get good performance. I've been suffering recently from a "sticky trigger" which turned out to be a trace of paint at the very back of the needle housing.
Good luck an take your time!
Luke
Hi Phil,
The other option would just be to send it to Airbrushes.com for a full service :)(once the world is back up an running)
https://airbrushes.com/product_info.php?products_id=23241
Luke
Put the small parts in a small glass jar with cellulose thinners, put the lid on to stop the fumes. Place this in the ultrasonic cleaner with water and turn on. You may need to do this for a few minutes depending on how dirty they are.
I always remove the needle from the front so as not to pull paint into the airbrush, wipe with cellulose thinners. The small brushes used for cleaning between your teeth are very useful for cleaning into the front of the airbrush towards the valve. A fine long paint brush can be used to clean inside the head without damaging it. All these are used with cellulose thinners.
Acrylic paint always seems the worst to me for clogging an airbrush apart from Tamiya.
Hope this helps.
Alec
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll have another go. As it happens, I've used the airbrush this week and it was fine, so maybe I'm cleaning the bits that matter more effectively than I thought.
Ian - Sorry if the typos offend you. That's what happens when I am busy. Feel free not to come back.
Did you get the airbrush working again?
It has worked but at the moment it's all computer work for me, not much workbench :-(
Sounds good! At least you have access to your work bench. George Dent's is "in town" and he can't get to it.
Hi Phil. Reading through old posts and saw this. Ultrasonic cleaner probably only of use for acrylic paint residue as no amount of water action will get through dried enamel or cellulose. However, one useful bit of info I can pass on is that there are an awful lot of useless ultrasonic cleaners out there. To test one, put water in it and hold a small strip of aluminium cooking foil half way into the water. A proper working cleaner should make the foil get lots of tiny pinholes in it after only a couple of minutes. If it doesn't then unfortunately you have a machine that froths water and not much else. I bought a £20 jewellery version a few years ago that seemed to do not much apart from make small bubbles. Once I found this test from a reputable manufacturer I realised mine was indeed useless. Hope this helps you or someone else.
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