Airbrush advice needed.......
 

My badger 155 is a good brush but I shoot a lot of odd things through it like Daler and Rowney Pearlescent inks and it gets gummed up after repeated uses. I use the BERNZY mix of simple green and Windex but occasionally I have to go in there and really clean it out. Is it okay to use acetone when after heavy use or is there another producr that I could soak the parts in that would chemically clean it?

Thanks in advance, Flap

I would not send acetone through it. There is a little nylon like bushing deep inside. I think acetone will eat it.

I dont know what to do, I use Medea airbrush cleaner its ok

I use small quality pipe cleaners you get from smoke shops. Mashpee commons there is a smoke shop

I actually am sending my 155 back to badger for some love, I got that little bushing out by mistake and its never been right since.:fishslap:

I had soaked some of the tip parts in acetone once before and it actually didn't do much to take the paint off. I figured it would eat right through it but it didn't. I do know that Acetone will eat through plastic like there's no tomorrow though, so if there are any plastic pieces inside you can probably say goodbye to them.

I do the same as Chris and send a Pipecleaner through it to clean it out. Seems to work pretty good.

Flap you ever take that apart ? The only tricky thing is the trigger and the little piece backing it up . When you pull the needle, by loosening the nob on the end and sliding out . That trigger is going to fall out . The needle goes right thru it .. Get a good mental picture of it first and its no big deal . Pull needle and unscrew nose cone assembly . You need round toothpicks to dig the dried out crap out of the nose cone. You need a pencil with a good eraser to clean the needle . Just put the needle down on a table with a piece of paper under it and erase all the crap off it .. Don't know about the acetone .

And be careful doing it if you are near the sink.....it will go down the drain. I still forget once in awhile if I'm hurrying.

Take it apart on a table with news paper,or regular white paper under it .. There are springs but they are not going to come out . Yea stay away from the sink ..

When I'm done painting I break it down and put all the parts in a tupperware container full of hot water and add some windex and after it soaks a while like Tagger said I use some toothpicks to clean out the nose cone.

It seems to clean it well but mines been acting up lately too. I have not done the pipe cleaner trick so maybe I'll try that next time.

when you say "Acting Up" do you mean that its sputtering. I've had mine do that a little lately. Not giving out that fine mist like it usually does. I've tried cleaing it, But I may have to try the windex thing and see if that helps.

I'm also using a new compressor so I was thinking it was either too much or too little pressue going through...been using it at about 40 lbs.

TDF, when I say acting up I am having trouble to get it to spray the light mist like you'd do to fog around the eyes on low pressure without gettingit splotchy.

Sometimes I think the problem is just that most of my paint is now 2 seasons old. The stuff really drops out of suspension and as much as you shake it I don't think its ever as smooth as it was when you bought it.

Also when I press the button down to shoot the air, the button is sticking so the aid keeps flowing. You can lift teh buttton to shut it off. I tried to oil it while assembled but that didn't seme to work. When I take it apart next time I'll try and get a drop of oil inside the hole were the button sits.

I've been messing around with some oils and shooting oil and odorless thinner to clean it so who knows. I'm almost done with the my last batch for a while so I'll break it down really good tomorrow and get some pipe cleaners and see if I can get it working the way it should again...

Yup, That the same issue I'm having...it could be the paint getting old, never thought of that.

I lost the spring on the button once ,, got new parts ,,all unscrews and comes out where the airhose attaches ..
http://www.dixieart.com/155_Anthem_Parts.html
pretty easy and not too exspensive as I recall .

Try a back flush with straight simple green then soak the needle, cone, nozzle and headpiece in it over night. Junk comes off pretty easy the next day with a pipe cleaner or pick.
Jigman told me Dixieart has a small brush that works well, never got around to buying it. :doh:

use rattle cans :hihi:

try using very hot simple green..soak your airbrush parts. cold sg. doesn't cut anything.but hot sg. will dissolve grease..oil..trarnish..salt..corrosion,,but won't touch plastic..rubber..nylon..chrome or baked on paint on metal...been cleaning fishing reels for years without hurting anything the reels are made of..this could help out with airbrush problems too.

I use SG and if I am having sputtering trouble, I strip it down and soak the components overnight. That usually does the trick. Be sure to backflush the airbrush when done and then run plenty of cleaner through it.
Also -- sputtering from poor paint is NOT helped by thinning with water. If the paint is old use Createx transparent airbrush extender. It usually cures the sputtering and allows nice fine spray. DF if you are running 40 lbs. your paint is too thick. That will also cause uneven coverage and blowouts.:doh:

What is this backflushing and how is it done? thanks

sputtering is an air gap between the bottle and the gun. not tight enough seal. like drinking thru a straw with a hole in it.

When you are done spraying a color or when getting ready to put the airbrush away, remove the bottle from the airbrush and either use a rag or paper towel to catch the material from the supply connection. Press a rag or paper towel over the tip of the airbrush and depress the air trigger and spray, just as if you are painting. Any paint left in the tube will blow or flush out of the supply connection. Be careful not to damage the tip of the needle.

Also when using a airbrush and the tip gets dirty or starts spitting, Take hold of the back of the needle assembly (where the knurled nuts hold it) and gently pull it back while spraying into a towel or onto the wall. That will usually clear any junk in the tip and the flow should be smooth again. Of course that depends on a properly mixed supply of paint.

Sometimes airbrushes suck! Not blows!!

Hold finger tight over the nozzle where the paint comes out ..hold under water and push the trigger.. air blows out where you usaully insert your paint bottles.

just curious ... how many paint with a bucket of clean water beside them.. I clean my gun in the bucket between colors .. back flush in there too .. longer sessions I change the water .. I use a 5 gallon bucket..about a gallon of water in it ..

Sometimes.. When doing a lot of paintin....:err:

Mine sputtered once. I decided it was because the paint tube in the createx bottle was plugged......so put the nozzle in the tube and gave it a blast of air................... Got a real unusual paint job on my drill press now :rolleyes:

:humpty: :beat: :beat: :beat: :laugha:

thanks, ya I use a 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons of hot water in it.

I break the brush down after each painting session and clean it completely. Run airbrush cleaning brushes through it to get out the gunk. First brush I had I did not do this. Had to soak the parts in airbrush retorer for a few hours to get all the crap out of it, then a complete cleaning.

Jigman

Thanks all for your advice. I am going to try the hot simple green method first. Jigs, I guess I have to shop on line more as the local retailers (AC Moores and Michaels ) don't have any cleaning brushes, hell they don't have much of anything anymore.

Slip, I am going to need that name again of the place in Easton. I ve decided to do just base coats with the Badger and try the new brush for detail.

Thanks again guys, much appreciated.:wave:

If your using a cup, drill a hole just large enough to take the tip of the gun and put a few 1/8 air holes around the top of a closed plastic 1 gal milk jug. Dip the cup in the water and spray into the jug. Keeps the bucket water clean and you don't smell the cleaner when you use it
either.

Try using these things with your cleaner in it.. Insert into the pick up and squeeze and pull back on the lever of the gun into a bucket of H2O. Does a real nice job of cleaning out the previous color. Then a Q tip into the pick up tube to clean it out even better. Thank canalman for the q-tip tidbit and I think Bernzy told me about the wash bottle.

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Flap

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Pearlescent ink[paint] isn't for use in an airbush,,,brush/dip pen only...purhaps this is one of the problems of the sticky airbruch your having.