I always thinned my paints with it, but now have read that I've been doing it wrong. Besides, you should flush any residue out with water as a final step. Acrylics will dissolve with Windex and it is very inexpensive to use as a cleaner. Cleaning an airbrush: Step 7 Cleaning an Airbrush Step 8: Unscrew the end-cap counter-clockwise. How bad the sludge effect is will vary depending on the brand and type of non-water-based paint you’ve been using. I sprayed some straight out of the bottle today with my Badger 360 and that cleaning solution hardly touched the dried paint on the walls of the airbrush cup. This is due to the ammonia that is in the Windex. 1. The ammonia in Windex will affect the chrome finish by turning it black. We prefer to be upfront with the stipulations of ammonia based products and state as such in the instructions. Full disclosure: the airbrush manufacturers do not recommend Windex as the ammonia will also remove the chrome plating from the airbrush over time. My final recommendation is to avoid water for cleaning and give some general purpose thinners a go instead, I think you’ll be suitably impressed! link to How To Drain Water Out Of An Airbrush Compressor Water Trap (Steps), link to How To Use A Single Action Airbrush (Step by Step Guide). General purpose thinners bought from a hardware or automotive store will seldom be perfect for thinning paint for airbrushing, and it’s often excellent at cleaning virtually any paint out of your airbrush as well. Make sure to flush your airbrush with water after cleaning. Products like Windex and other window cleaners sometimes have ammonia in them which is a decent airbrush cleaner for acrylic paints, however the ammonia will damage the chrome and brass on an airbrush over time possibly making it unusable. This flushes out the low-hanging fruit of the paint still in the needle channel and nozzle. Water is not an ideal airbrush cleaner as it will only be effective on water based paints but will likely cause problems with other paint types by causing them to become sticky and hard to remove. Welcome to HyperScale's Discussion, Picture Posting & Trading Forums. The Windex doesn't thin the acrylics, it dissolves them and running Windex through the airbrush doesn't leave any foul smells (but if your spouse does ask about the smell, tell her you're cleaning … The paint will perfectly thin with specific brand-made proprietary thinners and so will also make clean-up an easy task. He has been in the business for a mighty long time and Badger has a long history. Spray the cleaner or water through the airbrush until it sprays clear. Spray into a Spray Out Pot or paper towel. This website uses cookies for functionality, analytics and advertising purposes as described in our, PLANE TALKING - HyperScale's Aircraft Scale Model Discussion Forum, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az00Gcx5sO8, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvUIE2OTfl8. I too have wondered for quite some time if IPA can be used in the cleaning process of an airbrush. Step 3: Rinse Airbrush Internals. You can also use it to clean the airbrush at the end of your painting session during the final strip down. Windex is also a great cleanser for cars, says Deidre Fisher, owner of Simply Bliss Cleaning in Salt Lake City, Utah. I use ammonia-free Windex, and water with just a little dishwashing liquid soap for my everyday cleaning when I'm painting, and Createx Airbrush Restorer for my bi-monthly deep soak and clean (I do it when I think the airbrush isn't shooting well). Dump the water and submerge the needle and cup into the warm water and pull the trigger. Isopropyl alcohol, or IPA, is a decent airbrush cleaning fluid as it will be reasonably aggressive in removing and cleaning away paint but not so aggressive that it will quickly destroy rubber o-rings or chrome plating. Acetone will be effective in cleaning out virtually any type of paint, however it will also be effective at attacking and damaging the chrome on an airbrush and also any rubber o-rings inside your airbrush. If you use water to clean your airbrush after you’ve been using a paint that shouldn’t be mixed with water, the remaining paint can turn into a sludge that becomes exceedingly difficult to remove. Yes, you can use Windex between colors, but only use it for acrylics. A: Avoid cleaning your airbrush gun with products like Windex, as you don’t want their residual chemicals interacting with your clients’ skin. You may find that some paints are a little temperamental with it and won’t react all that well, possibly going a little clumpy or sludgy, but for many paints it will work suitably well. Additionally, if I’ve gunked up my airbrush with any type of paint for any reason, general purpose thinners has always easily cleaned it out for me, especially so with the additional use of an airbrush cleaning brush. Windex, a cleaner that many modelers use when cleaning their brushes proved efficient at dissolving Tamiya and Mission Models but not much else. Cleaning an Airbrush: Step 6 Cleaning an Airbrush Step 7: The lever has a slot running through it, be sure when replacing it after cleaning that this runs front to back, so to allow the needle passage. Second, take it all a part and wipe everything with Windex and a cotton swab. Found the email exchange below. I used windex in that video to do it but also touched a little about the argument on using ammonia based products for cleaning the airbrush. I use distilled water as I live in an area with very hard water and don't want calcium buildup. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. If you’ve found yourself with thickened paint sludge in your airbrush you should do the following: Which brings us to what you should be using to clean your airbrush…. Don't mess with the needle! While there are a number of proprietary options, my go-to airbrush cleaning solution is general purpose thinners due to its effectiveness and low price. I forgot how to put it back together and now my airbrush … I would be more concerned with Windex being used as a thinner, as … I'do never heard that before so I went and did some research. someone below mentioned not using Windex in an airbrush. If a paint is capable of being thinned perfectly with water and gives the same high quality paintwork results when compared to if it was thinned with proprietary paint thinner, then it is safe and effective to clean your airbrush with water. Getting paint from a spray can into an airbrush or bottle is often damn near impossible, UNLESS you know this ridiculously simple trick... You can use water to clean an airbrush if the paints you are using are water based paints. An example of this can be seen below which is an airbrush cleaning solution for the Tamiya brand of paints, and can be used with any paint types offered by Tamiya, from acrylics to enamels to lacquers. Some like to use Windex in their home brew reducers / cleaners. Spray a few full cups of Windex through your brush until no color is coming out. In short, the best alternatives for airbrush cleaners are denatured alcohol, simple clean, windshield washer, or Windex for acrylic paint and cellulose thinner or windshield washer for enamel paints. Then whilst it was wet I put lots of water in and kept spraying to get the paint out. For intermediate cleanings such as this the thinner used to clean the airbrush should be matched to the type of paint used. In this case, simply using more water will not fix the problem, and may well make it worse. I always cleaned after with Windex and as a final step blew denatured alcohol through my brush. There are three main options when it comes to what you should clean your airbrush with: Many paint manufacturers will make a proprietary airbrush cleaning solution which is the best thing for cleaning your airbrush after using their paints, although may be a little on the expensive side. Help with airbrush cleaning for beginner? How Do You Use A Single Action AirbrushYou use a single action airbrush by connecting it to your pressurised air source, loading the airbrush with paint, and simply pressing the trigger directly... As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The goal here is to clean out the internals of the airbrush. I didn't try using this mixture for airbrush cleanup as I use Windex window cleaner with ammonia for that job. When it comes to cleaning an airbrush, many products can be used to do so, at least when it comes to using water based paints. For other brands of acrylic, windex … someone below mentioned not using Windex in an airbrush. If Badger doesn't know then no one does...... OK it is long, but at the end is a great discussion of cleaning an airbrush. It’s also important to have the right tools and cleaning agents to keep that airbrush working well. Step 3 – Fill the paint cup most of the way with lacquer thinner. A lot of people use a window cleaner, like Windex, that contains ammonia to clean their airbrushes after spraying acrylic paint. It refers to cleaning the nozzle assembly but I read it two times and maybe I missed it but I didn't see a warning about using an Ultrasonic cleaner on the body. Personally I don’t use a proprietary airbrush cleaning solution at all, I would rather use the thinners specific for the paint I’m using, but having said this the paint specific thinners is still my number two choice…. We feature beginner and advanced help on all model railroading scales, including layout track plans, model railroad product reviews, model train news, and model railroad forums. If your particular paint comes with an accompanying specially made thinner, while being the thinner you would obviously use to thin the paint for airbrushing, it will also be perfect for using to clean your airbrush. I use Windex (ammonia-free) to clean between colors. Today we’re going to talk about saving money on airbrush cleaner. Isopropyl Alcohol (Rubbing Alcohol) is one of those products that many wonder if they can use to clean their airbrushes.. Windex will eat through Tamiya like they're nothing. Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner (250ml cleaning fluid), However if your brand of paint doesn’t have a specific airbrush cleaner in the range, or if you simply don’t have any proprietary airbrush cleaner available, you can always fall back on paint specific thinners…. Alcohol vs. windex as an airbrush cleaner for Tamiya acryics--I don't know which is cheaper, but windex does a better job of cleaning an airbrush than does alcohol. For the amount of time that Windex sits in the airbrush for the purpose of cleaning, I would not be too concerned. and the guard. I had to use Mr. Lacquer to show that paint who was boss. The windex dissolves the tamiya acrylic, while the alcohol is just a diluent. Remove the gun from the water and spray onto a white napkin or white paper towel. Q: Can I use Windex to clean my TEMPTU airbrush gun? Model Railroader is the world's largest magazine on model trains and model railroad layouts. Isopropyl alcohol works great for most commercial airbrush paints. But i'll swith to a non ammonia based thinner and see what I can find for a cleaner short of the denatured alcohol. If you don’t see any color on your napkin or paper towel, your gun is clean. 1c. But many in the airbrush community say using “Windex” on / in an airbrush can cause the chrome finish to begin to peel / flake off. So just how detrimental can it be to your airbrush if you use water to thin a paint that’s not supposed to have water added, or to clean your airbrush if you’ve been using paints that do not take well to water…. A surprising result was the rather anemic performance turned in by Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner (#71.119). My oldest Iwata finally has bare brass showing at the bottom of its paint cup after a decade of Windex exposure. Admittedly, the amount of ammonia in these products may be small, but there’s no point in tempting fate when there are many better and equally cost effective solutions available. Of course, there's at least ONE person who bought into the arugument that using windex is bad for the airbrush. You don't want to use anything tougher than a swab (ie toothbrush) as you could wind up putting in small scratches which could affect performance and make it easier for paint to build up there again. Direct the airbrush into your cleaning pot or the eyes or nasal passages of your enemies and let fly. Ammonia has proven excellent for cleaning water based paints, however much like acetone, it will attack chrome and also brass to an extent so should be avoided. Can You Use Windex To Clean An Airbrush. First as stated, clean as you go is the #1 rule of airbrushing. I do remember referring this for a gravity fed airbrush too where paint touches the cup, throat, nozzle, needle. If you left it to soak it might even take off the finish. More caustic thinners such as mineral spirits or laquer thinner will also work very well on acrylics. Fill a clean bottle (not included) with Medea Airbrush Cleaner (or appropriate cleaner) and attach it to the airbrush. Without naming names another airbrush company has one rep that claims ammonia is fine and won't harm the airbrush while another rep says otherwise,,,so where's the reality,,,lol. QUOTE: I have noticed that the cleaning mixture you mentioned does not do real well for Model Master Acryl, especially the white. Products like Windex and other window cleaners sometimes have ammonia in them which is a decent airbrush cleaner for acrylic paints, however the ammonia will damage the chrome and brass on an airbrush over time possibly making it unusable. Windex, a product that many modelers use when cleaning their brushes proved efficient at dissolving Tamiya and Mission Models but not much else. At the end of the day though, isopropyl alcohol wouldn’t be my first choice to clean an airbrush. It's great, but it won't do very well for other kinds of paint. Pro Tip: Our S/B Airbrush Cleaner is the professional choice for effortless airbrush cleaning Hello, I bought an airbrush recently. In a practical sense this will only be possible with acrylic paints as enamels and lacquers need to be thinned ideally with proprietary thinners that have a specific chemical make-up, and water is insufficient or ineffective to properly thin the paint, and in some cases can be very detrimental. Below we will be discussing airbrush cleaners. A surprising result is the rather anemic performance turned in by Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner. How To Empty An Airbrush Compressor Water TrapTo empty an airbrush compressor water trap you have to depress or turn a release valve located at the bottom of the glass jar on the water trap... How To Use A Single Action Airbrush (Step by Step Guide). After each painting session, I dis-assemble the airbrush, wash thoroughly with warm/hot warm and maybe a bit of Dawn dish soap, dry everything thoroughly, re-assemble and shoot a bit of Createx thinner/cleaner through the brush. , How To Drain Water Out Of An Airbrush Compressor Water Trap (Steps). I'do never heard that before so I went and did some research. General purpose thinners is my go to airbrush cleaning fluid for the following reasons: General purpose thinners can be obtained at lot more cheaply that special airbrush cleaner or paint thinners, and given you go through it relatively quickly it’s worth. Also a great cleanser for cars, says Deidre Fisher, owner of Simply Bliss cleaning in Lake! 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