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"Airbrush Parts Cleaner
"
By Dan
Hagen
Here is a little time saver that I came
up with while doing a full day of airbrushing . I know that with one or two
airbrushes it doesn't take long to clean them when you are done. But as you add
more airbrushes to you arsenal of equipment it will become hardier to keep all
of those airbrushes and parts clean. This little item will clean your
airbrushes c while you are working on your next design. So lets get building
our cleaner and I hope you enjoy this how to.
Here is a basic list of the
items you will need to build this airbrush cleaner. |
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1. Two feet of copper
line (copper line should fit inside barbed nipple with minimum side to side
play) Pictured below |
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2. A 1/4 inch ball
valve and a 1/4 inch barbed nipple . |
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3. A large coffee can
with lid
4. A small air exhaust nipple (Hardware store)
5. A 3M scuff pad (Auto supply store).
6. 1/16th drill bit
and a hand held drill or drill press
7. An X acto
knife
8. 5 minute epoxy ( Wal-Mart or Hardware store should have
this on hand)
1. The first thing
you want to do it take you copper line and drill with the 1/16 th bit and drill
a series of holes on one side of the line. Set them about 1" to 2" inches
apart. You want about 10 to 15 small holes in the copper line ,but do not drill
the whole line leave about 13" of the line with no holes. Now take a pair of
pliers and crimp the end of the line closest to the holes. You want the air to
be able to come out the holes that you have just drilled. Now take a full pop
can or spray can and slowly coil the line around the can this will keep the
line from kinking and pinching the line off. You want about 2 full coils. Now
with that done let move to the next step. |
 |
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2. Now you want to
take your 1/4" ball valve attach the 1/4" barbed nipple to the valve, you can
use pipe dope tape to keep it air tight. Now take your copper line and scuff
the end of the line, 80 grit should do the trick. You can roll the 80 grit up
and scuff the inside of the nipple also ,but it isn't needed. Take and mix up
some 5 minute epoxy and apply it to the copper line the end of the line you
just scuffed. Goop it on good . Now take the line and push it into the barbed
nipple (do not push it all the way in or you may have trouble with the valve
opening, about 1" to 1 1/2" should do fine.) Let it set till the epoxy cure I
let mine set for about an hour. |
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3. This is what it
should look like when your done with this part of the project . Pictured
below. |
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4. While you are
waiting for you epoxy to dry take your X acto knife and make a small "x" in the
lid for the coffee can just large enough to put the air exhaust nipple in. This
will help vent the air from the can so you don't pop the lid of when you turn
the air on.
5. This is what you parts cleaner looks like after
you have put the coil in . Pictured below |
|
6. Now we need to
make a filter of sorts to trap all the dried paint from the needles and tips.
Take your lid and lay it on top of the 3M scuff pad and use you X acto knife to
cut the pad. This will be put over the copper coil and will still allow the air
to pass through. Cut a small notch to allow you copper line to pass
by. |
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7. If you airbrush
with textile paints mix up a nice cleaning solution and pour in just enough to
cover the parts. Set you air regulator on you compressor to about 15 psi and
slowly open the valve you don't want cleaning solution to bubble out of the
can. You can also use this for automotive paints, but be very careful to make
sure you have good ventilation and do not get any thinner on the
lid.
8.For textile paint I usually take my airbrush completely
apart and put the needles and the tips in the parts cleaner and let it work its
magic for about 10 minutes. Then I take them out and rinse them with hot water,
dry and reassemble. I will usually clean the body by hand ,but put it in the
cleaning solution for about 3 minutes. This is usually long enough to loosen
any dried paint. When I use automotive paint I always clean the body by hand
and just allow the needles and tips to clean in the parts washer.
Well
there you have it one of my little trick to keeping my airbrushes nice and
clean and ready for me to use without the worries of having dried paint caught
somewhere and reacting with paint I will put through it later. I hope you
enjoyed this little How To as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you.
Till the next time.
Dan Hagen
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part of this tutorial may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic
tape, mechanical or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Airhead
Airbrush. Com , Inc. and or the Contributing Artist |
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