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Cleaning spraying gun after painting

G

Gennady

Well-Known Member
Hello team.
I found myself repeating tedious procedure of cleaning spraying gun after each paining session. it does not matter that I blowing varsol trough gun each time, it is getting clogged. I am disassembling gun each time and cleaning each part separately and even using paint stripper. Quite dull and time consuming, not even talking about big waste of solvents.
Is there better way ?
 
@Gennady : match the cleaner to the “paint” you have used. Lots of coatings are going water based. Doesn’t mean the coating is solvable in water, but water may be able to “clean” or reduce it. Oil paints can be typically cleaned out with reducer, turpentine, acetone….

For water based, latex or varnish etc I have had great luck with latex paint cleaner or bio type paint stripper (especially on the outside of the gun)

Make sure your cleaning solution matches what you’re spraying
 
Gennady said:
Quite dull and time consuming, not even talking about big waste of solvents.
Is there better way ?
Click to expand...

Jee Wizz! I NEVER have that problem. NEVER!

I believe the secret is actually quite simple. Spray it with oil instead of paint.

I hate painting so I avoid it at all cost.
 
Agree with the proper solvent comment. I never had issues with cleaning catalyzed auto paint until I started messing around with waterborne. They did sell a matching cleaner but it was pretty anemic. It would reduce wet paint so-so, but it would only barely soften any dried material which can occur in nooks & crannies, worse yet needle & orifice areas. It just started to build up over time which drove me crazy. I have never had typical go-to hydrocarbon solvents like lacquer thinner & gun wash let me down, but they did not effectively remove semi cured (never mind fully cured) water based. Maybe it was the brand, I dunno. Water is just the carrier, once the stuff cures it can be pretty tenacious. I know waterborne its probably the way of the future with VOC regs & all that, but I find it fiddly.
 
Susquatch said:
Jee Wizz! I NEVER have that problem. NEVER!

I believe the secret is actually quite simple. Spray it with oil instead of paint.

I hate painting so I avoid it at all cost.
Click to expand...
Unless your machine is going into a hazardous environment - think Chernobyl - I agree with Susquatch that paint in anathematic
 
What kind of paint, what kind of gun, what kind of projects ?

Auto paint, auto finish, auto sprayer, gun wash and disassemble after spraying, if you don't it'll bite you on the next one

Airless sprayer, steel, don't care to much, varsol, flip the nozzle around and blow the clog out, continue
 
I have only had trouble cleaning waterborne finishes, the absolute worst was water-based Varathane. The only way I could avoid disassembling the whole gun was to drop it in a bucket of water immediately after releasing the trigger for the final shot.
 
For my RC racers a few years ago I went down the path of Createx Wicked system, primarily through mini HVLP gun & airbrush for detailing/FX. Its the new & improved Auto Air system (well, even thats old news I'm dating myself). It has many positive attributes, wide color selection, small quantities, crazy cool colors & FX, decent adhesion... but that's another discussion. It has some quirks & pros & cons like any new system. But last summer I bought some regular out of the can auto base system because it was for a color match. Coming off the Wicked it just struck me how comparatively easy & user friendly it was to spray & cleanup. The color was more solid, predictable & fast cure, much more forgiving of temperature & humidity. Blow through some gun wash & its whistle clean, no drama. On the Wicked I immediately sprayed water through, back purged, complete disassembly into water bucket, then soak & clean with their special cleaner. Still I had color particulates & its time consuming to inspect everything. I'm a solvent guy. Go hydrocarbons LOL

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Gennady said:
Hello team.
I found myself repeating tedious procedure of cleaning spraying gun after each paining session. it does not matter that I blowing varsol trough gun each time, it is getting clogged. I am disassembling gun each time and cleaning each part separately and even using paint stripper. Quite dull and time consuming, not even talking about big waste of solvents.
Is there better way ?
Click to expand...
What kind of paint are you using?
 
I actually kind of like HVLP painting. I have had problems with "hammered look" paints tho. It has to go on thick and only solvent for it is xylene. Occasionally the inline filter in the gun has to be changed. Seems to me its a bit of an art and not as easy as it looks. The more practice you get the better your results will get. The type of paint you are using matters!
 
They make paint gun washers. Not cheap though. They do come up at auction pretty reasonably priced.
I have sprayed lacquer for years (not anymore, I hate painting). I would run about a half cup of thinners thru. Wipe the whole gun with a rag, Take it apart, and run a pipe cleaner up the tube and fluid passages with solvent. Put it back together and spray another 1/2-3/4 cup of thinners. Take the air cap off and put it in a sealed container with fresh thinners and Bobs your uncle.

 
phaxtris said:
What kind of paint, what kind of gun, what kind of projects
Click to expand...
It is an alkyd enamel. I am using no-name paint gun with gravity feed, nothing special or expensive.
I am using following protocol for cleaning:
1. Right after painting - clear Varsol to blow out any paint remnants inside that gun.
2. After Varsol a bit of gas to clean it even more.
3. And finally good blow of compressed air on full pressure.

Still have a lot =of residue inside that clogs gun very quickly
 
Thanks for you inputs, guys.

Another paint that I discovered was two component micropoxy from SW. Not a chip stuff, I bout A+B one gallon each and it is very good. It made, however, sitation even worth. epoxy, is poorly dilutes in anything but acetone and my acetone consumption :) has risen since that dramatically.
 
I have a similar style gun a JET gravity feel hvlp I love it.

What i spray is industrial enamel modified urethane or alkyd base, oxide metal primers, I used to spray a heck of a lot of paint at one time

I use xylene or varsol thinner to clean. I use a very small amount less than an ounce in the cup, shake it around good then return that to the paint can, I do that 2x.
Next, a bit more thinner in, open the paint flow needle right up, shake the gun and spray that all out done 2 x as well.
Ill take a clean rag with fresh solvent, wipe the nozzle, gun body wipe out the paint cup and clean the cap threads really good, turn it upside down to dry
All done and put away in 5 mins
I dont normally take anything apart, maybe once every dozen or so sprays Ill take the tip off and carefully clean the orfices with welding tip cleaner or very fine drill bits but only if needed.

When I had devilbiss JGA series guns I used to disasemble the entire gun, clean with brushes and put all the parts in the cup with solvent.

I dont miss any of that anymore
 
I will put some cleaner into the paint container, lid on, then shake it around, then dump out into a "dirty cleaner". Sometimes do this twice or more, depending on how dirty the cleaner looks.....then, (with air disconnected), open the trigger and let gravity wash through the passages. You will see it go from slow and thick stream to free-er flowing and clear. Do this twice. Each time, I am only using a 2-3 ounces of cleaner, but I mostly use a touch up container (250 ml I think?) My reasoning is to not spray cleaner all over under pressure and get rid of the bulk of the paint. Then a few passes of cleaner sprayed into a rag, held loosely over the nozzle, varying all of the controls ie paint volume, air volume, spray pattern, etc. By now, it should be pretty clean. Then pull the tip (spray cap?) and make sure it is clean . And, as mentioned, position the gun upside down to dry. Seems to have mostly worked for years......but once in awhile, nice to disassemble and give it a good cleaning (also previously mentioned). I used to disassemble after every use, but after whining to our local paint shop, he gave me this procedure.
 
That is great Shawn!
I do the same, open and let the paint flow through.
I use the minimal amount of thinners and return the waste back to the coating can so it can thin the product, I dont have to dump it somewhere and i save money on the Xylene.
Its hard to get here now, you have to sign for it at Sherwin Williams because of meth watch
 
Gennady said:
It is an alkyd enamel. I am using no-name paint gun with gravity feed, nothing special or expensive.
I am using following protocol for cleaning:
1. Right after painting - clear Varsol to blow out any paint remnants inside that gun.
2. After Varsol a bit of gas to clean it even more.
3. And finally good blow of compressed air on full pressure.

Still have a lot =of residue inside that clogs gun very quickly
Click to expand...
Buy a jug of Gun Wash.

But based on several years slinging paint on airplanes and helicopters, cleaning out your gun is just another part of the job that you are gonna have to accept...

On the brighter side, at least you are not going in to the paint booth thinking that the guns should be ready to go, only to find that some lazy POS swished out the guns and left them to harden to mung, the last time they were used!
 
For that type of spray gun, I just disassemble it, it only takes 5 minutes to pop the front off and clean the needle/nozzle/etc

I have done it the way suggested, spraying varsol/gun wash/etc through until clean and it bit me before in the form of orange peel in the finish. I tried everything and couldn't get the orange peel to disappear, took apart the gun and found a spec on the needle (or maybe the nozzle), cleaned it properly (disassemble) orange peel gone. Lesson learned, I just take it apart every time.
 
Helps too, to have on hand a set of #1 to #60 drills, as well as the smaller #60 to #80 drill sets. Mostly, use the blunt end of the drill to push out any solids built up in the passages. Use care, and you can save a lot of munged up parts that would otherwise need to be replaced.

Goes without saying, but saying it anyways, that if you get heavy handed with the bits, it's gonna cost you even more!
 
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