I live in a hard water area. In fact, it is *very* hard water!
I fight a constant battle with limescale. It builds up on sinks, baths,
taps, in the toilet... I spend a fortune on strong cleaners to get rid of
it and additives to put in the washing machine to stop it getting clogged
up.
Sadly, I never considered the effect that hard water was having on my
airbrush. I use mostly acrylic paints, which are water soluble. After
spraying, I clean the brush by spraying through with water. Then I spray
surgical spirit (rubbing alcohol) through it. I then strip the brush down
and soak the components in surgical spirit for half an hour or so. After
that it is back into a water bath and then they are air-dried.
I've never consdered that fact that water which dries on taps leaving
limescale will be doing exactly the same thing to the airbrush components.
I was happily spraying a model today. I took my finger off the airbrush
trigger and it just carried on spraying! Nothing I could do would stop it!
Luckily I was only misting a matt varnish coat, so no problems were caused
on the model.
I stripped the brush down and found that the air valve has seized in the
open position. It seemed to be clogged with limescale! I put the valve in a
bath of Viakal limescale remover but there's no joy. The valve is seized
solid.
I've ordered a replacement valve. However, I think I need to reconsider my
airbrush cleaning strategy. I think that in future, the final rinse will
have to be in demineralised water from my local Auto shop.
Has anyone else experienced similar problems?
Enzo ... I don't know if this would help or not ... but for
example ... to clean out a coffee maker in a ' hard water ' area ...
your supposed to run a mixture of 1 part distilled vinegar and 1 part
water ( as if you were making a regular pot of coffee ... letting the
thing heat up as normal ) ... and then run regular water through the
thing to clean out the vinegar.
This might help solve your problem.
Matter of fact ... you might just let the airbrush soak in the mixture
as well.
Chris
I mIstakenly posted this to a totally unrelated group. Oddly enough I got a
similar response there. It's an excellent idea. I think I'll give it a go,
although using regular water *after* the vinegar seems to be defeating the
object as it will just leave limescale deposits as it dries. I'll try the
vinegar followed by demin water as a rinse.
Instead of a water rinse, how about using windshield washer fluid. It
costs about a dollar a gallon (locally) and is, to my understanding,
distilled water mixed with alcohol. Don't worry about the blue tint,
it doesn't show up when spraying.
i use distilled water. where i used to live had your kind of water and after
replacing airbrush parts, i wised up. i continue now.
one trick i used for my area brush was to buy 20 of them from a salvage.
they are the cheapo imitation badger 200-300 type. i paid about a buck fifty
each and just grabbed a case. look up building 19 and you'll see the kind of
store i mean.
it was the same place that around 1980 had all the 1/72 lindberg aircraft kits
i love to play with. they were a dollar each and i bought all they had, well
over 100. that's how i was able to do the first 15 versuchs model ar 234's.
anyway, distilled water works best. i also have one brush for acrylics and one
for enamels. it was cheaper in the long run than constantly wearing out
brushes drom taking them apart. i can now use 4-5 colors during a paint
session before taking one apart. and the enamel one cleans much faster. the
acrylic stuff takes much more attention to removing all paint.
did you soak the valve in distilled water? try it with a drop of dish
detergent.
there's stuff sold in this area for lime buildup. i forget the name but i can
check it out of you want.
I think the problem arises when I let the brush components air-dry. There
isn't a quick buildup of limescale on the brush - his has occured over a
period of six years. I think the reason that I haven't noticed it is because
it is inside the valve. However, now hat I'm aware of the problem, I shall
be taking steps to ensure it doesn't recur.
on 8/31/2008 2:11 PM Enzo Matrix said the following:
Do you own your home? If so, how about a water softener?
That might solve your bathroom lime scale problems too.
Many people use rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) as a thinner and
cleaning agent for acrylics. It is actually a water/alcohol mix. I
would guess that the water used in that mix is probably "soft", with
few dissolved minerals.
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