Modelling in a hard water area

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.

I just use bottled water. The cheap stuff, about $1 from the grocery store. The water in my area is just plain nasty.

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.

Hey ... just keep the vinegar away from your toothbrush ... we don't want a repeat of the Future mouthwash fiasco.

=3D]

Chris

nodnodnod That's true! :-D

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.