Paint Gun Cleaning

[NCmau]

Is there a better way for a paint gun cleaning bath other than to use
mineral spirits (for oil base paints)? I have a gun that I neglected to
clean after use and now it is not usable. Would a kerosene soaking
be better?

 

[John730D]

Lacquer thinner. Let it soak. I always use lacquer thinner to clean up with, then leave it in the gun and spray through gun before use. Save old thinner for cleanup, then use new to finish cleaning and storage.

 

[MO8N4ME]

(quoted from post at 06:20:42 10/03/11) Is there a better way for a paint gun cleaning bath other than to use
mineral spirits (for oil base paints)? I have a gun that I neglected to
clean after use and now it is not usable. Would a kerosene soaking
be better?

Take it all apart......remove plastic and rubber parts and seals......and soak it all in acetone or lacquer thinner. Let it sit a couple of days. get a gun cleaning brush so you can get into the fluid feed holes. Depending how long you let it sit, you may have to brush and soak a couple of times. Blow all the passages out with a blow gun. You probably ought to put back together with a maintenance kit or rebuild kit. Lots of luck.

 

[Dr. Bert]

Carquest Carburetor Cleaner in the spray can works well.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I do it exactly the same way John.
Usually if I know I'll be panting again in a few days I'll take the nozel off the gun and soak that inside the cup in lacquor thinner.
Any more I don't even use reducer for thinning enamel or acrylic enamel paint. Just lacquor thinner. It dramatically decreases dry time between coats and you can't tell the difference in the finish.

 

[NCmau]

Thanks for the responses. Just want to make sure I understand this. You could use lacquer thinner to mix oil base acrylic or enamel... and it would not separate.
Out of curiosity, what would you use for a stopped-up gun with water base paint, other than strong detergent... and I guess a little air movement in the cleaning tank would probably work better.

 

[souNdguy]

yikes!

not cleaning it when used was a bad deal.

carb cleaner is a thought... it's laq thinner mostly anyway...

when done painting, I use mineral spirits and naptha to do the cleaning.

soundguy

 

[DollarBill]

Out of curiosity, what would you use for a stopped-up gun with water base paint

May have to soak that one in carburetor cleaner and then rod out the passageways.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Yes, lacquor thinner instead of enamel reducer. Does not seperate. Works great. Try it on non critical areas like the underside of the chassis to get a feel for it.
I also use my paint gun to shoot latex. I clean it up first with soapy water, rinse, then blow it out good with air. Then run some lacquer thinner through it. You have to thin the latex paint down significantly in order to get it to shoot.
Get it right though and you can go over and over the item you are shooting almost as fast as shooting lacquor paint. I use it to shoot 6 panel doors etc that are painstaking to brush.
I would take a stopped up gun completely apart and soak it in a covered coffee can full of lacquor thinner for a few days. That should soften most anything in it. Then clean all the parts. I use a torch tip cleaner to rod out any junk in the tip etc. Don't get too agressive though as a tip cleaner acts like a round file and you can mess up the spray pattern.
I save the lacquor thinner to wash dirty parts in and to wash down the tractor chassis before painting. Use a brush and scrub it down.
Lacquor thinner is also great for rinsing off internal engine parts before reassembly. Just swish the part into a can of it. Leaves no residue and dries quickly so you can use white lithium grease etc.
I can not imagine restoring a tractor without a couple of gallons of lacquor thinner.

 

[MO8N4ME]

(quoted from post at 20:52:35 10/03/11) Thanks for the responses. Just want to make sure I understand this. You could use lacquer thinner to mix oil base acrylic or enamel... and it would not separate.
Out of curiosity, what would you use for a stopped-up gun with water base paint, other than strong detergent... and I guess a little air movement in the cleaning tank would probably work better.

[b:a66fbd947c]NEVER USE LACQUER THINNER TO REDUCE AND SPRAY ENAMEL!!!![/b:a66fbd947c]

Lacquer thinner is great in lacquer and is also a good gun cleaner, but never use it to reduce enamel you are going to spray.

I worked in auto body repair and paint for over 40 years and this is an absolute NO NO!

If you do not see the problems immediatly from this process, you WILL see it later.

If you don't know how to clean a paint gun you probably won't understand these paint terms but google them.

Thinning enamel with lacquer thinner causes:
Wrinkling
Solvent pop
Mapping
Die back
Loss of gloss
Delamination
Fading
Bridging
.......
.......
.......

NO,NO,NO,NO

 

[NCmau]

Maybe I should clarify my question little bit better. I have been using a paint gun for many years and I have always did the proper cleaning after usage. (I am not a car painter by a long shot, but I am okay with utility stuff). This one time I messed up and did not clean the gun as I should have. My question has been answered... Lacquer for gun cleaning after removing the plastic components. Does the lacquer also apply for cleaning the gun after latex use?

 

[MO8N4ME]

(quoted from post at 00:34:31 10/04/11) Maybe I should clarify my question little bit better. I have been using a paint gun for many years and I have always did the proper cleaning after usage. (I am not a car painter by a long shot, but I am okay with utility stuff). This one time I messed up and did not clean the gun as I should have. My question has been answered... Lacquer for gun cleaning after removing the plastic components. Does the lacquer also apply for cleaning the gun after latex use?

Soaking it in lacquer thinner should do the trick. You will still need to brush out the passageways with a cleaning brush.

While I don't usually recommend using water in aluminum spray guns, if you have sprayed latex in it then this is moot. TSP(granules) can be mixed with water and soak the gun in the mixture. Trisodiumphosphate TSP will disolve dried latex.

If you have an expensive aluminum gun you would be better off buying a $50-$60 dollar Wagner at Walmart to spray latex. Aluminum and water....highly corrosive!

 

[Ultradog MN]

Yes.
Wash with soap and water. Rinse. Blow dry. Then run lacquer thinner through it. There are emoliants, additives, hydrogenated oils, surfactants and all kinds of weird stuff in latex paint. Soap and water alone wont clean it out of your gun.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Maybe. Maybe not.
All of these were shot with enamel with a hardner and lacquor thinner.

 

[NCmau]

Thanks

 

[MO8N4ME]

ultradog......and they look real nice too.

 

[sgtbull]

dunno what I'm doing wrong, but I've restored over 30 tractors over the last 25 yrs and used lacquer thinner as a reducer w/ enamel paints w/ no problems. The end product has a nice high gloss and has held up for many yrs.
Use the same thinner to clean up my gun afterwards.

 

[MO8N4ME]

(quoted from post at 02:54:31 10/07/11) dunno what I'm doing wrong, but I've restored over 30 tractors over the last 25 yrs and used lacquer thinner as a reducer w/ enamel paints w/ no problems. The end product has a nice high gloss and has held up for many yrs.
Use the same thinner to clean up my gun afterwards.

Yep, some people have all the luck