Question: cleaning of in-jar airbrush mesh filter

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Nice days are approaching, perfect for outdoor airbrushing (I currently don’t have a spray booth required for safe indoor airbrushing). I have purchsed one of them there “$40.00 special” Harbor Freight 3 gallon air compressors (so far it does work pretty well in filling my automobile tires, retaining even pressure and not leaking), and also among other things a moisture trap (I subscumed to Cody’s suggestion, and got a Husky in-line trap) and in-jar paint filter (a mesh cylinder which fits over the siphon tube in the paint jar).

OK, searching around here for hints on how to clean such a filter, all I could find was a thread saying don’t use that filter, strain the paint using your wife’s old pantyhose!
Well, however effective that concept may be , a) I don’t currently have a girlfriend, nor am I going to start asking random women for used pantyhose (for obvious reasons) and b) even if I was willing to buy new pantyhose in a store (which I am not), this not being 1978 pantyhose and stocking have been somewhat relegated to somewhat pricey specality items like patterns and fishnets, clearly not suitable for filtering (the days of L’Eggs seem over around these parts).

That said, does anyone have an efficent method for cleaning these in-jar mesh filters that doesn’t involve pouring tons of thinner thru the mesh (I plan to spray some floquil among other things, so warm water won’t cut it)?
Also, does anyone use cheesecloth in filtering (that I wouldn’t mind buying) paint?

Thanks all.

2

Well, I haven’t tried spraying Floquil, but I would try washing it in Lacquer thinner. That is what I use for cleaning up dried acrylic paint from my airbrush and paint cups.

By the way, I don’t use jar a filter. I have a couple of them, but they are kind of messy to clean up. I have found that if you keep the caps and jar mouths clean, you don’t usually get crud falling in the paint jar.

The technique I use when I open any bottle of paint anytime and all the time is wipe the inside of the cap around the threads and where the jar mouth contacts the seal with a Q-tip to remove all the paint. Then I wipe the paint off the jar mouth with a paper towel.

3

OK, that may work.

I think the problem the filters (and used pantyhose) are trying to solve is crude (dried blobs, debris, clumps of pigment, etc) in the actual paint itself, not anything to do with the cleaniness of the airbrush spray jar, nor with the cleaniness of the paint bottles themsleves, although what you mentioned certainly can’t hurt.

4

I always use an in-jar filter when I am spraying. It gives some protection to the air brush in case I get into some gummy paint and do not realize it until too late - like happened last week!! [:O] When the filter gets gunked up, I put it to soak for a few days in a jar of laquer thinner, which cleans it right up. I have laquer thinner because one of my paints (AlClad) uses laquer thinner as thinner and solvent. 90% rubbing alcohol should also work, just not as fast.

Laquer thinnner also works well for cleaning stubborn paint from the inside of paint bottles, if you re-use paint bottles fro mixing and spraying paint.

5

I use acrylic paints, not Floquil. In my case, I clean all filters and strainers in an ultrasonic cleaner. Works very well and only takes a few minutes.

Keith

6

I clean my airbrush and its accessories religiously after each use. But, there are time that I get interrupted stuff happens. Since I only use acrylics I found that soaking parts in Windex for a few hours does a great job of cleaning up. A pipe cleaner soaked in Windex or rubbing alcohol shoved into the siphon tube does a great job of cleaning not only the tube, but the strainer, as well.

7

I’ve never had need to strain paint, but it seems to me that the easiest method is the one which you mention first. You seem to not want to use thinner (lacquer thinner will dissolve Floquil), cheesecloth is too coarse to do the job, and an ultrasonic cleaner is a pretty pricey option for this one simple task. You should be able to buy cheap panty hose at Walmart which will do the trick (and, as you can see, it’s L’eggs). What’s the big deal about buying pantyhose, or, for that matter, anything else? Have you been in Walmart? Nobody bothers to be embarrassed there. [swg]

Now, if you want to see pantyhose doing some really serious

8

Ummmm, thanks a lot. I was just about to have supper. Please don’t tell me that you actually watched all 7 minutes and 47 seconds of that.

9

One other thing to consider is the type of paints used.
When I modeled 1/24 cars & Big Rigs, I got hooked on House of Kolor paints, their (at the time) most awesome KlearKote was a catalized mix. I did have the screen filter in the bottle & for cleaning Laquer & others would not touch it, however the HOC thinner did, & it was expensive.

The same goes for Epoxy Based paint, in the last 20 years good hard paints are almost gone, the new formulas are everchanging to (at least my) common practices. Always read understand & never subistute, over what a manufacturer recommends. Yes, it costs more, but it was formulated to work only that way, & it does, most of the time.

I have heard of folks soda blasting the screen filters & wondered how the next shoot went, when they could of used the recommended product to resolve the issue.

I still shoot the hard enamels, laquers, & HOC, at times, & they work for me & I know how to do them. Take the time & follow the recommended practices & there will not be any problems.
I really enjoy a stellar paint job, but have had my fair share of crusty ones too, even recently. Anything can & will happen.

I’ve noticed that the trend for cleaning these days, is more potent Alcohol based synthetics, they are pretty powerfull. If I find that my 3608S 3M Laquer won’t bite, an Alcohol may if given the time.

For me, Floquil, Humbrol, & Testors enamels work best with their thinner, & clean up nice with Laquer thinner.
Tamiya, Scale Coat II, & some store brands can be thinned with Laquer, but I prefer to use their native products to shoot paint that way, & save the Laquer thinner for cleaning the equipment.

Honestly, I have never needed to do more cleaning on the filter screen, & I have had paint “Chunk Up”, go “Cottage Cheese”, & “Jellow Up” in the jar, but the appropriate thinners have always cleaned it up

10

I only saw 30 seconds of that and it is precious time I’ll never get back.

11

To get back on topic…

Except for using an ultrasonic cleaner, as has already been mentioned, there really isn’t a faster or less messy way to clean those screens. I quit using them and paint jars 30 years. The only real quick way is to use paint cups and the dreaded stockings, (you could substitute automotive paint strainers but then it gets more costly). It takes me less than 30 seconds to rinse out my airbrush and paint cup. If I was using solvent paints it might take me a minute longer. My mother saves up her stockings/pantyhose and gives me a bag of them a couple times a year, I cut them up into 4" squares and they’re ready to use as I need them.