Totally agree Pete. An
airbrush is basically an air tube and a paint path. The air mixes with the air as a vortex as the air goes past the paint path, and the nozzle on the end controls flow of the subsequent mix. It’s a simple idea, but the finesse of the engineering makes them as flexible and refined as they are.
Let’s try to analyse this…..if you can sort this yourself John you will not only save money, you’ll learn more about how your
airbrush works…..and sort it out more quickly next time….
If you cant get air/paint out of the nozzle it must be caused by a blockage in the air/paint mix path. The blockage must be located in the body of the brush after the paint and airflow mix. If the blockage was further back in either path you would either get no air, or no paint. The paint and air paths themselves can therefore be taken as clear and working as expected.
If you are getting air back up the paint path into the paint cup then the blockage has occurred after the paint has been mixed into the airflow, and the air can only escape via the paint path.
The most likely place for the blockage is a very small crud lump in the nozzle, which is the most restricted part of the flow path. 0.2 is pretty small for general work, after all, and is better suited to inks (that have finer pigments) rather than paints. This is shown by your nozzle and needle change getting the brush back to working order.
I would definitely go with Dave’s tool cleaner suggestion. Soak all the air/paint path parts at least overnight and then scrub the large tubes out with the small bottle brushes you can get for the purpose. You can use an old nylon paintbrush to clean through the finer parts.
I would then try flushing through the nozzle with cellulose thinners using a pipette. Fill the pipette, push the pointed end of the nozzle into the pipette, and then expel the cleaning agent slowly backwards through the part using the pipette. Only clean it backwards! You don’t want to drive any blockage further in, especially if it is insoluble…..repeat this several times. Once you get easy flow through then the part is probably clean. Keep the flow slow and controlled. You want the solvent to dissolve away the blockage, not expel it by main force.
Clean the needle by drawing it through a fold of kitchen towel dampened with cleaning fluid. If the needle is dirty you will get a paint line on the paper. Repeat this until the fold stays clean.
Lastly, have a good look through the nozzle against a good light source using a jewellers loupe or such. You should be able to see light through the hole…..if you can’t, it’s probably still blocked. Repeat the processes above until you can see through it.
Lastly, I would rethink using a 0.2 nozzle for anything except really fine streaking or weathering. For the stuff we paint, it’s probably unnecessarily fine.
