Acrylic thinner = nail polish remover?

Slurm · Post by **Slurm** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:17 am

Hey all,

It occured to me after smelling my Acrylic thinner the other day (and i feel GREEAATTT!!!) that the oder is very resemblent to nail polish remover. Has anyone ever looked into this as a possible lower cost alternative? Does anyone know if there is a difference?

Thanks!

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:46 am

Nail polish remover is lacquer thinner. Which may, or may not work with acrylics. Tamiya thinner is isopropyl alcohol with addatives same with the Mr. Thinner for acrylics. Because Gunze also makes lacquer based paints (the Mr. Surfacer series) that also have a lacquer based thinner.

While I'm ok with using straight lacqer thinner for lacquer based paints, I stick with Tamiya thinner for all my acrylic paints.

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:46 am

Slurm wrote:Hey all,

It occured to me after smelling my Acrylic thinner the other day (and i feel GREEAATTT!!!) that the oder is very resemblent to nail polish remover. Has anyone ever looked into this as a possible lower cost alternative? Does anyone know if there is a difference?

Thanks!

It's Acetone, and that'll wipe acrylics off with ease. If you're looking for a cheap thinner (other than water) other options are:
- windshield wiper fluid
- Kodak Photo-Flo 200 in water. A bottle will last for decades, since you only need a few drops in a lot of water.
- a tiny amount of dishwasher soap in a lot of water.

If you want both a thinner and paint remover, Denatured alcohol works well as both. Acetone works as well (or better) but it will affect styrene. Isopropyl alcohol also works, but it isn't as good at removing dried paint as Acetone or Denatured Alcohol.

Frank

Slurm · Post by **Slurm** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:30 pm

is any of that safe for cleaning out Tamiya acrylic paint from my airbrush?

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:37 pm

Windex is the best for cleaning out the dregs from your airbrush. I use it for my monthly deep cleaning, otherwise I use EZ Air cleaner.

Why you ask? Not fond of atomising amonia.

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:10 pm

Slurm wrote:is any of that safe for cleaning out Tamiya acrylic paint from my airbrush?

I have an Aztec, and I run denatured alcohol to rinse out the tip, and clean out the airbrush with their cleaning tool. Depending on the paint, i may soak the tip in either acentone or Denatired alcohol for a while, then clean off any excess paint with a microbrush.

If I'm not going to use the brush for a while, I reassemble it and run a cup of warm water through it.

Post by **TER-OR** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:03 pm

Acetone is a very hot solvent. It will dissolve many rubbers (not sure about neoprene) and will attack plastic. I'd be very careful using it to clean the airbrush. I'd use alcohol first, then ammonia-containing windex.

I will shoot a tiny amount of windex through the airbrush between colors if I'm doing more than one in a session. Simple Green is pretty good for that, too.

BKShepherd · Post by **BKShepherd** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:49 pm

Try some Goo Gone also

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:39 am

BKShepherd wrote:Try some Goo Gone also

GooGone is lighter fluid, much akin to white gas. As a petroleum distilate I'm not sure how it would react to lacquer.

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Acrylic thinner = nail polish remover?

Acrylic thinner = nail polish remover?

Re: Acrylic thinner = nail polish remover?