Cood Cheap Cleaner For Aztek?

[YT]

What is the best cheap cleaner for an Aztek airbrush? I usually paint with MM enamels. Would Castrol Super Clean be a good choice?

[Joseph Osborn]

What is the best cheap cleaner for an Aztek airbrush? I usually paint with MM enamels. Would Castrol Super Clean be a good choice?

Good old lacquer thinner is cheaper. Are you trying to clean the nozzles or the airbrush body? The nozzles can be carefully disassembled and soaked in lacquer thinner for a short while. The body is a different matter-- it can't be soaked. You can use a q-tip soaked in thinner to swab out the area where the nozzle fits. I don't shoot a lot of solvent paint through my Azteks any more, but here's my normal cleaning routine: when finished painting, run Windex or plain water through the nozzle until clear and backflush, then remove the nozzle and drop it into a glass container full of Createx airbrush cleaner for storage. Then take a q-tip and swab out the body cavity. Done. I do the same basic thing when using solvent paints, but I shoot solvent thinner through the brush until it's clear then follow up with water. This rapid cleaning makes Azteks convenient to use for small jobs. Hope this helps you!

[macfrank]

For acrylics, I run denatured alcohol through the brush, then disassemble the tip (but I don't take out the pin) and soak it in denatured alcohol, then use a microbrush to clean the tip out. That's how I've gotten 6+ years out of some of my tips. If the paint is really caked on, I soak in in acetone.

As for cleaning the body - this may come as a truly unbelievable statement -
If you follow the instructions with the airbrush and use the little red tool to clean out the head as instructed and don't soak the body in solvent, chances are good that you won't have a problem with the brush.