How to clean your airbrush

The most important bit of maintenance you will ever do is cleaning your airbrush. You’ll do it so often that you’ll stop thinking about it. Whenever you encounter spray problems step through these methods in order.

Setp1:
After spraying your project and your ready to clean the paint from the Airbrush, or you are just ready for a color change, discard the paint from the color cup with a squeeze bottle and use a cleaning brush to clean the color cup immediately. Remember to never let any paint dry or sit in the Airbrush as this will cause a world of problems for you

Step2:
Now, using a bucket of fresh water (the bucket is to minimize over-spray in the air), submerge the Airbrush underwater and perform the “flush and back-flush” steps. This is where you allow clean water to run through the Airbrush and then allowing water to back-flush any pigment inside of it. This is achieved by “plugging” and “un-plugging” the tip (needle cap) of the brush with your finger. Do this 10-20 times underwater or until clean.

Step3:
Note: Although the color cup and airbrush visibly appear to be clean, there may still be pigment inside the body of the brush AND on the needle. Remove the needle by loosening the needle chuck and wipe the needle clean. While the needle is out, you can flush and back-flush the Airbrush through fresh water to insure it is 100% clean. Now you can gently replace the needle. (be very soft handed and be careful replacing the needle as to avoid damaging the fluid nozzle.)

Step4:
Airbrush cleaner can now be added to the brush to eat away any stubborn paint still inside the brush. (If you are using auto paint, use reducer as your cleaner). Flush and back-flush a few times and spray out the cleaner to get a visual spray test. If a sputtering or spitting pattern comes out, your brush is still dirty and you will need to repeat steps 1-4.