So how do you clean an air brush?

[Monkeysmate]

I'm interested to know how folk clean air brushes?
Is it necessary to disassemble each time?
I just immersed it in a bucket of warm water and blew air through it for a bit, and used a paintbrush to clean the nozzle that never seemed to clean itself... Seemed OK, but will I run into trouble?
And how much cleaning is needed between colours?
Thank you.

[n design]

That's about what I do, I use mostly water based paint, also helps to use some reducer as well. I also use some cellulose thinners from time to time, or you can buy airbrush cleaner in an aerosol.

[Monkeysmate]

Thanks. Yeh, it's all water based paint. What is the 'reducer' used for?
Do you just run a bit of cellulose thinners through the airbrush now and again?
Thank you.

[Ashlandchris]

The "reducer" is a solvent for water based paints. Seems to give a smoother finish and goes on more evenly.

Very useful if doing fades, certainly with solid colours such as blacks and whites

[n design]

Reducer is what used to be called thinners, and yes use a bit of cellulose thinners now and again as its strong but might attack the seals on cheaper brushes.

[Monkeysmate]

i'll show my ignorance here, but is it not sufficient to use water to thin down water based paint?

[Mart1993]

You can do but, personally, I find the proper reducer is always best.

As for cleaning it, I take the crown off, pull the trigger so the needle is in and blow it through, run it under the tap, blow it through etc... until clean. takes less than a minute to do.

If using solvent based paint instead of water based then I use thinners.

Some very small pipe cleaner like brushes can also be useful.

Hope that helps you a bit.

Martin