Spray gun cleaning

[Houndogforever]

What are you non-professional guys using to clean up your HLVP spray guns? Not the fluids, but where I mean. Like, do you have a tank of some sort that you can lay everything out in and slosh around the thinner?

I would love to figure out some inexpensive tank/station/bucket/ something that I can pour in the thinner, put the parts of my gun in there and scrub them all clean, then when done, put the lid on and the solvent/thinner stays there for the next time.

I was thinking even a HF parts washer but I'm not sure if the little plastic desk top one would work with laquer thinner.


Give me some ideas if you would.

Jon

 

[Farmall450]

Bucket or parts washer come to mind.

 

[sberry]

I just clean it up when finished, havnt soaked one in years. I can do a nice job in a couple minutes but don't really care about the outside.

 

[chipper]

I just use a few different brushes and laquer thinner every so often ill break them down and clean and soak everything

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

Dump leftover paint and wipe everything off with thinner soaked rags and blow thinner through the gun till it comes out clean when blown in a white rag. Pull the outer nozzle part off and leave it to soak in thinner till next use.

 

[ilovevocs]

gravity feed or siphon? Im too young to be a syphon feed guy. I use the pps paint system so not allot of paint to clean from the hopper. I keep a hopper of laquer thinner, or "tip cleaner" for the so cal boys. Put the cleaner on, give her a shake, until the fluid comes out clear, then brush the tip. Remove fluid nozzle and needle and clean. Use tip cleaning brushes if the tip orifices are clogged. Never submerge your gun, their are parts of the gun that are not intended to be exposed to solvent.

if your using a standard hopper:

Fill hopper, cover vent, shake, spill out, wipe out.
Fill again, cap, cover vent, shake...This will pressurize the hoper, pull trigger until the it comes out clean. Shake as required to keep pressurized and refill as required to keep clean. Once clean remove fluid nozzle and needle and brush clean. If I was painting jobs back to back I would leave the thinner in the gun. If not, drain and oil, and then clean again prior to spraying.

 

[CWP1616L]

You spray lacquer thinner through the gun and then take the needle and air cap off and keep them stored in lacquer thinner. Just leave some lacquer thinner in the gun's cup and keep your parts stored in there.

 

[signcrafter]

Dump left over paint and put some thinner in the cup. Spray until it comes out clean. Then take tip off and clean it and the other parts that need cleaning. Put back together for next time.

 

[Houndogforever]

I understand this, but it just seems it would be nice to have somewhere other than a bench to do this. Spraying the thinner out makes a big ole mist, running a brush inside things leads to bristles spraying stuff around a bit.

Maybe I'm making too big a deal of it, just seems after the last time I used my gun, I spent almost as much time cleaning it all up as I did spraying the quart of primer.

 

[jakemac]

............ I spent almost as much time cleaning it all up as I did spraying the quart of primer.

Yup, that's how it works if you want your sprayer to last. Unfortunate, but true.

 

[ZRX61]

I don't use mine much, so they get completely cleaned & stored away like they just came from the factory. I have a couple that are 10 years old & they look like they've never been used, even though they have been used to paint multiple cars, motorcycles & aircraft.

 

[Houndogforever]

Well, ok then. I guess I will just quit whining about the cleaning part and get on with it then.

I don't have a good gun, but I'm only spraying primer and trunk paint so even if I end up screwing something up along the way, I'm only out $20-30.

Thanks guys, a few more days stripping paint in the hard to get to places and I can seal this beast up.

 

[Monte]

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[Zeke]

Clean your gun with 3 rinses. Spray the 2nd and 3rd rinse into a can and capture what you can. Save each rinse in a separate can. Next time you clean, start with the old 2nd rinse and toss out. Use the third rinse as your 2nd this time. Keep rotating like that and you'll use less than half the thinner. Brush carb cleaner on the exterior and then rinse with some thinner.

If you spray true water based paint, clean with liquid detergent and hot water until clear. Run some straight alcohol thru the gun or mixed with some lacquer thinner. Even rubbing alcohol works to dissolve into any water left inside. Airless guns leave diesel inside.

 

[sberry]

This was a green phase.

 

[metal4130]

Thats exactly how I clean my SATA Jet. I do like the thinner in a squeeze bottle, I will have to do that in the future. Really the biggest pain is the paint that is left in the cup after you dump the majority out. I wanna get the disposable cups that I see so many people using.

 

[ilovevocs]

Thats exactly how I clean my SATA Jet. I do like the thinner in a squeeze bottle, I will have to do that in the future. Really the biggest pain is the paint that is left in the cup after you dump the majority out. I wanna get the disposable cups that I see so many people using.

once you use the pps system you wont go back. Minimal cleaning, no chance of spillage, and if you want you can spray upside down.