I've recently been going out of town alot and my house/dog sitting cousin been using my airbrush while I'm away. I told him he could. What I need to know is what can I do to clean this thing out now, he wasn't very good at it. There is dried paint all in the cup and the brush, I have soaked it in water and nothing much happened, I soaked it for a few minutes in solvent but nothing much has helped. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Lacquer Thinner. Tear it down and clean it completely inside and out.

It depends on what type of brush it is and what type of paint he used.

If it's all metal - it will be easier. If it's plastic be careful.

If he used acrylic you can soak it in denatured alcohol. That'll get rid of it or soften it.
If he used enamel you can try paint thinner or brush cleaner.
Both you can get at your DIY store pretty cheap.

If it's a plastic brush I don't know what prolonged exposure (soaking) will do to the plastic. Check back here for more info. Or check with the manufacturure

thanx, I tried using a solvent, guess i didn't use one that was strong enough. i'll get on this tonite

This may sound crazy but liquid cement for plastic will remove built up paint. The primary solvent in liquid cement is Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) which has the ability to lift dried paint. Lacquer thinner is a compound reducer containing MEK, Acetone and other weaker solvents. It will over time soften dried paint and allow it to be removed with a stiff brush.

Hope this helps,
Don

If it's plastic be very care full with thinners or anything containing alcohol this will cause the plastic to become brittle and it will start to crumble and I would also be careful using model glue . look what it does to plastic !

No worries on it being plastic, its a passche something or nother, but the body is metal

Good , then you shouldn't have any trouble with the tips from this post . With it being metal maybe let it sit over night and go from there . If you have anymore questions just ask .

If you use cellulose (laquer) thinners be sure to remove all the bushes/packing/orings, as the thinners will make these swell and degrade if they are rubber. If you've got PTFE seals etc go you ahead without stripping these out.

HTH

Andy

If you used acrylic paint, fill it with Windex, let it sit for a few hours, then dump it out, fill it with Windex again, and spray a few color cups of Windex through the brush with the needle full open. This will clean out the whole brush without having to take it apart. Windex melts acrylics like magic.