Airbrush - Laquer Thinner / Cleaner?

[JeffEmbracedDC]

Hey, guys. So I just used an airbrush for the first time and it seems to be working pretty well! I was wondering about different laquer thinners and brush cleaning liquids. I am currently using.. Pactra's Racing Finish laquer thinner to thin my Pactra lexan paint. So my question is:

1.for general cleaning of the gun is it totally fine to use regular laquer thinner from like a hardware store paint section? Is there any reason that I must use expensive pactra thinner to clean my air brush? I still plan to use the pactra thinner for actually thinning my paint, but as far as cleaning goes, how about regular laquer thinner? thanks!


2.
I'm also wondering about the correct mixture for this stuff. The bottles come about 4/5ths full.. and what I've been doing is taking a syringe and filling the bottle the rest of the way with laquer thinner, shaking it up and the screwing the pactra bottle right on to my gun. How is that mixture? about 4 parts paint 1 part thinner.


3.
The spray seems a little more splattery than I would imagine. Not big splatter or anything - but when you look closely (about 12inches) at the flames on the painted wing you can see little splatters. From like 3+ feet away it looks good.. but I think air brushes are supposed to be smoother than that? not sure. Thought I'd ask. Thanks!

-J

BTW, Here's the outcome of my very first airbrush test using Parma paint masks.. hah
http://embraced-dc.com/temp/Photo%2090.jpg

[ScMini]

It dont look to bad

[Farwar]

I'm not sure about question 2 and 3 since I don't use Pactra Paint but I can answer 1. What I recommend is that you only use the pactra thinner to thin your paints. They have designed it to work with their paint so use it.

To touch on 3, you should be able to get a better spray pattern than that. It could be the paint is too thick or there isnt enough pressure. It is having trouble atomizing the paint when it sprays out.

[MaxxThrasher]

1. No. Cheap lacquer thinners will cause Pactra paint to coagulate into a thick blob that won't come out of your brush. You could use Acetone, but becareful of your O-rings. Make sure to lube your brush after cleaning.
2. There is no magic formula here. It's a thin and test situation. You could go thinner.
3. You might need to either thin the paint more, or lower your air pressure more.

[JeffEmbracedDC]

1. No. Cheap lacquer thinners will cause Pactra paint to coagulate into a thick blob that won't come out of your brush. You could use Acetone, but becareful of your O-rings. Make sure to lube your brush after cleaning.
2. There is no magic formula here. It's a thin and test situation. You could go thinner.
3. You might need to either thin the paint more, or lower your air pressure more.
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Hey, maxx! I appreciate that a lot. That should be all I need. Thanks, again!