How to Clean Your Side Feed Airbrush [Step-by-Step]

Cleaning your Airbrush is the most important aspect of Airbrushing, even more so than actually painting with it!

Anh Pham takes you step-by-step, as he shows you how to deep clean your side feed airbrush. This in-depth technique is great for cleaning your brush between uses and ultimately maintaining the performance of your Airbrush.

Here are the steps in keeping your Airbrush tool as clean as the day you bought it:

Step 1: 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 Cleaning brush immediately. Remember, to never let any paint dry or sit in the Airbrush as this will cause a world of problems for you.

Step 2:  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 of the brush with your finger.  Do this 10-20 times underwater or until clean.

Step 3:  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 and wipe 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.)

Step 4:  Airbrush cleaner can now be added to the brush to eat away any stubborn paint still inside the brush. Move the trigger back and forth allowing the cleaner to move around inside the Airbrush.  Spray out the cleaner underwater or on a rag and rinse with fresh water.  (If you are using auto paint, use reducer as your cleaner).

Congratulations! Your Airbrush is now clean!

If you can perform these cleaning steps thoroughly every time, you may never have any problems with it or have to disassemble the Airbrush ever.

In the event you do need to disassemble your brush ever, check out our YouTube video on Deep Cleaning Video for more info. Thanks for joining me and Happy Painting!

 

Cleaning tools:

Cleaning brushes- TCP ACK-1

Cleaning solutions- USA AC-1Z