Quickly Cleaning Your Airbrush

Having an enjoyable airbrushing experience will greatly depend on how effectively you clean your airbrush. Now don't get excited it's very simple and easy and not very time consuming. On the bottom of this page you will find link to page with detailed examples how to take your airbrush apart and put it back together.

Simple rule to follow is if you use solvent base paints use solvent base cleaner if you use water based paints use anyone of the following: warm water, commercial airbrush cleaner, Windex. use some common sense here DO NOT soak your airbrush in any of these more than over night. With Windex use only to clean your airbrush while you are using it , don't soak your airbrush in it for any length of time. An example of while you are using it would be a gravity feed airbrush between color changes while airbrushing a T shirt design. Simply put a little Windex in the color cup to wash out old color and than move on to the next color. With a bottom feed airbrush use a fast blast bottle full of Windex or airbrush cleaning solution reduced with water 50/50 and between color changes spray it through your airbrush to clean out the old color and than move on to your next color.

Some handy cleaning tools to have are a tip cleaning kit and or a airbrush cleaning kit. These you can buy at most art supply, airbrush supply shops, they are fairly inexpensive. You can find them listed on the accessories page of my Airhead web site.

Ultrasonic cleaning machines such as dentists use are pretty handy for soaking and cleaning your brush I believe you can pick these up starting at about $20.00.

Personally I clean my brushes like the examples pictured below all the time with great results. Over the past 15 years of airbrushing I have found this cleaning system to work best. You do not have to completely disassemble your airbrush ever time you use it to clean it just follow the examples below. About once per month I take my airbrush completely apart and soak it overnight in commercial airbrush cleaner. After soaking your airbrush over night use small brushes (Airbrushers Brushes) to clean all of the parts, oil it (using Medea Super Lube) and put it back together.