Cleaning spray gear with stripper

[B A R R Y]

I have a build-up of water base and urethane products in my spray gun.

I've removed all the chromed and stainless fluid passage internals (not the air valve assembly! ) and soaked them in acetone and lacquer thinner. The WB simply will not budge!

Does anyone see issues if I drop the parts in a methyl-chloride stripper bath? My other possible choice is CMT 2050.

I'd really like to get it clean. This kind of says something about the durability of the WB lacquer I use. Acetone resistant?

[cselby]

I've been using carb cleaner. The stuff you buy in pails and soak the carb in prior to a rebuild.

P

[nailshooter41]

I knew I hated water borne for a reason! AHA!

Just kidding of course.

Barry, I wouldn't use that stuff on my guns unless I was watching and wiping the whole time to make sure there was no pitting on my equipment. Sadly, the nickel content and the quality of chrome on the guns we buy isn't all that great. If you are talking specifically about the gun block, it has a really high nickel content to keep away rust, but is susceptible to other chemicals. Any of the hard cast aluminum parts (the gun bodies) will be scarred for sure with most finish removers.

The last time I had some "stuff" dry up and gunk my gun block as well as back up inside the gun (it's a long, ugly story) it was a dried resin of several different materials before I caught it. I though the gun was plugged with bad material... it was that bad.

Anyway, after trying all the things I was confident in using, I went to this plan.

Take the gun apart and break it into pieces of the gun block, the trigger assembly, springs, collars, needles, etc. In a stainless steel soup pot, put all the affected components in a soup pot full of water and bring it to the smallest simmer you can. Leave the pieces in for an hour (or more as needed) after the water starts to simmer again. Of course if you see the resins floating off, fish out the pieces and start cleaning. It seems the resins fail all at once, and they will come off in pieces. After after another thirty minutes or so (and some good toothpick work) you should able to clean up all the resins off the gun parts.

It wasn't anything other than the high, consistent heat over a long period of time that made the resins come apart.

I actually got the idea from a guy that took off some knife scales on a home made knife. He epoxied them on, and messed them up in the final shaping of the handle. One of the knife makers on the forum got a chuckle and told him to put it in the oven for a few hours at 200F, then take it out and pop the scales off. Apparently, it worked like a charm.

So I figured... water boils at 212F... enamels, lacquers, varnishes, etc., are nothing but modified resins, so why not? Best part? No pitting, discoloration or possible damage to the guns. (Mine was a Finex knockoff, but still expensive enough!).

As always, just my 0.02.

Robert

[B A R R Y]

Thanks, Guys!

I'll try the less invasive boiling water, and think about the carb cleaner as later resort.

[Sac Dave]

I've cleaned my spray guns with Paint remover mine are aluminum I've never had a problem but I don't let it sit in the gun long Most the time I use Lacquer thinner I'll soak the parts overnight works great, have you tried Lac. thinner? I'm just starting to use water base clears so far I've cleaned the gun as soon as I'm done.

[B A R R Y]

That was first.

I should clarify that the gun is not bound up or caked. It simply has some deposits here and there that have built-up from heavy use. I don't tear the gun internals down at each cleaning, I usually only remove the tip, needle, etc...

The boiling worked well!