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Cleaning your airbrushes is a very important task that you should do regularly. Soaking your airbrushes, however, should never be done as much as possible.
When learning how to airbrush, one of the earliest lessons you will probably learn is the right way of maintaining your airbrush supplies and tools. After all, you will get the best results out of your airbrushing projects when your tools are given the proper care they need.
The proper care and maintenance of airbrush tools involves cleaning them regularly, preferably after they are used. You will always be advised to buy an airbrush cleaning kit to get the cleaning done. But whilst you should be vigilant in taking care of your airbrushing tools, there is one thing that you should never do. That is to never soak your airbrush for a long time.
Why Airbrushes Should Not Be Soaked
Soaking airbrushes may seem like a good way of getting them cleaned up, but they are more likely to damage your airbrushes instead of cleaning them. Here are reasons why you should not soak your airbrushes.
1. Lubrication. When you soak your airbrush, the soaking solution usually gets rid of the lubricants on the brush as well. The brush is made of metal and it has gaskets called O-rings that keep the parts in place. What the lubrication does is to allow all the metal parts of the brush to slide in and out of the O-rings properly. When the parts of the brush that need lubrication are greased well, the brush will function smoothly when you use it.
2. Corrosion. Most commercial soaking solutions contain ammonia. The core of the brush is often made of brass. Brass does not work well with ammonia; when this metal alloy is exposed to ammonia, it gets corroded. You may as well buy a new brush when this happens.
But the brass parts are not the only ones in danger of getting corroded when the brush is soaked. The rubber O-rings are also in danger when the brush is cleaned with an automotive reducer or a lacquer thinner because the chemicals in these products can damage the O-rings. Teflon is the only material that can successfully resist this form of corrosion. Unfortunately, not all brushes come with O-rings made of Teflon.
3. Precipitation. Soaking may be a good way to get the used paint off the brush. The problem with this is that soaking may also cause the paint that the solution had soaked away to precipitate inside the brush itself, particularly in areas that may be hard to clean. When the paint crystallises, these crystallised bits will impede with the proper functioning of the brush.
If you do think that your brush will only be cleaned properly with a good soak, then you should use the right airbrush supplies for getting it done. Soak your brushes in a commercial solution that is made specifically for them, but no more than overnight. You can get these solutions easily from any art store that sells airbrush supplies. Ultrasonic cleaning devices, such as the ones used by dentists for cleaning their tools, can also be useful.
If you want more tips on how to care for your airbrushes, please visit Simple 2 Trade.
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