Airbrush Cleaning Advice

I can only really comment of airbrushes used with Createx Wicked paints in ultrasonic cleaners. With the 30 minute 50 degree cycle I use it doesn't seem necessary to use anything more than a couple of squirts of normal airbrush cleaner maybe 5ml or so and the rest of the bath is plain water.

The brush doesn't come out spotless without any firther cleaning but everything is loosened to the extent that very little gentle wiping with some kitchen towel removes it.
 
Ultrasonic cleaners are commonly used for jewelry and other plated items that are much more delicate than airbrushes. It's hard for me to imagine how they might damage the metal parts, at least.

If I had to reach, I'd guess that son-solvent resistant o-rings might degrade faster in an ultrasonic bath filled with the wrong chemical than they would just soaking in the same chemical, but that's about it.

I'd be very interested in hearing the results of your tests with ammonia. I had always heard that ammonia was bad for plating, but I've never actually seen a demonstration one way or the other.

There has been a lessening of the use of Ultrasonic Cleaners among jewelers in recent years. There used to be one behind the counter of every store in the past. The reason for the snub these days is not the potential damage that the cleaner could do to the metal bits, but more the stones. There has been advancements in treatments that have made stones that were unusable in the past into proud centerpieces of expensive settings. It is common these days for faults or splits in stones to be filled with oils, waxes, or resins, and such - to the eye, they look perfect. A run in an ultrasonic cleaner will expose the flaw, or turn the stone cloudy looking once they dry out.

I had heard or read of such horror stories about the use of Ultrasonic Cleaners in conjunction with Airbrushes, that I wanted to re-create the same sort of damage I had heard about, to examine the results myself. After more than a year of daily cycles with a test brush, along with a host of other items added to many of the baths - I have concluded that the damage is almost always done before the item ever enters the cleaner. There are also certain things that should never be put into a UC (Ultrasonic Cleaner) - so, when they become damaged it is immediately blamed on the UC. Keep in mind, the UC does not know the difference between a loose coating of dried paint, or a loose or damaged coating of chrome. When a brush falls apart, it falls apart because it was poorly put together, not because the UC damaged it. When a finish peels off a surface, or color leaches out of anodizing, they are items that should have never been placed into a UC in the first place, etc... Anodized pieces fit this category - not a good candidate for Ultrasonic cleaning. Oh, and O-rings. We tend to look at O-rings as being solid, but in actuality they are not. They are porous. Anyone who has ever tried containing either Co2 or Helium in a pressure vessel knows just how porous they can be. Co2 will cause regular buna-n O-rings to swell to many times their original size. Helium will pass right through, and escape as fast as I can type "escape". Placing them into a UC can allow the cavitation to force solution into the pores - they should never be put into a Cleaner. I have been using a UC for decades, and have cleaned I can't even imagine how many brushes. The only damage I have ever witnessed has been due to my own negligence.

Ammonia is another story. It is a given that Ammonia attacks brass. It works by leaching copper out of the brass on the molecular level thus leaving the brass brittle. I've heard ammonia will attack Chrome - The fact is that Chrome is just about impervious to ammonia, and is a recommended surface treatment when brass is to be exposed to ammonia. I've heard ammonia will attack the soldered seems, causing a brush to fall apart - again, reality shows that ammonia has no effect on the majority of ingredients found in most solders. After about a year and a half of constant exposure to ammonia, my test pieces have shown that ammonia does indeed have an effect on airbrush parts - it is just not a terminal effect. Nickle plating fares pretty poorly. It discolors and will eventually be stripped from the surface - you'd have to leave the brush to soak for some very long times to reach that point, however. Chrome looks the same as it did the day the parts went in to my test environment, and all the brass I have is still 100% completely usable - discolored, and tarnished looking, but it still polishes out well, and has thus far remained malleable. At the ammonia concentrations I am working with, I am replicating decades of exposure...
 
There has been a lessening of the use of Ultrasonic Cleaners among jewelers in recent years....

Ammonia is another story....

Wow. Thank you very much for your thorough reply! It's great to see this stuff actually explained in detail and tested.
 
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