Spray paint bomb nozzles .... a survey ....

Crazy Horse

Well-known Member
After using a paint spray bomb, I usually try to follow the directions by turning the rattle can upside down and spraying the paint out of the nozzle tube until only the compressed air (or whatever it is) comes out (no paint coming out). Some guys never do that. Even with the proper way of doing it, I still find you can get plugging. I know a guy that never does it and claims it never plugs. Not sure about that.

How about you, what do you do when finished and the can still has paint left inside?
 
In my trade I use a fair amount of marking paint. Iv?e been frustrated by how many are filled with cottage cheese.
 
Years ago I started cleaning the nozzle out with brake/parts cleaner after each use. I rarely have a plugged nozzle anymore.
 
After turning the can over and spraying it till it runs clear, I then take the nozzle off and shoot carb cleaner through it. Most nozzles will fit right on the end of that little red straw on the carb cleaner can. I give it a couple shots, then let it dry.
 
I turn upside down for a bit and spray, then wash nozzle with carb or brake cleaner.
No problems so far. Some cans might get used 20 times this way or till empty.
 
JD is on the right track. The NEWER Rust-o- leum cans don't work like that anymore. They can spray at almost any angle now even upside down. You can use a little screw top glass jar with some MEK solvent and just drop your nozzle in that stuff. By the way, you can repressurize you cans with some of that LP that comes in those little 2 dollar cans. Also how this guy does it.
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One other thing, I try to store my cans on their sides or atleast an angle. The pigments settles to the bottom after time and plugs that straw inside the can. Also...shake the daylites out of the can and what I do is swirl the ball around the bottom of the can also.
 

Clean the nozzle any way you can, but if you don't get all of the paint out of the tube that reaches to the bottom, its a moot point.
 

It isn't just Rustoleum that comes in all position cans. I take the nozzles off and drop them in a little jar with acetone in it.
 
The ones i have trouble with have been on the shelf for multiple years. I normally do not clear the paint out ofter i use them either. Think my problems are related to not shaking the cans enough. Seems i pick up a can spray for a few seconds then they quit. Try a different nozzle from another can and they still wont spray or they do spray and then i plug the second nozzle. I rarely use spray cans so some of them may be 5-6 years or more on the shelf. I have thought i should empty my shelves of spray cans and start over with fresh.
 
Me too. Not always, but mostly. A little jar of lacquer thinner.

as to shaking: I have some paint that is over 30 years old, new never used. When I need one of them, I tape it to the blade of a 'sawzall', put it in the vise ( lightly clamped and wrapped in a thick rag) and let it run for a while. Mixes them up much better than hand shaking.
 
What I'd like to know (I adhere to the upside down clearing protocol), is how 'Taggers' (artists), can make such clear lines, small and well defined.
 
I second the using a sawzall to shake up paint. I ground the teeth off of a saw blade and use a hose clamp to hold can on blade, works better than trying to do it by hand. I always hold can upside down and spray until it's clear. Pull nozzle out and spray carb cleaner or brake cleaner thru it. If they plug up, you haven't shaken it long enough. Chris
 
Some cans are advertised to paint upside down so you can't clean the nozzle as you mentioned. I keep an eye out for Brake Parts Cleaner aerosol which can be had for a couple of bucks a can and usually doesn't cut existing paint when used to cleanup a machine for painting or whatever.

I keep cans handy around the place and when rattle can painting, just give the nozzle of the paint can a squirt when finished and that's that. Works great.
 

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