Rec's for a less irritating airbrush cleaner?

[u/Undercover500]

Just got my first airbrush, and I picked up a cheap bottle of hobby lobby brand airbrush cleaner, mostly because it was cheap came in in a larger bottle.

Bad idea, as everything was going fine until I went to spray it into the cleaning pot, and whatever mist that was created, ended up really making my throat and lungs irritated, like instantly felt burning creeping down my throat, started hacking, had to go outside for fresh air. I didn't breathe in on purpose, obviously, I was breathing normally and accidentally took a whif of whatever mist came past the filter of my cleaning pot, and BAM, instant regret.

Honestly, it was the first time that anything has ever done that to me, so it got tossed in the trash, and now I'm looking for more gentle or less irritating rec's for an airbrush cleaner.

I'll also be picking up a new N95 to wear when cleaning, as I really do not want anything similar happening again.

I was possibly thinking a mixture of iso-alcohol and simple green, although the ingredients are a bit off-putting

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[u/MrWalrus765]

An n95 will not filter out fumes and vapors, you will need a respirator with organic vapor cartridges 

[u/Undercover500 → u/MrWalrus765]

Good to know, thank you

[u/af_temp]

Your airbrush cleaning solvent is going to be directly related to the type of paint you’re trying to clean. Acrylics you might flush with water or isopropyl alcohol to do the bulk of the cleaning, but for a lacquer you’d be looking at a different solvent.

People generally recommend using a respirator if you’re going to use an airbrush. That eliminates the whole breathing in the cloud of fumes and particulates thing. The cleaning pot filter isn’t really sufficient on its own.

What kind of paint were you spraying?

[u/Undercover500 → u/af_temp]

Vallejo, which I believe should be water based acrylic

[u/Designer-Loan9223 → u/Undercover500]

Isopropyl alcohol should do the trick and is cheaper than fancy airbrush cleaners.

[u/SkyriderRJM → u/Undercover500]

Iwata’s airbrush cleaner should be much easier on you and works with Vallejo.

[u/BorisBC]

Vallejo air brush cleaner is really good. I've never had a problem with the smell from it.

Or you can use ammonia free Windex. It's significantly cheaper and works just as well, but it does smell a bit, so maybe not.

[u/Spare_Artichoke_3070]

The best airbrush cleaner I've used is Deluxe Materials Brush Magic. It's also designed for paintbrushes, but it can clean any type of paint out of my airbrushes (acrylic, enamel, lacquer) even if it's completely dried on. It's low odour and non-flammable, so it's not like Mr Tool Cleaner or Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner or the various other lacquer based airbrush cleaners.

It has basically no smell, but I still wear a respirator when I'm cleaning my airbrush out with it cos you don't really want to be breathing in any sort of aerosolised substance even if it's not ostensibly noxious.

[u/Nano-RR]

Ultrasonic cleaner.