Effects Of Improperly Cleaned Spray Gun
A painter can expect to spend somewhere between $650-950 on a spray gun so why would you not take the time to properly clean your spray gun? The most important painting tool, “the spray gun” when not cleaned and functioning properly, results in potential problems. Faulty guns produce poor finishes, often to a worse degree as a result of tiger stripping or uneven paint application. Heavy film builds can take excessive time to dry, as a result of contamination nib and buffing occur. The cause is dirty paint spray guns. Dirty spray guns cost shop profits!
Many painters do not take the time to properly clean spray guns, in many cases due to the lack of a cleaning process, proper cleaning equipment, or not knowing how to properly clean the spray gun.
Shops overlook the proper care of this crucial tool, often until it meets an early demise and needs replaced. By then, the shop has two expensive issues to address — a string of jobs that need costly re-dos and investment in a new gun (which typically prices out at $650-950).
Proper Care For Crucial Tools
Investing a few extra minutes daily/weekly by spending time cleaning and caring for spray guns according to manufacturer specifications can avoid many problems. The keys to proper cleaning start with having the proper tools and products on hand for the job. Despite being durable, spray guns are also fairly delicate. They can be easily damaged when being cleaned if repairers use unapproved products and tools.
Avoid this by stocking only those cleaning solutions permitted by the gun and paint manufacturer. The basic rules are: Guns used for waterborne products should be cleaned only with pH-neutral solutions. Avoid chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents, which can corrode aluminum and galvanized parts for solvent-based paints.
ReNu Spray Gun Polish [click here]
Proper Tools Of The Trade
Consider investing in tools that reduce the possibility of damage. Repairers sometimes resort to using wire brushes, key files or paper clips for cleaning simply because they’re available in a shop. These items can wreck the delicate passages in a gun and permanently ruin the spray pattern. Clear these items out of the paint department and instead stock spray gun cleaning tool sets. These sets typically include cleaning brushes in various sizes (large, medium and double-sided), nozzle cleaning needles and a high-performance lubricant.
Consider as well investing in a sealed, automatic spray gun cleaner. These units provide safer, quicker, more thorough cleanings than those performed manually and use less cleaning solution. A sealed system cuts the release of VOC’s.
Spray guns not properly maintained result in poorly painted products. As a result there may be a need to be repainted, costing extra work on the unit and lost production. Today’s production environment requires quality while continually to improve the speed of every process, including painting. New spray gun cleaning systems· are available to improve on the quality, results, speed, cost, and liability of an operation. Below is a review of these systems.
Check out our consumables to assist with proper gun cleaning and maintenance.