'68 Coronet R/T
Oldtimer
I tried using reducer for cleaning once but just couldn't bring myself to accept treating it as throw away stuff.
Laquer Thinner
- Thread starter JC Daniel
- Start date
I tried using reducer for cleaning once but just couldn't bring myself to accept treating it as throw away stuff.
Whitesnake
Newbie
I also just clean my gun with reducer. I don’t use much and always have it on hand. Eliminates the need for me to have thinner. The less products I need the better.
Ouch on the acid.
Years ago, I had a friend that decided
He was making a gun cleaner lacquer thinner.
I told him he was nuts, but he took over from his dad, and it was a good size and profitable company.
His dad had a couple of chemical patients.
One thing he taught me was all of these solvents were recycled to keep costs down.
Two years into it, he made a batch and
Ended up buying around 30 or so sata aluminum cups because the solvents had acids.
Acids dont recycle, so went right through the recyclers.
All went well for another year, and then he had a lot of acids in one batch and somewhere around 90 cups claims he stopped taking responsibility and
Company in the next year went down the tubes.
The bad thing was this was a tiny part of his business.
This gives new meaning to virgin solvents.
Today made two different batches (quarts)
And two quart of hardener for a clear im working on.
Plus sprayed two other batches we made
Yesterday after I left.
That would have been a lot of wash thinner!
But we are our second Uniram 3000 gun washer in the last 25 years, and all we do is put a 5-gallon pail of 860 under it and change when needed every month or two.
Not sure, but I think the last gun washer paid about 800 for it.
The only reason I dont have one at home is the room.
I think it pays for itself???
We also have four recyclers, but that is for our cleaning solvent that we clean vats and totes, hoses, and filling machines, and we keep that solvent in 5-gallon pails
And have used that also.
And two quart of hardener for a clear im working on.
Plus sprayed two other batches we made
Yesterday after I left.
That would have been a lot of wash thinner!
But we are our second Uniram 3000 gun washer in the last 25 years, and all we do is put a 5-gallon pail of 860 under it and change when needed every month or two.
Not sure, but I think the last gun washer paid about 800 for it.
The only reason I dont have one at home is the room.
I think it pays for itself???
We also have four recyclers, but that is for our cleaning solvent that we clean vats and totes, hoses, and filling machines, and we keep that solvent in 5-gallon pails
And have used that also.
I thought this needed repeating .
metalman
Oldtimer
Back in the early 70's I used a lot of Dupont lacquer. They had good lacquer thinner and retarder then but I can't remember the numbers. It doesn't mean diddly anymore but sometimes I rack my old brain.
metlmunchr
Member
When I started messing around with paint in the late 60's as a teenager, the local NAPA had Martin Senour 3099 fast thinner for $2/gal and the slow #3095 was about $2.50/gal.
More recently, like a week ago, I used a good paintbrush to put a coat of enamel on a birdhouse. Would've normally use a 50 cent throw away brush from Dollar Tree, but used a good one without paying attention. So, I put some hardware store lacquer thinner in a can to clean the brush, and found the thinner would not dissolve plain old Ace Hardware enamel.
Next thought was Oh Crap I used that same thinner to flush out a gun I used to spray some clear the day before. I check the gun and sure enough there's jelled clear in the fluid tip and on the end of the needle. About an hour of cleaning using urethane reducer and the gun was okay. But there will be no hardware store lacquer thinner in my future for cleaning. At most, maybe another dollar to clean the gun with urethane reducer rather than this unknown concoction of crap that may or may not dissolve anything is money well spent IMO.
More recently, like a week ago, I used a good paintbrush to put a coat of enamel on a birdhouse. Would've normally use a 50 cent throw away brush from Dollar Tree, but used a good one without paying attention. So, I put some hardware store lacquer thinner in a can to clean the brush, and found the thinner would not dissolve plain old Ace Hardware enamel.
Next thought was Oh Crap I used that same thinner to flush out a gun I used to spray some clear the day before. I check the gun and sure enough there's jelled clear in the fluid tip and on the end of the needle. About an hour of cleaning using urethane reducer and the gun was okay. But there will be no hardware store lacquer thinner in my future for cleaning. At most, maybe another dollar to clean the gun with urethane reducer rather than this unknown concoction of crap that may or may not dissolve anything is money well spent IMO.
Yes, I have found that to be useful and less costly for an occasional user. I use it for my initial clean-up of most of what I spray.
metlmunchr
Member
Yep, just plain old oil base. And to be clear, this was 10 minutes after I finished painting so the paint wasn't partially dried or anything like that. The brush looked like it had been dipped in water rather than any sort of solvent. I had some mineral spirits and it did clean up the brush, but past experience with good lacquer thinner is that it's like a supercharged brush cleaner so long as the bristles aren't made of a material that thinner will attack.
metlmunchr
Member
Will give the xylene a try. Thanks for the tip.