Spray Paint Cans - Cleaning after use

[Beltzington]

How do you get more than one use out of the new any-angle spray cans? Use to be you could turn them upside down and clear the nozzle and they would be good for months of storage. After finding several of nearly full cans of paint and primer unusable I actually read the instructions which apparently the manufacture has not actually tried. "Clean nozzle with mineral spirts," after submersing the nozzle and the cans outlet tube in mineral spirits immediately after use for 24-hours and than hitting them with compressed air they were still clogged and unusable. At $5 a pop this really irritates me as I rarely need a full can for rust prevention or touchups.

 

[Sodo]

I've never thought wasting propellant was a good idea. You can't know how many times you'll have to clear the nozzle. Probably too many times. They don't work well when you have paint but no pressure.

I pull the nozzle off and spray thru it with carburetor cleaner. Works like a charm. I use the little red tube and press it against the outlet orifice, spraying backwards thru the nozzle. And forward too. There is some risk in squirting yourself, or in your eyes. You can even clean out old plugged tips with carburetor cleaner. Soak it for awhile.

 

[dragoneggs]

I pull the nozzle off and spray thru it with carburetor cleaner. Works like a charm. I use the little red tube and press it against the outlet orifice, spraying backwards thru the nozzle. And forward too. There is some risk in squirting yourself, or in your eyes. You can even clean out old plugged tips with carburetor cleaner. Soak it for awhile.

I do that sometimes especially if I know it will be awhile before I squeeze the trigger again. Also if you invest in a cheap ultrasonic cleaner, you can do wonders, whether it be small parts, jewelry, or dentures! Okay, I take the dentures back... no experience here.

2.5 Liter Ultrasonic Cleaner

 

[bigtiller]

How do you get more than one use out of the new any-angle spray cans? Use to be you could turn them upside down and clear the nozzle and they would be good for months of storage. After finding several of nearly full cans of paint and primer unusable I actually read the instructions which apparently the manufacture has not actually tried. "Clean nozzle with mineral spirts," after submersing the nozzle and the cans outlet tube in mineral spirits immediately after use for 24-hours and than hitting them with compressed air they were still clogged and unusable. At $5 a pop this really irritates me as I rarely need a full can for rust prevention or touchups.

That is what I have been doing for about 15 years. I didn't know there were instructions. I drop the tip into a cup of mineral spirits and leave it in the parts washtub for an hour, a day or a month and blow-dry it with compressed air.

 

[flyerdan]

Mineral spirits won't do it, I have a small glass spice jar that has lacquer thinner to store rattle can nozzles in. You can shake them and see the paint come out. Keeping them in thinner means that they never dry up and are ready for the next use.

 

[fried1765]

Mineral spirits won't do it, I have a small glass spice jar that has lacquer thinner to store rattle can nozzles in. You can shake them and see the paint come out. Keeping them in thinner means that they never dry up and are ready for the next use.

Yup!
Lacquer thinner......not mineral spirits.

 

[RalphVa]

Good thread. I even had a can of WD-4 with some in it that wouldn't work.

Ralph

 

[bigtiller]

Mineral spirits won't do it, I have a small glass spice jar that has lacquer thinner to store rattle can nozzles in. You can shake them and see the paint come out. Keeping them in thinner means that they never dry up and are ready for the next use.

Oh come on now, Don't BS us. I have been doing it for 15 years, It works!

 

[flyerdan]

I tried mineral spirits at first, but it just looked like the paint curdled. I'd speculate that the reason it works for you is that they are submerged in liquid until you blow them out with compressed air, thereby denying them the air that's needed for the paint to dry.
At any rate, if you find a solution that works, no need to change it.

 

[ray66v]

Put the little straw in the nozzle of a can of non-chlorinated brake cleaner, and use it to hose down the paint can nozzle.

Non -chlorinated brake cleaner is basically cheap lacquer thinner. It should remove any residue. You can remove the paint can nozzle, and blow it out with the brake cleaner too, if you like.

You are right, most cans now spray upside down, so you can't clear the internal tube, by spraying them upside down anymore. :confused3:

 

[PILOON]

As previously suggested, use laquer thinner and soak well.*

It helps if U have a very fine wire, like from a wire brush, to probe the hole as well.

* I keep old nozzles that have been soaked and air cleaned just for when I take a rattle can that won't work.

 

[bigtiller]

I tried mineral spirits at first, but it just looked like the paint curdled. I'd speculate that the reason it works for you is that they are submerged in liquid until you blow them out with compressed air, thereby denying them the air that's needed for the paint to dry.At any rate, if you find a solution that works, no need to change it.

That must be the trick. It wasn't something I figured out, just dumb luck I guess.

 

[GLyford]

Good thread. I even had a can of WD-4 with some in it that wouldn't work.
Ralph

I tried the technique in this video, and it seems to work (sample size so far, one can). I had to trim some off the end of the valve stem I used so that it would actually press down on the stem, then clean up my knife cut on a belt sander to get a good seal on the top of the can:

 

[Sodo]

Great info. Good tip about reducing the height and beltsanding.

WD40 cans that have stuff and no propellant happens perhaps more than other aerosol oils, and grates on my Irish nature. But I have lots of other specialty oil aerosols and will be using this method to prop them up. I often wonder if they use a permeable valve to leak the pressure over the years. Which is good for resale. And safer for landfills I suppose that the propellant is gone. Except that means more pure WD40 goes to the landfills instead of dispersed to the air but decomposing.

I wonder about putting oxygen into a pressurized oilcan. May be better to use an inert welding gas (not pure Oxygen though). 90PSI is not high but if you leave that can in the sun in Arizona with oxygen inside....? In any case whatever method, it has to be "easy". If you setup to maintain all your specialty oil aerosols at one sitting then it's not a big deal to use Argon for example. Or what gas would be better?

I wonder what pressure you need to push past the seal without depressing the stem?

 

[Billrog]

I've pulled the nozzle off a lot of spray cans and pressed the end of my air hose with a blow gun and re pressured them up. The compressor has min. 120# when I do it . With paint prays after I've used them I blow the nozzles out with air so their clean for the next use.

 

[flyerdan]

I had a brand new WD40 can that wouldn't spray, after swapping the nozzle and it still wouldn't, I used a rubber tip air nozzle to backfeed right through the nozzle and cleared the tube, works fine. I would imagine that it would also re energize any rattle can. Air might not be the best propellant due to moisture and other contaminates, but it beats relegating an otherwise usable partial can to a bonfire bomb.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I too use mineral spirits to soak my spray can tips. Perhaps some brands work and others don't? But I do have paint thinner around here as well.

I suspect though that often spray cans simply ooze out some of their pressure. It totally aggravates me to buy a supply of product x for future use, only to find that I have a full can of product and it won't spray out. I've seen the valve stem method on YouTube, but decided that it was too much trouble to fix a problem that shouldn't have ever occurred. When possible, I've gone to trigger spray cans of things like PB Blaster, WD40, etc.