Newbie with questions about cleaners

S

sunspot

Lacquer thinner...acetone....denatured alcohol......reducers...?

What's the difference? What are the pros/cons of each?
 
None of those are designed to be cleaners. Buy the product for the job and you will be better off.

Aaron
 
good point...cleaners as they relate to paint prep...and tool clean up.
 
For Tool clean up you usually use lacquer thinner, urethane reducer, or paint gun cleaner. For paint prep, use only Wax and Grease remover. That is what it is made for and nothing else works as good. Anything else and you may be waisting a bunch of money on paint materials.

Aaron
 
is paint gun cleaner cheaper than laquer thinner? dont know anything about it...
 
Form... Don't know anything about the price. I have only used it at work where they paid for it and the gun was in really bad shape.

Under normal conditions I only use lacquer thinner or paint remover if it has built up.

Aaron
 
when we had the van company i kept a 2 gal bucket of carb cleaner around. when they left guns really nasty it would make them spotless in no time.
 
I had read that people used carb cleaner for that but was always afraid to try it. Do you have to completely disassemble them to get out all o-rings and other rubber seals?

I just put them in gun cleaner and got them clean that way. At home I just sprayed paint remover on them.

Aaron
 
never really had to soak the gun. just the cup and pick up. if it had something set up in it then we did. had to tear down and rebuild anyway.
 
sunspot;9484 said:
Lacquer thinner...acetone....denatured alcohol......reducers...?

What's the difference? What are the pros/cons of each?
Click to expand...
It depends on what you are cleaning.
For paint prep(?) stick with dedicated wax and grease removers. The better ones are blends of solvents that are designed to disolve contamination, stay wet long enough to be picked up with a separate cloth or wipes, and not leave any residue behind. Solvent W&GR works better in some cases (road tar & adhesives for example), and water based W&GR is better for other water soluble dirt. I often use both and finish with the SPI water based W&GR.
 
i wash with dawn first on a new job if it has paint. only thing that will remove biodegradable stuff like bugs.
i'm as bad about dawn as the greek guy with windex on my fat greek wedding.... :)
 
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