First thing you should do with your new spray gun!

The first thing you should do when you have purchased a brand new spray gun of any brand is to thoroughly clean it!

Spray guns are manufactured in factories not medical laboratories! Some cleaner than others and your pride and joy is worth the extra time cleaning your spray gun prior to using to reduce the risks of contamination!

Cleaning your spray gun not only is an important step to make sure your paint work is flawless it also offers you a great opportunity to get familiar with your gun and it’s controls.

I always start by having a clean and clear work area with good light.

I place a clean soft towel or cloth and begin by disassembling the spray gun. I disassemble in the following order.

1. Remove plastic spray gun pot

2. Remove Spray gun air cap

3. Undo Fluid knob and remove needle

4. Undo fluid nozzle & air baffle if fitted.

Place all the disassembled parts and spray gun body onto the cloth to ensure they are safe.

I use a large solvent safe container and a smaller solvent safe containers. I use clean quality automotive acrylic thinners or gun wash thinner in all containers. The larger container I place the fluid nozzle, air cap and spray gun pot into soak while I clean the spray gun body with a cleaning brush. You need to be careful not to soak the airway passages of a spray gun body with thinners as these are not designed for solvents. Only submerse the parts of the spray gun that come into contact with paint. A spray gun cleaning kit contains most brushes you will ever need. Commonsense should tell you to use a cleaning brush that suits the holes you are cleaning. The toothbrush style one is a great all round cleaning tool.

Cleaning is straight forward, ensure all parts are clean from any contamination. I always rinse cleaned parts in clean thinners and either wipe dry with a clean cloth or an air blower. This is the reason for the second container of thinner. You can then reassemble the spray gun in the reverse order you took it apart.

There is plenty of videos on YouTube to help guide you through the process. One tip I like to add that I think helps keep your spray gun working properly is to remove your needle BEFORE the fluid nozzle is unscrewed. They are a machined tolerance and I have seen needles ruined when they are not removed before the nozzle is undone.

If you would like to see me make a video or full tech article on pulling apart and cleaning a spray gun please feel free to leave a comment.