Switching paints with an airbrush

I just got my first airbrush. I bought some Medea airbrush cleaner and its directions say to use it when changing colors, but I'm going through a ton of it if I switch colors and use it to clean at the end of a session. Can I get away with using distiller water since I'm using acrylics? What do you guys use? Is there something better and possibly cheaper for cleaning?

Thanks!

mix the water and cleaner for between paints, assuming your paint is thin enough and you aren't having clogs.

Get a big bottle of isopropyl alcohol from the grocery store. Should be about $2. I run that with some water between colors. If my colors are close enough (say red->orange) and I'm doing a big batch, I'll just use some of the new color to clear out the old.

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Originally Posted by RealGenius

Get a big bottle of isopropyl alcohol from the grocery store. Should be about $2. I run that with some water between colors. If my colors are close enough (say red->orange) and I'm doing a big batch, I'll just use some of the new color to clear out the old.

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If you run alcohol between your paint changes make sure you run water through it before adding the next paint. In other words rinse the alcohol out before proceeding. The alcohol does not play nice with the binders in the acrylic.

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Originally Posted by Beamo

mix the water and cleaner for between paints, assuming your paint is thin enough and you aren't having clogs.

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And makes sure any cleaner you ad to your cleaner formula has no ammonia in it. It will chemically react to the brass your airbrush is made out of.

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Originally Posted by BDub

The alcohol does not play nice with the binders in the acrylic.

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Works great with Tamiya acrylics.

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Originally Posted by RealGenius

Works great with Tamiya acrylics.

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Tamiya paints are an exception, they are some kind of weird hybrid laquer/acrylic.

You can use water to do the lion's share of cleaning out between colors. I use a 10cc syringe with an ink needle to irrigate the paint out of my brush until the water is mostly color free and then I run my cleaner through my brush.

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Originally Posted by BDub

Tamiya paints are an exception, they are some kind of weird hybrid laquer/acrylic.

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That's why I love them for airbrushing. They are water soluble, but you can run a little alcohol through your brush and that thing gets super clean. My brush stays way cleaner with Tamiya paints than when I use P3 or another mini paint (Minitair excepted, I keep forgetting I have those.)

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Originally Posted by Psyberwolfe

You can use water to do the lion's share of cleaning out between colors. I use a 10cc syringe with an ink needle to irrigate the paint out of my brush until the water is mostly color free and then I run my cleaner through my brush.

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Get yourself a couple of these. I keep one filled with water and a touch of detergent, and one filled with isopropyl alcohol.