spray bottles

[john3]

Hello, I use woodland scenics spray bottles for spraying on my grass  on my layout and alao for dirt roads. I use the bottle once and clean the spray out with water, then when I go to use it again the spray dosen't work seems to be clogged. I have deluted the cement with 2ozs of cement and 4 ozs of water. Does anyone know a good bottle with a good sprayer I could buy that would work better. Thank you

[MK]

Don't use a pump sprayer for diluted glue.  Use an eye dropper.  Use the sprayer for "wet water" like rubbing alcohol before you apply the diluted glue.

[nkalanaga]

Or, if you want something that will hold more than an eyedropper, you can use an Elmer's White Glue bottle, one of the small or medium sizes.  The top screws open and closed, and can be adjusted to give drops or a stream, as needed.  Best of all, since it's meant for glue, it very seldom clogs, and is easy to clean if it does.  Plus, the glue can be used for scenery, just like the WS glue, so there's no waste.

But I agree with MK, don't use a spray bottle for the glue.  Not only is it hard to get the glue exactly where one wants it, it also tends to go everywhere else, making a horrible mess.

[robert3985]

Don't use a pump sprayer for diluted glue.  Use an eye dropper.  Use the sprayer for "wet water" like rubbing alcohol before you apply the diluted glue.

I do this too.  However, I don't use the WS spray bottles, because that's what they are..."spray" bottles and in my experience they leave lots of craters in dirt & ballast.  The same goes for recycled Windex & 409 type sprayers...much too coarse, and produce big droplets, which you don't want.

The sprayer that I've found works perfectly is the one you get at your LHS that's over at the ACC/CA glue display and is for misting on Accelerator.  I've got several, with one actually being full of Accelerator...the others I've re-labled "Wet Water" so I don't get 'em mixed up.  These smaller sprayers are actually "Atomizers", designed to spray a very fine mist instead of bigger droplets...and they work perfectly for me when applying wet water to scenery and ballast before soaking what I'm working on with my water/matte Mod Podge/Dawn glue mixture with my big "Dose Dropper"...

If you can't find an LHS or your stores doesn't carry the empty Accelerator spray atomizers, look on Google under "atomizers" and you'll find lots of 'em...even some battery powered ones!

Works fine for me for both scenery and ballast.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[MK]

Best atomizer I've found is at Wal-Mart in the travel section near the Pharmacy.  At the time (3-4 years ago) they were $1 each.  Comes in a few translucent colors.

[john3]

Thanks guys, will try. John3

[peteski]

If the spray head clogs, that to me simply indicates that you just haven't sprayed all of the glue out.  Plain clean water will never clog it.  Not sure how you go about cleaning, but I would first rinse the bottle few times with warm water to get rid of all the glue, then fill it 1/4 of a way with clean warm water with couple drops of dishwashing detergent,  and spray most of that water out through the sprayer.  Then one more batch of clean warm water, and more spraying.  Yes I've been called anal many times, but I don't care.   

As for fine mist sprayers, those atomizers with push-button on top for spraying, my finger gets tired from the pumping action.  Trigger type sprayers are much handier.  I find that the shower sprays you spray after the shower (like the Method brand), produce a fairly fine mist.

But remember that while water will result in fine mist, glue mixture had more viscosity than water and the spray pattern will change quite a bit.  So what gives a fine mist with plain water mill not be so fine with glue mix.  I'm speaking from experience.

[JeffB]

Rinse your spray bottle nozzles with lots of warm soapy water...

You can find really good atomizing spray bottles in art supply stores, my local store is a Dick Blick's.  I think they're a national or at least regional chain.   Other art supply stores have them too and you might be able find them at a Michael's store, in the art section.

Art supply stores also have a good selection of multiple size squirt bottles, with different sized tips for fine or "flood" application. 

I use smaller bottles with fine tips for applying matte medium to the scenery. 

JB

[john3]

Thanks, everybody for your advice, I went out and got a mister, works better than Woodlands sprayer. John3

[peteski]

The spray bottles with adjustable spray pattern used by industrial cleaning companies are also very handy.  I think they can be bought at home Depot or Lowe's in the cleaning supplies isle.  The adjustability is a great feature.