Badger 200 Accumulating Paint

[BCR751]

I recently purchased a new (after using my old one for about 30 years) Badger 200 airbrush.  I've used it a few times now and I notice that the fluted nozzle is accumulating paint on the inside of the flutes.  I keep scraping it off but it comes right back after each use.  Is this common for the 200?  Does it keep building up if it isn't cleaned each time?

Doug

[Hyperion]

You mean the needle protection cap?  Yeah, my old 200 built-up there... but then, so has every airbrush I used to some extent.  But I guess the 200 did more if I think about it, mostly because it seemed to have a deeper cap than my Iwatas do.

Personally I just don't use one anymore.  Dealing with acrylic tip dry is a heckuva lot easier when you can get to the needle easier to wipe it off.

[tom mann]

You can keep a little jar of alcohol nearby and wiggle it around in there before anything has time to dry.

[peteski]

You mean the needle protection cap?  Yeah, my old 200 built-up there... but then, so has every airbrush I used to some extent.  But I guess the 200 did more if I think about it, mostly because it seemed to have a deeper cap than my Iwatas do.

Personally I just don't use one anymore.  Dealing with acrylic tip dry is a heckuva lot easier when you can get to the needle easier to wipe it off.

I'm confused.  You can't remove that piece and spray since it is the part which concentrates the air around the paint nozzle.

The current ones look like a crown. The older ones (like the one which came with my airbrush) had a flat end with 4 holes around the perimeter.  IIRC, the paint used to accumulate slightly at the edge. The amount depended on the needle opening, air pressure and the viscosity of the paint.  I once dropped my airbrush on a cement floor and it landed on the nose of the airbrush and the guard got bent. I ended up filing it down much shorter and that stopped the paint from accumulating.

EDIT:  I looked at the Badger website and it seems that now there are 2 flavors of model 200.  They have totally different nozzles. I have the one with the older nozzle (the one they now call a "Detailing airbrush").  If you have the new standard version then it seems that you can unscrew the needle protection cap and spray that way.

[gary60s]

I have a 200 "detail brush" and never had that problem, but then I always used acrylics, and thinned with a 50/50 mix of water/alcohol. It made cleaning very easy, and it had no accumulating.