Tip cleaning?

Anybody got any cool tip cleaning ideas? We try to keep used tips in a pint size metal 'tip can' of 'ween, but some escape into the tool box and become rock hard. I fashioned a "dunk box" out of a loaf pan that has a little rack that will hold 20 tips and allows just the metal part to sit in paint stripper. After the paint softens up, I remove as much as possible and then put them in the tip can. Other ideas?

Not to sound stupid - what is "'ween?

toluween aka toluene aka toluol

i copied an idea of yours a few years back when you mentioned about another sort of strainer from some thing. I think it was a carb thing. I was sat at me desk and realised all me pens were sat in a WIRE MESH SILVER pen holder i got from a stationary place. So I got a large empty coffee tin filled half way up with thinner put me tips in the wire mesh pen holder and placed that in the coffee tin. Never had to worry about yellow stained thinner hands again !!

1 gal carburetor parts cleaning can came with a dip basket in it. Carburetor cleaner works great and basket fits inside with lid on so no spills. When I finish a job I clean the tip, spray it down with WD40 and put it back in the gun. never had a problem sense I started doing it that way.

Are you guys still using oil based paint? I can only get latex.......

Dwan, that carb cleaner is the world's nastiest stuff. I have one of those too (and I just realized I was sposed to send Wend one - sorry dear) and the can still smells faintly of whatevertheFthatwas. But for $10 that is a great little tip can. The carb cleaner will soften the plastic tip handles tho.

We keep a metal can (actually a kitchen cannister) with a little mineral spirits in it. All the tips etc. are stored there. One rule I have is - we don't take a tip off the gun unless we have the tip can right there. The tip goes directly from the gun into the can and never has a moment to dry out. Waterbased paint won't dissolve in the mineral spirits, but it won't dry either. The mineral spirits won't dissolve the dried paint, but there's a lot less of it if you don't leave the tip or tip holder out in the sun.

BTS I know what you mean. I forgot one in there and the next day it had 1/2 the plastic left. And forget about the nitrate gloves it eats through them in about 5 minutes. and yes all I use is oilbase paint.

we have a gallon metal paint bucket with a small hole in top of it with about one-half gallon on MEK in it for soaking tips in. has worked great for years..just have to put it a place where it will not turn over.

We use the quart size paint can, and put MEK in it. However we do not have holes in the top, the MEK or other solvents will evaporate or spill out.

asphaltman I used to not put a hole in top either until one very hot summer day in the paint trailer the lid popped off the tip can.. the hole we put in is small as a needle hole and a half of gallon of MEK has stayed for months..just a safety thing.

We use carburetor cleaner from Napa (The kind that's in a metal bucket with a metal strainer in the bucket).

We use an metal ammo box with home made dip basket formed from 1/8 hardware cloth. Has never turned over and very easy to get into. About 1/4 full of lacquer thinner.

I've been using the little plastic container that jewelry cleaner comes in, filled with toluene. It has little dipping tray in it. Fits in the cup holder on the linedriver or under the seat. In the trailer we keep an ammo box, with a half inch of toluene in it. It works well for tips, guards, rock stoppers and such.

Line Drivers have cupholders now?

Can you believe that a company, invests millions of dollars and thousands of hours designing a product, and doesn't include the most basic accessory. They probably couldn't agree where they should put it. Better yet, maybe they figured they could sell it as a $70.00 add-on. At least they have something to call an "upgrade" for the linedriverII.

[b][/b]When I flush out my graco 3000 after a job I back flush and then I flush the gun until water comes through then I reattach the tips that I used on that particular job back on the gun and let the water pressure run through the tips I turn the tips and run water through the back and front of the orifice valves....If you use lead base paint you can do the same thing with thinner but always use a plastic bucket and ground the machine...then I put the tips in a can with thinner and when I get home I blow the tips out with my air compressor on about 60 lbs of air and clean very carefully with a toothpick as I don't want it to break off in the tip....if you clean a tip with a metal pick over a period of time the metal will have a tendency to make the orifice valve opening larger and ruin the tip.

Man, that sounds like a lot of work. I think you lost me when you said "flush out". Oh, the evils of water-based paint. Who has time to flush a machine out, this time of year?

cleaning tips? we never clean our tips. They stay on the machine until they need replacement and then get thrown away. If we do a job that requires a specil tip (other than the 321 or 323 we normally use) it is placed in a small jar of mineral spirits or MEK. Of course when we clean our latex machines those tips get a high pressure squirt of water through them as a matter of course during the machine cleaning process.