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Your finishing department is only as good as your maintenance
program. How well you maintain your equipment has a lot to do
with the quality of your finish and the life of your equipment.
Equipment that is not clean will be more problematic and waste a
lot of a finishers time either fixing the equipment or the poor
spray job.
Dirty guns simply do not spray as well or as efficiently as
equipment that is taken care of. You should establish a set of
procedures for cleaning and maintaining your equipment and make
sure that everyone that uses them follows the rules.
· ● Clean
equipment right after use. Once a finish dries on something, it
is much harder to clean off.
· ●
Remove as much coating from the gun or system as possible
before cleaning with a solvent. This will keep the excess
material from diluting the cleaning action of the solvent.
· ●
Flush equipment with dirty solvent first, then again with
a clean solvent.
● Save the solvent from the second cleaning
cycle so it can be used for the next “first” cleaning cycle.
· ● Re-use
solvents until they are saturated and lose their cleaning
ability.
· ● Keep
tanks covered when not in use.
· ● To
clean siphon feed guns, turn down the air pressure about 5 PSI.
Loosen the air cap and point the cup away from your face or
finished product in case thinner sprays out of the cup. Pull the
trigger to cycle thinner through the inside of the air cap.
NOTE:
The top of the material cup on gravity feed guns tend to
pop off if you try this procedure and the pressure is too high.
·
● Normal cleaning
does not require the removal of the needle valve.
· ●
Never soak the entire gun in thinner. The first inch of
the head is all you need to get wet.
● Soak your air caps in some thinner when you are
not using them for any length of time. Blow them out with some
air before re-installing on the gun.
· ● A one
gallon paint can fits nicely inside a two gallon tank. Pull it
out and put a lid on it when you are done. Makes clean up easy.
Keep clean up thinner in another can; drop it in, and flush out
the line. There are also disposable liners that you can get for
tanks.
· ● Leave
thinner in your hose after you clean the tank to keep any
material left lining the hose from drying out and then flaking
off when you run through your next batch of finish.
· ●
Lubricate the lid gasket on your tanks with a little
flax soap to help maintain their resiliency and to keep them
from sticking to the rim of the tank and then ripping.
· ● After
cleaning the insides of the guns, wipe down all gauges and
exterior surfaces as well.
· ● Clean
up all measuring cups and mixing items.
· ●
Dispose of all spent solvents properly. Cap all cans and
containers.
· ● Soak
all used rags with water and then remove them from the building.
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