Gun wash cheap solutions?

[charlysays]

This seems to be quite expensive now, best part of £20 for 5 litres. Is there any cheap and cheerful solution to gun cleaning solvents? Any reason I can't use petrol to get rid of the bulk/ all of the paint then just use standard thinners to wash away any petrol residues? I use cheap HVLP guns and just rinse/ wipe/spray them out after use, I do occasionally strip them down to clean fully though. The paints I use are 2k acrylic and epoxies, would petrol clean these away (uncured obvs)? I always use chemical gloves, a respirator to clean spray guns and do it outdoors as gunwash or petrol absolutely stinks and is very bad for you.

 

[jo1010]

This seems to be quite expensive...

No to petrol! How about £53 for 20L delivered.....

Standard Paint Thinners 20L - GUN WASH, Parts Cleaner, Cellulose Thinner | eBay UK

Standard Thinner Gun Wash - Parts Cleaner - Paint Thinner Cellulose 20 Litres. Standard Thinner is a solvent for use with cellulose paints. It is also used to remove sticky objects from glass and to clean vehicles from signs and graphics.

ebay.us

Strictly it's celly thinners so I wouldn't soak the gun in it but good for initial cleaning off most of the paint residue...to be safe probably run small amount 2 k thinners through once done.
....same as tetrosyl standard thinners who have the above information on their site - but they're more expensive

 

[charlysays]

No to petrol! How about £53 for 20L delivered.....

Standard Paint Thinners 20L - GUN WASH, Parts Cleaner, Cellulose Thinner | eBay UK

Standard Thinner Gun Wash - Parts Cleaner - Paint Thinner Cellulose 20 Litres. Standard Thinner is a solvent for use with cellulose paints. It is also used to remove sticky objects from glass and to clean vehicles from signs and graphics.

ebay.us

Strictly it's celly thinners so I wouldn't soak the gun in it but good for initial cleaning off most of the paint residue...to be safe probably run small amount 2 k thinners through once done.

Whats the issue with petrol as a first stage? Oily residues? Just wondered if there was a cheap solvent which could do the donkey work before a final finish up with gun wash that's all

 

[Kram]

Its about 15 quid delivered for 5L which has not gone up very much at all, and is one of the cheapest solvents you can buy in that sort of quantity. Paint is not cheap, so stop being cheap with it.

Petrol is dirty, as well as being a weak solvent for 1k paints, compared go thinners.
How would you dispose of 25L waste dirty petrol? It has a much slower evaporation rate.

 

[Erie Fred]

I use "Petrol" or gas from the pump for the initial cleaning.
Then dis-assembly and use carb cleaner with the red spray tube
to get into all the passages.

Slush bucket for the waste gas & diesel, use on brush fires a few times a year.

 

[norsa]

I recycle my gunwash for initial cleanup. I wash the guns in the sink with outlet to 25L drum. When full, i let it stand a week or two then decant the top 3/4. Perfect for first clear then i run a little fresh gun wash through the gun.
Nick

 

[steveo3002]

£10 at the autojumbles or £15 posted off ebay

just about bearable

 

[charlysays]

£10 at the autojumbles or £15 posted off ebay

just about bearable

Is there much difference between gunwash and standard thinners in terms of cleaning up 2k paint? I used to buy "gun wash" in black 5l tubs off ebay , can't find it anymore and it definitely smelt different to standard thinners. Standard thinners smells like cellulose.

 

[steveo3002]

Thinners Cellulose Standard Solvent for Paint Primer Gun Wash Cleaning - 5 Litre | eBay UK

Thinners & Hardeners. 5 LITRE TIN. PROTOUCH™ STANDARD CELLULOSE THINNER. IT CAN ALSO BE USED FOR GUN CLEANING. Car Paint Aerosols. to see our full range of PROTOUCH™. Surface Preparation. Here at Mr Bargain, we cut out all of this process.

www.ebay.co.uk

£14 with code

 

[Turbo]

I recycle my gunwash for initial cleanup. I wash the guns in the sink with outlet to 25L drum. When full, i let it stand a week or two then decant the top 3/4. Perfect for first clear then i run a little fresh gun wash through the gun.
Nick

I do that too, I use clear 2l water bottles to store the used thinners. You can carefully pour out the clear stuff from bottle.

 

[steveo3002]

Is there much difference between gunwash and standard thinners in terms of cleaning up 2k paint? I used to buy "gun wash" in black 5l tubs off ebay , can't find it anymore and it definitely smelt different to standard thinners. Standard thinners smells like cellulose.

imo both clean well , gun wash will /may have more rubbish in it that wouldnt provide a nice finish if used for spraying

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Whats the issue with petrol as a first stage? Oily residues? Just wondered if there was a cheap solvent which could do the donkey work before a final finish up with gun wash that's all

It's chock full of additives, exhibits a higher flammability risk, and is predominantly aliphatic (straight carbon chain) hydrocarbons making it a non-polar solvent.

Most paint formulations use solids that will only dissolve with at least some amount of polar solvents (alcohols, ketones, esters, aromatics like toluene), so by using a non-polar solvent you will strip some of the solids, but risk crashing out others in a much harder to remove form.

Is there much difference between gunwash and standard thinners in terms of cleaning up 2k paint? I used to buy "gun wash" in black 5l tubs off ebay , can't find it anymore and it definitely smelt different to standard thinners. Standard thinners smells like cellulose.

Gunwash is usually a mixture of everything and the kitchen sink, made to a pretty loose spec in terms of the composition, and tested against "will it dissolve most things" as the key functional property.

In many respects it's a by-product of recycling proper thinners and solvents, but that actually makes it very good at it's job... Because it's such a mixture no matter what the paint formulation it's used with, it will probably be able to remove it.


Often times gunwash is recycled by first removing as much solid as possible by settling, or filtering, then the solvent gets boiled off in a single stage scraped film evaporator and condensed without all the dissolved solids, with no real separation of the liquid portion apart from trying to reduce water content by keeping the evaporation temperatures low.

If they need to adjust the composition, they will blend that recycled gunwash up with the off-spec top-products from fractional distillation columns being used to produce defined grades of specific solvents/mixtures that are destined for thinners production or industrial use in the chemical or pharma industry.

It gets blended until it works like the TDS says it should, and the composition is in the broad ranges they have a REACH/UKREACH authorisation for.

Depending what the input to the recycling process was, it can carry over a significant amount of water whilst still being in spec, which in turn leads to internal corrosion of cans or drums in the supply chain during hot weather, contaminating the product with solids.

 

[Erie Fred]

It's chock full of additives, exhibits a higher flammability risk, and is predominantly aliphatic (straight carbon chain) hydrocarbons making it a non-polar solvent.

Most paint formulations use solids that will only dissolve with at least some amount of polar solvents (alcohols, ketones, esters, aromatics like toluene), so by using a non-polar solvent you will strip some of the solids, but risk crashing out others in a much harder to remove form.

I use it just to get the large amount of paint out of the gun & cup, and follow
with carb cleaner immediately, long before any paint has cured/kicked/cross linked/poloramized.

As far as "exhibits a higher flammability risk" We are dealing with paints with strong solvents in them along with all the cleaning chemicals to begin with, precautions
are the rule here anyways. I don't see gun wash & paint thinners being any less
flammable than petrol/gasoline.

 

[Wozzaaah]

For info, 5L of Tetrosyl "standard thinners" is £15 at Euro car parts.

 

[julianf]

£12.74 ex vat at express paints, so, again, about £15

 

[brightspark]

think i pay a tenner for standard thinners at autojumble just got 2 cans last month might get another gallon this sat at ruffoth autojumble its handy for cleaning all sorts and just used some cleaning my kango breaker out of the old dirty grease

 

[Turbo]

Best stuff I ever had was from a paint supplier near Castlederg. They manufacture their own commercial paint like agricultural oxide and roof paint. Also specialise in industrial coatings.

Anyway I was buying a couple of gallons of oxide paint. Spotted the thinners for sale and asked how much. £20 for a 20l drum - I bought 2 and if I'm passing I usually buy one.

It's the stuff they use to make the paint and is proper xylene thinners. They buy it in ibc tanks and decant it into drums for sale.

 

[Turbo]

I've noticed that steel drums of standard thinners will go rusty inside in the bottom due to the water content.
I try to buy plastic drums now. If I have to buy a steel drum I decant it into a plastic drum.

 

[brightspark]

I've noticed that steel drums of standard thinners will go rusty inside in the bottom due to the water content.
I try to buy plastic drums now. If I have to buy a steel drum I decant it into a plastic drum.

same here . i lost a gallon and didnt even smell it in garage

 

[Turbo]

same here . i lost a gallon and didnt even smell it in garage

Same happened to me!