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Windex has a new formula : it is no longer ammonia based.


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Windex has a new formula.....at least in Australia. It is no longer ammonia based. Previously, I used it to give a final clean to the air brush after washing the enamel paint out with turps. Some people also used to add a few drops of Windex to their paint to aid the paint flow. Can Windex still be used for these purposes ?

 

NOTE : the stuff smells bloody awful now so I suspect that there has been a large change in the chemical formula.

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Don't know about specifically Australian regulation, but Ammonia is being withdrawn in Europe generally from domestic products, and in todays paper is Valspar paint, which was changed to remove preservatives, and ended smelling of cats urine on peoples walls. They are compensating the cost of remedial work, and are looking into other ways to preserve paint in the cans, it basically means bacteria can get into the paint and the result is the cat smell or bad eggs, hydrogen sulphide......so in the end we have paints with sell by dates.

Stephen

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The owners, Johnson state the formula changed in 2007 to no ammonia, and has an increased alcohol content. So what your using should still work. Windex has never been widely marketed in the UK. As it is water based I assume that adding to paint refers to Acrylic, not oil based paint. Flushing the spray out with alcohol is the best alternative, acrylic must never dry in an air brush.

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I used to use Windex for cleaning my airbrush after painting with acrylic, but someone warned me off that.  I now use IPA, cheap and widely available.  As for keeping acrylic paint flowing in the airbrush, I've been trying Tamiyas Paint Extender which seems to work well.

 

John

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I used to use Windex for cleaning my airbrush after painting with acrylic, but someone warned me off that.  I now use IPA, cheap and widely available.  As for keeping acrylic paint flowing in the airbrush, I've been trying Tamiyas Paint Extender which seems to work well.

 

John

In UK IPA is India Pale Ale, a tasty beverage available in barrel or bottle in pubs. I suspect that this isn't what you use to clean your airbrush (and its use in your modelling room would lead to unsubtle comments from your better half that it smells like a brewery!). What is IPA, please?

 

Lawyerpaul

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I now use IPA, cheap and widely available. 

True for USA/Canada - in fact on a recent holiday I was amazed just HOW cheap & widely available!! But not true in the UK. In fact as it's totally unheard of in any UK Pharmacy, I brought a couple of bottles home with me!! :mosking:

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  • RMweb Gold

Widely available here in France are domestic cleaners containing 90% ethyl alcohol, and this is pretty useful, too, albeit typically perfumed. It and IPA seem to be cousins, and since both are credited with similar antiseptic properties, their cleansing powers should be comparable, too. Rubbing alcohol is another name for IPA, I believe.

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Pharmacy staff in the Uk are trained to ignore requests for chemicals, and non accepted treatments etc., This is done to stop easy access to components of explosives, acids, oxidisers, alcohol, poisons, abuse by quantity of over the counter drugs. Major chain chemists like Boots simply do not trade in such items. Smaller local chemists may sell items like this or even poisons under the poison book system. Larger specialist supplies exist in most major towns who supply items not available to the general public.

Don't forget some chemicals are parts of the process of making drugs, however innocent they seem on the face of it. Staff are also advised not to sell quantities of chemicals, larger than justified use, as it may be an indicator of production of cannabis, or used in purification of more serious drugs,

The basic rule is that anything can be obtained if you have a genuine use for the item, and IPA is widely available from specialist shops and on Ebay.. Regulations on what can be sold to the public in the UK are amongst the tightest in the world.

 

Stephen.

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 IPA from eBay is probably less expensive than Boots at £6.39/litre or £17.99/5 litres including delivery. 

I make my own airbrush cleaner:

 

30ml IPA + 65ml water + 5ml ammonia + 1 drop of washing up liquid.  After cleaning flush airbrush through with 30% IPA. 

 

Best to clean outdoors or spray through a window as the ammonia is a nasal irritant!

 

The cleaner mix is also good for cleaning acrylic paint off brushes.

 

Keith

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 IPA from eBay is probably less expensive than Boots at £6.39/litre or £17.99/5 litres including delivery. 

I make my own airbrush cleaner:

 

30ml IPA + 65ml water + 5ml ammonia + 1 drop of washing up liquid.  After cleaning flush airbrush through with 30% IPA. 

 

Best to clean outdoors or spray through a window as the ammonia is a nasal irritant!

 

The cleaner mix is also good for cleaning acrylic paint off brushes.

 

Keith

Ammonia does rather more than irritate your nose if you suffer from asthma or bronchial hyper-reactivity; my wife, who has the latter, ended up in casualty after her silversmithing instructor knocked over a bottle of the stuff.

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  • RMweb Gold

 IPA from eBay is probably less expensive than Boots at £6.39/litre or £17.99/5 litres including delivery. 

I make my own airbrush cleaner:

 

30ml IPA + 65ml water + 5ml ammonia + 1 drop of washing up liquid.  After cleaning flush airbrush through with 30% IPA. 

 

Best to clean outdoors or spray through a window as the ammonia is a nasal irritant!

 

The cleaner mix is also good for cleaning acrylic paint off brushes.

 

Keith

What purpose(s) do the amonia and washing up liquid serve please Keith?

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True for USA/Canada - in fact on a recent holiday I was amazed just HOW cheap & widely available!! But not true in the UK. In fact as it's totally unheard of in any UK Pharmacy, I brought a couple of bottles home with me!! :mosking:

 

As usual, widely available and cheap on Ebay (UK).

 

I needed some copper sulphate crystals recently to copper-plate a brass loco chimney - again, Ebay (UK) provided the necessary, promptly and at minimal cost.

 

I buy, MEK, Plastic Weld (generic), Xylene, etc., etc. via Ebay (UK) with no problems whatsoever, and the cost is a fraction of branded items, even when you can find them.

 

I haven't tried to get phosphoric acid (for flux) for years, but only because my last purchase continues to supply me when diluted to a 15% solution; (EDIT - A GOOGLE SEARCH SHOWS IT TO BE WIDELY AVAILABLE).

 

It's a waste of time trying pharmacists nowadays.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Edited by cctransuk
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What purpose(s) do the amonia and washing up liquid serve please Keith?

Both ammonia and IPA are present in some industrial acrylic paint cleaners. Acrylic paints are made with acrylic acid and acrylic esters that polymerise when the paint dries on exposure to air.  I guess that ammonia being basic will react with the acrylic acid compounds and cause de-polymerisation allowing the paint to be washed off with the IPA as a solvent and the washing up liquid as a detergent.  Regardless of mode of action it seems to work well. 

 

As I and Fat Controller above have mentioned ammonia is an irritant so use with care.

 

Keith

Edited by ozthedog
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