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Thread: How can I open clogged paint can nozzles?

  1. #1
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    How can I open clogged paint can nozzles?

    For some reason I have horrible luck with spray can paint. I use a little, upend end the can, clear the nozzle and store it.

    A month or two later when I try to use it, the spray tip is clogged.

    How do you keep the tip open? And how do you open a clogged nozzle?

  2. #2
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    After you use the spray paint, turn it upside down and spray for a moment. It should help clear the paint and reduce clogging next time you use it. Also, buy good name brand rattle cans.

  3. #3
    I remove the nozzle and drop it into paint thinner. Then re- install the re- conditioned nozzle when I’m ready to resume.

  4. #4
    Not sure about other colors or brands, but Rustoleum's 2X flat white paint cans are designed to spray no matter what direction. Just last weekend after using it I held the can upside down and sprayed it for over 30 seconds just to see if it would eventually stop spraying! -- nope. Just wasted a ton of paint! -- And I soak my nozzles in Xylene or 'Painters Solvent', stronger than plain thinner...
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  5. #5
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    I blame solids that form all too quickly in the can and pickup tube after the first use.
    Best Regards, Maurice

  6. #6
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    When ever I empty a spray can, I blow out the spray head with the remaining propellant and pull off the spray head. I store the spray tips in a small parts drawer. If a tip clogs on a can with paint remaining, I swap out the spray tip with one from my stored supply.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
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  7. #7
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    Sometimes a pin works, usually it doesn't. Lee or Mel's ideas work for me. Turning the can upside down used to work, it no longer does in at least some cases. The idea is to be able to spray with the can in an other than upright position. The other thing that would probably work though I haven't tried it is to pull the nozzle off and blow some air thru it with an air compressor set to a low pressure.

  8. #8
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    When I was much younger, we used to save all the clogged spray cans (and the ones from the paint store I worked at that were marked down to zero value and stuck in the bone yard area of the store (I wonder what ever became of that after all these years?).

    They used to make neat targets.

    No question at all about a hit on one with a .30/30.
    My granddad always said, :As one door closes, another opens".
    Wonderful man, terrible cabinet maker...

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rich Engelhardt View Post

    They used to make neat targets.

    No question at all about a hit on one with a .30/30.
    Have you tried shooting at Tannerite? WOW!

  10. #10
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    I simply take them off and store them in a small pimento jar full of lacquer thinner.
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  11. #11
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    Have you tried shooting at Tannerite? WOW!
    I've never done it myself - but - I've seen videos of it.

    Wow! is right!
    My granddad always said, :As one door closes, another opens".
    Wonderful man, terrible cabinet maker...

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    When ever I empty a spray can, I blow out the spray head with the remaining propellant and pull off the spray head. I store the spray tips in a small parts drawer. If a tip clogs on a can with paint remaining, I swap out the spray tip with one from my stored supply.
    +1 on saving old nozzles.

    After turning the can upside down and spraying until clear, use a clean rag to wipe the nozzle and then hold upside down and give it another blast of propellant.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  13. #13
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    With most spray paint, ditto the recommendation to clear the nozzle by holding it down for 2-3 seconds after painting (until it flows clear).

    For the all position Rustoleum cans, I'll remove the nozzle and clean it out with either spray carb cleaner (using the red plastic straw to force most of the fluid through the nozzle) or spray starting fluid, and then reinstall the nozzle.

  14. #14
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    Every month I shoot in some rimfire (.22 caliber) rifle and pistol matches where the targets are cast iron. Every time we set them back up, we hit them with a little spray paint so they're easier to see and also so you can see where you hit them. We usually use the cheapest spray paint they have at Walmart. After the matches, everything including the paint cans is put away until the next month. The nozzles are never cleared but they never clog. Go figure.

    BTW, even empty spray cans make satisfying targets for a .22. Maybe not like a chunk of tannerite or hitting a can with a .30-30, but there's enough pressure to make it pretty obvious when you hit one.
    Last edited by Alan Rutherford; 08-20-2022 at 8:41 PM.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alan Rutherford View Post
    Every month I shoot in some rimfire (.22 caliber) rifle and pistol matches where the targets are cast iron. Every time we set them back up, we hit them with a little spray paint so they're easier to see and also so you can see where you hit them. We usually use the cheapest spray paint they have at Walmart. After the matches, everything including the paint cans is put away until the next month. The nozzles are never cleared but they never clog. Go figure.

    BTW, even empty spray cans make satisfying targets for a .22. Maybe not like a chunk of tannerite or hitting a can with a .30-30, but there's enough pressure to make it pretty obvious when you hit one.
    I like to use inverted marking paint to repaint my targets. It’s comes out 3x faster than regular spray paint, and the nozzles rarely clog.

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