Cheapo thinners just for clean up?

[RedShirtGuy]

This arvo I learned the hard way that turps isn't thinners and that cleaning out a goopy gun isn't much fun.

I was trying to stop wasting my crazy expensive Mirotone thinners for cleaning up. I'm happy to use it to thin my Mirotone pre-cat mix, but cleaning with it...bah...might as well wipe the gun down with a $100 bill.

So before I go and buy some to try anyway - just for the sake of cleaning out a spray gun, would the Diggers Lacquer Thinners, or All Purpose Thinners do the trick? I'm assuming there is some sort of difference between the two products given the All Purpose is over half the price of the "specialised" Lacquer thinners...presumably one is better suited to this job than the other for some reason...

[Rod Gilbert]

Depending on where you are buying you're thinners(hardware store) yes diggers is fine for clean up and more, but from specialist paint suppliers you should be able to buy a product called gun wash which is fine for exactly that and much better price.
Regards Rod.

[woodPixel]

I use Universal from Supacheap. Its bloody nasty stuff, but it does a great job. SCA General Purpose Thinner- 4 Litre - Supercheap Auto

My NC is Wattyl Stylewood.

[whitey56]

I always have 4 litres of SCA GP thinners and a small tin of Acetone in the shed, i clean the gun with GP then run a little of the spray thinner through last then use Acetone for any hardened paint on the outside of the gun.
A roof painter told me he used a small amount of Kero through his big spray units after cleaning [usually with water] and never has a problem with his seals, i can see this being of some benefit but have not tried it myself.

[RedShirtGuy]

Thank you for the suggestions folks. I'll give each a go when I'm back on the gun again.

As an aside, as I was looking around for info I came across using a little wash trough and recycling the cleaning solution. Much better than chucking otherwise still useful solution over the neighbour's fence ;P

[clear out]

If you leave the thinners in a container the crap settles to the bottom.
You can reuse it for gun cleaning for quite a while.
H.

[Arron]

If you're paying full price for lacquer products and you use it more then ocassionally then you should ask for a deal with the supplier. I did that (different company) and got a 60% discount even though my usage wasn't that great. When I went back to purchase after a break my deal had lapsed but the guys behind the counter kindly put it on someone else's deal (I was paying cash, they just needed a code for the computer).

As a guideline, I think I was paying about $5-$5.50 per litre for the premium stuff.

Like the others say though, nothing wrong with the SCA stuff, and it does go on sale fairly regularly.