Iwata HP-C Plus and under trigger problem

V

Veronica

Guest
Hello!

I think I have figured out my ongoing clogging issues with my HP-C Plus airbrush. I tried airbrushing with it once again and started clogging approx 30 seconds into it... this is after a thorough cleaning. The silly bugger even starting brushing own its own... without me pressing the trigger. Very Casper the friendly ghost kinda way...

Anyhow, I noticed that when I pulled it apart, underneath the trigger (or finger button) there is a small round section that is pushed down when you press the trigger - this section is connected to the hose. I have attached an image as I don't have the language to explain it, so I hope this makes sense.

Please see No. 12 in the attached. I cleaned this with a cotton bud dipped in Windex and removed a fair bit of paint. I also pushed it in and swished the cotton bud around. It certainly has made the trigger "softer" as it has a smoother press down action. But I feel it still needs more cleaning. How can I do this? Suggestions as to how best to clean this area please.
 

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Ah! I believe it is called the air called the air valve. What is the best way to clean this please?
 
the clogging is not caused by the airbrush but by the paint you use , you can take the airvalve apart to clean it just be careful as there is a little spring in there and you dont want that to jump out as you un screw the airvalve ;)
 
When you pull it apart as Ronald said, be careful of the spring and the valve itself, but when you put it back together do not apply any lube to it as that will cause future issues :)
 
There should not be any paint near that piston. If you do, you either have a packing nut (#5) leak or you spilled paint in there. But as said by Ron, that does not make any difference to when or if the paint dries too fast in the nozzle. What is the temperature like where you are? If it is hot and dry the paint will dry faster. Is you paint still in good condition. Will you need a retarder to help slow down drying time. Did you damage the inside of the nozzle when you cleaned it and now the paint has texture to cling to instead of being blown out. All these things should be looked at.
 
Thank you everyone for your feedback.

Re paint - it was body paint that I thinned down. I now know that it was too heavy for the brush. It was a massive body painting session, and things did get a bit messy, so would not surprise me if I did spill and get paint in there. This happened a year ago, so yes, there is probably dried paint in there that I was not aware of.

I tried to unscrew that bottom section but it is incredibly tight. I'm worried that I'm not supposed to remove it!

I have cleaned it further with a small cotton bud and pressed the leaver in and swished around. I realise that I'm probably not getting all the paint, but I think it will do for now. I might even look at getting it serviced as I'm worried I'm going to wreck it. :-/
 
You can take the air valve apart from the bottom where the hose attached just use a small set of tweezer and turn the nut by putting the ends on each side where you see a square hole and turning to the left (left to loosen,right to tighten)when the nut is removed the spring and plunger will drop out the bottom then you can clean it out good,To put it back together install the plunger with the small o-ring towards the trigger then the spring and finally reinstall the nut with the tweezers, you should be able to reinstall all the inside parts and spray some paint
 
Thank you! I literally just off the phone with an Iwata sales rep for my area (from Iwata/company). He said he will let me know next week when he is around so he can have a quick look at it and clean it for me for nothing - which should hopefully fix it. And if there is something wrong with it, put it in for a service etc.

As I'm in no rush to use this brush, I prefer to wait for the Iwata sales rep - and hopefully get it sorted once and for all and I now know how to use it and take care of it properly. If I get a job and urgently need it, I will try what you said Basepaint. :)
 
I had the same problem with my Iwata HP-CS. Take your finger off the trigger and the air still keeps coming out. I took Basepaint's advise and removed Part 15A (in your diagram) with tweezers - it came out easily, its not tight in. 15d and 15c will fall out. Clean up and a bit of lube.

If you need the gun urgent then its a pretty easy job but my opinion is that the spring (15d) as fitted is a bit weak. Even clean and lubed its only just able to push the trigger pad (7) back up. If it gets the tiniest bit of gunge, it cant do it.

Maybe also differential expansion/contraction issues may be enough to stop the small plunger on the bottom of the trigger pad sliding easily. Not so sure about that though.

cheers
Arron
 
Arron said:
I had the same problem with my Iwata HP-CS. Take your finger off the trigger and the air still keeps coming out. I took Basepaint's advise and removed Part 15A (in your diagram) with tweezers - it came out easily, its not tight in. 15d and 15c will fall out. Clean up and a bit of lube.

If you need the gun urgent then its a pretty easy job but my opinion is that the spring (15d) as fitted is a bit weak. Even clean and lubed its only just able to push the trigger pad (7) back up. If it gets the tiniest bit of gunge, it cant do it.

Maybe also differential expansion/contraction issues may be enough to stop the small plunger on the bottom of the trigger pad sliding easily. Not so sure about that though.

cheers
Arron
Click to expand...


I just cleaned it as per your recommendation, and:

- there was no paint in there, it was clean, but I gave it a clean anyway
- it now springs back much faster - so much better overall
- it now makes a squeaky sound when you press it down... it didn't do this before. Eeek!

I'm going to leave this alone now and let the Iwata guy have a look at it. I'm scared of wrecking it!

Aaron - do you have any other Iwatas? I have the BCR and find the sping action of the trigger much softer and smoother. Wondering if the HP-CS is different i.e. heavier???
 
Veronica said:
I just cleaned it as per your recommendation, and:

- there was no paint in there, it was clean, but I gave it a clean anyway
- it now springs back much faster - so much better overall
- it now makes a squeaky sound when you press it down... it didn't do this before. Eeek!

I'm going to leave this alone now and let the Iwata guy have a look at it. I'm scared of wrecking it!

Aaron - do you have any other Iwatas? I have the BCR and find the sping action of the trigger much softer and smoother. Wondering if the HP-CS is different i.e. heavier???
Click to expand...

No, no other Iwatas - in fact I'm just a beginner at this and other then my Chinese Cheapo airbrush it's the only one I've ever used. As for the squeak - did you put a tiny bit of lube in - otherwise it's a metal-to-metal action and that doesn't sound quite right. I did notice when I first played with my eclipse that the trigger action is kind of loose and twitchy - not what I would call quality engineering.

It'll be interesting to hear what the rep says.
 
Arron said:
No, no other Iwatas - in fact I'm just a beginner at this and other then my Chinese Cheapo airbrush it's the only one I've ever used. As for the squeak - did you put a tiny bit of lube in - otherwise it's a metal-to-metal action and that doesn't sound quite right. I did notice when I first played with my eclipse that the trigger action is kind of loose and twitchy - not what I would call quality engineering.

It'll be interesting to hear what the rep says.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did put a tiny bit of lube on the inside and wiped the cotton bud with the lube on it on the little stick/pin that goes inside (yes I know, very technical of me...) - I honestly don't remember if it made that sound before it clogged up. I will report back once I see the rep!
 
Did you use the lube that came with the brush?
Most of us don't use it because it gums up and causes the trigger to stick,just use a drop of 3in1 machine oil and you will be fine that won't gum up on you
 
I have this same airbrush and i had the same problem a long time ago. It was the valve piston sticking from paint that had leaked from the needle packing (which was loose when i got it). A little turn on the needle packing to snug it up a bit, a cleaning of the valve piston and the seat for it, a little vaseline just to barely coat it and i havent had a problem in six years with it. I will occasionally lube it back up from time to time to keep it working flawlessly.
 
I personally wouldnt Veronica. And with it being a thinner lube, you could run the risk of it contaminating your paint. I like vaseline because it stays there and you only need a tiny bit just to lightly coat the valve piston. It wont gum up and it will just deteriorate over time. Thats why i will pull the valve piston to give it a fresh lubing from time to time. All i do is put a little on my finger and put it on them stem of the piston then wipe it of lightly with a paper towel just leaving a light coating of it.

This is also my baby so i take good care of it as it done for me lol
 
My Iwata HP-b+ use to do the same thing at low pressure with the soft spring installed, it wouldn't push the trigger back up. I did as VR has instructed above but used the Iwata superlube. After awhile it was doing the same thing, so I pulled it apart, cleaned it up, wound up changing the o-ring because it looked like poo, a quick wipe on the trigger piston with chapstick and all is good. I didn't need to dismantle the air valve assembley, just removed it to get to the o-ring

I use the iwata lube on everything else in the shed, not the airbrushes lol
 
What was the result Veronica. Fixed it yet ?

Spoken to the rep yet ?

I still get the same issue. Every time I use it I clean and lube it and it works fine for about 15 mins. Then the ghost comes back to the machine. I'm certain its not paint going backwards up the airbrush. I do wonder whether its gunk coming from the compressor - I use an industrial 2.5hp compressor that has lived a hard life. It has 2 water/oil filters on it which should keep the airflow clean, but I still suspect it. Or maybe its some issue with the air being too cold or too hot or something.

cheers
Arron
 
Arron said:
What was the result Veronica. Fixed it yet ?

Spoken to the rep yet ?

I still get the same issue. Every time I use it I clean and lube it and it works fine for about 15 mins. Then the ghost comes back to the machine. I'm certain its not paint going backwards up the airbrush. I do wonder whether its gunk coming from the compressor - I use an industrial 2.5hp compressor that has lived a hard life. It has 2 water/oil filters on it which should keep the airflow clean, but I still suspect it. Or maybe its some issue with the air being too cold or too hot or something.

cheers
Arron
Click to expand...

Whoops sorry, I got sidetracked! Yes, the rep from Iwata saw me and had a good look at the airbrush and said that it was extremely clean!! Mind you this is after I did pull it apart and cleaned the trigger part and oiled it with a tiny bit of Vaseline at VR suggested above. This fixed the trigger problem and it runs fine now. However, I have not used it for long periods of time, only to test it as I've been focused on other things.

When I told the Iwata rep about cleaning the trigger area and putting some Vaseline, he said there is no need to do that. Go figure! I do think that I got some paint in there and cleaning that area certainly helped me.

With regards to you, maybe it is your compressor??
 
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