Micron cm sb - removal of o rings

C0y0te

Needle-chuck Ninja
Hello people.

How do you remove and replace the o rings? They look as if they are inside the body of the airbrush and impossible to access.

1) My trigger keeps sticking and I'm guessing it's a damaged o ring and needs replaced. After a cleaning (I use Mr Muscle glass cleaner and/or water) it works just fine and is responsive. After 20 mins or so I have to pull the trigger up manually to get the air flow to stop. A farther 10 mins or so later and the trigger being pulled up has no effect and the ait flows continuously until I have to reclean and the whole process repeats itself. It's odd because I would have though a damaged o ring is a damaged o ring but the valve system works for a while until I'm forced to clean it. This is a regular problem happening every day.

2) A small amount of paint is managing to get into the needle packing area. It clogs the slots after a while and leaves a small ring of dried paint on the needle where it's been held in place. I don't know if the paint is getting there because I pull the needle chuck from time to time or if there is a slow leak from the seal not working. Or if my screw is too tight/too loose.

3) To my eyes the packing head o ring does not look flush with the surface of the main body. Like it's fallen inside a little and is not seated properly. I am having big problems with paint skipping and wondered if this could be the cause? I have soaked the head system/cleaned the nozzle with a toothpick and once again it works great for a short while. Quite soon though I have to blast the paint out to get it flowing for a few seconds and then blast etc. There is no continuous flow. I should stress that I really only notice this while I'm painting fine details. I have tried thinning the paint and adjusting air pressure but once this stop/start thing happens then nothing seems to work. I don't think it's the actual paint (Createx illustration) as it's new and works fine through my H and S infinity which has a smaller needle.

I'm tempted to buy new o rings for the problems above and a new needle packing set but it all mounts up price wise and may not be the solution even if I do work out how to replace them.

Iwata cm sb 0.18
Harder and Steenbeck Infinity 0.15
Createx Illustration paints.
 
micronpl.png
Sound more like paint reduction being you say after a good cleaning it works great for a while.
Which O ring do you think is the issue? #2
But I am sure @DaveG will be a long and help you understand what is going on .
 
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Sound more like paint reduction being you say after a good cleaning it works great for a while.
Which O ring do you think is the issue? #2
But I am sure @DaveG will be a long and help you understand what is going on .
I was guessing that it's the Teflon(?) ring in the needle pack section.

The paint works fine through my H and S and it's a finer needle size. I reduce 3 or 4 drops of distilled water per drop of Createx.
 
you need a special tool for it a long small screw driver will do the trick but you risk the chance the O ring nut will get damaged
the Iwata teflon O rings are a real pain in the A**** I replaced mine with the O ring DaveG sells and those seals give you that feel of the old rubber seals that used to be the standard in the V1 microns
 
I was guessing that it's the Teflon(?) ring in the needle pack section.

The paint works fine through my H and S and it's a finer needle size. I reduce 3 or 4 drops of distilled water per drop of Createx.
Standard Createx ? Or Wicked, Or Createx Illustration?
Standard Createx is not designed even for the H&S .15 set up . The needle packing is a pain if you do not have the right tool for the job but it is still easier then replacing the 3 on the H&S Infinity.
The needle packing mainly keeps paint frmo getting in the trigger area. So if your getting paint in there then I would say yes to replacing it if it will no longer adjust where you feel a drag on the needle as it slides through.
 
We're gonna be out for a good part of the afternoon, but I can work on putting together photo's with descriptions on how to replace ll the o-rings on the Micron.

In the mean time, you can try removing the push pin from the top of the air valve, the one the bottom of the trigger pushes against, and rubbing a small amount of vasaline on it, and reinstalling it. The o-ring can be replaced, but it requires removing the air valve (no big deal) and picking the old one out from the bottom. I will take pictures... If you are getting fluctuating paint spurts, drizzle cleaning solution around the junction of the brush body, and head while releasing air. If you get bubble or foam, take the head off, and apply chapstick to the threads. Same with the nozzle cap. Fluctuations are usually caused by a change in air pressure that can be caused by air leaking before hitting the nozzle.
 
Standard Createx ? Or Wicked, Or Createx Illustration?
Standard Createx is not designed even for the H&S .15 set up . The needle packing is a pain if you do not have the right tool for the job but it is still easier then replacing the 3 on the H&S Infinity.
The needle packing mainly keeps paint frmo getting in the trigger area. So if your getting paint in there then I would say yes to replacing it if it will no longer adjust where you feel a drag on the needle as it slides through.
Createx illustration.
I should add that I can get the needle pack unit out without any problems. I was wondering how to get the Teflon ring out from that unit. Hopefully Mr. G can help there.
 
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We're gonna be out for a good part of the afternoon, but I can work on putting together photo's with descriptions on how to replace ll the o-rings on the Micron.

In the mean time, you can try removing the push pin from the top of the air valve, the one the bottom of the trigger pushes against, and rubbing a small amount of vasaline on it, and reinstalling it. The o-ring can be replaced, but it requires removing the air valve (no big deal) and picking the old one out from the bottom. I will take pictures... If you are getting fluctuating paint spurts, drizzle cleaning solution around the junction of the brush body, and head while releasing air. If you get bubble or foam, take the head off, and apply chapstick to the threads. Same with the nozzle cap. Fluctuations are usually caused by a change in air pressure that can be caused by air leaking before hitting the nozzle.

Thanks Dave. I've taken the wee piston/pushpin out already today and degreased it. I'll try the Vaseline now.

Chapstick as in lipblam? I wondered about airpressure but I get good paint flow (albeit very briefy) if I blast some paint out with the trigger pulled right back and then the blockage(?) happens again until I blast. Etc.

Thank you very much for putting the picture demo together for me. I'm sure it'll be of use to many on here. I looked through 25 pages of threads trying to find info before I posted this thread.
 
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Thanks Dave. I've taken the wee piston/pushpin out already today and degreased it. I'll try the Vaseline now.

Chapstick as in lipblam? I wondered about airpressure but I get good paint flow (albeit very briefy) if I blast some paint out with the trigger pulled right back and then the blockage(?) happens again until I blast. Etc.

Thank you very much for putting the picture demo together for me. I'm sure it'll be of use to many on here. I looked through 25 pages of threads trying to find info before I posted this thread.
Yes, regular Lipbalm. I use the Nivea brand non smelly one, it’s worked well for me and lasts forever as you only use such a small amount.


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Okay, the vaseline worked wonders on the sticky trigger and I've applied beeswax based lipmalm on the head and nozzle cap but the intermittent paint flow persists. It's as if the paint runs out and then unexpectedly there's a surge of spidering followed by paint running out followed by paint surge. The brush is all but unuseable at the moment. I've cleaned the nozzle twice today and after a promising start it soon reverts to start/stop paintflow.

I tried spraying water through it and did large figure 8s. The water sprayed for 5 seconds then stopped for a sec and then back on again for 5 secs. I sprayed the 8's repeatedly and this cycle was pretty regular.
 
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Okay, the vaseline worked wonders on the sticky trigger and I've applied beeswax based lipmalm on the head and nozzle cap but the intermittent paint flow persists. It's as if the paint runs out and then unexpectedly there's a surge of spidering followed by paint running out followed by paint surge. The brush is all but unuseable at the moment. I've cleaned the nozzle twice today and after a promising start it soon reverts to start/stop paintflow.

I tried spraying water through it and did large figure 8s. The water sprayed for 5 seconds then stopped for a sec and then back on again for 5 secs. I sprayed the 8's repeatedly and this cycle was pretty regular.

OK, next thing to check is your paint channel - between cup and head. It is pretty easy for paint to build up in this area, and restrict paint flow. Also, you need to make sure the paint channel from the bottom of the cup, through to the stem is free, and clear of paint or debris. Ideally, if you have another cup, you may want to try it.
 
Those interdental brushes are great at getting in the side cup paint channels, it amazing how much funk stays in there despite all the cleaners that get run through it.
This will not solve your orang issue but if you’re doing a ‘good’ clean you may as well do it all :)
 
Those interdental brushes are great at getting in the side cup paint channels, it amazing how much funk stays in there despite all the cleaners that get run through it.
This will not solve your orang issue but if you’re doing a ‘good’ clean you may as well do it all :)

You're all underestimating how uptight I am about cleaning, lol. I take my wee cup to bits pretty regularly. Especially on days like yesterday when nothing seemed to work.
Anyway the good news is that after a 3rd dismantle and a soak in hot soapy water the airbrush appears to be working again. I shouldn't have said that out loud...
 
I think the last time my CM-C+ airbrush had a deep clean was about 5 months ago and my Infinity was maybe a year ago.
I was told early on in my airbrushing venture that over cleaning was a bad thing for an airbrush
But when I do give it a deep clean I use RESTORER made by createx. I remove all the rubber and PFTE seals and soak the whole thing . I learned the hard way to not leave the seals in when you soak in that stuff due to it will swell them and most times they stay that way.
 
I think the last time my CM-C+ airbrush had a deep clean was about 5 months ago and my Infinity was maybe a year ago.
I was told early on in my airbrushing venture that over cleaning was a bad thing for an airbrush
But when I do give it a deep clean I use RESTORER made by createx. I remove all the rubber and PFTE seals and soak the whole thing . I learned the hard way to not leave the seals in when you soak in that stuff due to it will swell them and most times they stay that way.
Yes, I hear you regarding over cleaning. I usually just leave water in my paint cups (as Dru recommends) but have had a run of bad luck in the last few weeks and been dismantling like a crazy person. Chicken and egg? In any event I hope things are back to normal.

I still want to learn how to remove and replace o rings. Thanks everybody for all the advice and answers.
 
Yes, I hear you regarding over cleaning. I usually just leave water in my paint cups (as Dru recommends) but have had a run of bad luck in the last few weeks and been dismantling like a crazy person. Chicken and egg? In any event I hope things are back to normal.

I still want to learn how to remove and replace o rings. Thanks everybody for all the advice and answers.

If you are on FB, I just uploaded photo's to what will be a new album - you should be able to view them all. I will work on adding text, and then put together another post here... There is a lot there, so it may take a minute.

https://www.facebook.com/davegs.airbrush.exploration/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2684222485016656
 
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