Cleaning Aerosol nozzels?

[Vanvlak]

Was this already 10 weeks ago?
Anyway - I found a solution. My wife had a bottle of acetone-free nail polish remover which she didn't find particularly good in its intended function. I left a couple of old tops in the stuff for a couple of hours and the paint softened and was easily removed using a needle - note that this was inserted in the tops when detached from the can!

I replaced a couple of blocked can tops with the cleaned ones and they worked. 

[Atheling]

Was this already 10 weeks ago?
Anyway - I found a solution. My wife had a bottle of acetone-free nail polish remover which she didn't find particularly good in its intended function. I left a couple of old tops in the stuff for a couple of hours and the paint softened and was easily removed using a needle - note that this was inserted in the tops when detached from the can!

I replaced a couple of blocked can tops with the cleaned ones and they worked. 

Hurrah! 

Darrell.

[grant]

It's a valuable life lesson to always keep your tip clean!

[FramFramson]

It's a valuable life lesson to always keep your tip clean!

[Vanvlak]

Threadomancy!
Not just the tip but also the can....

So in spite of the tip I had given, I was still having problems, sometimes even with new cans. Storing them inverted (nozzle end down) helps a lot, especially with some brands. I was messing around with an old, barely-used tin which would not spray, when I thought of something a bit last ditch - I shook the can very well, removed the nozzle, and sprayed some WD-40 down the tube from the spray can - OVER SOME SCRAP MAGAZINES as it can be VERY messy. I left the think upright for a minute or so, placed the nozzle back, and left it inverted for some time - about half an hour. I shook it well again, and after some false starts, it worked. I managed to spray a large area before it conked out again, and I had to repeat the process - it worked again.
A word of caution - too much WD-40 and the can will spray large droplets of paint.

In the process I also discovered WD-40 is a good paint remover. Fortunately, this did not affect the quality of the paint on the surface being sprayed.

[olicana]

Buy all your rattle cans from one manufacturer. Nozzles do block but they have no memory. It's not the cheap solution but over time the blocked nozzle problem simply goes away by having spare nozzles hanging about the place.

BEST ADVICE: DUMP CANS, NEVER DUMP NOZZLES