Rattle Can Hint

[Mac]

OK, I think that we have all been there, use a new rattle can of paint, then set it on shelf.  Later maybe a week or more you pick it up shake it good only to find that when you press the nozzle down, nothing!  Plenty of paint, you can hear as you shake it but the dog gone nozzle is plugged up!

This past week after experiencing this, I discovered that if I take the nozzle off of the rattle can of paint and then put it on a can of Gumout carb cleaner and press the nozzle down, the cleaner actually cleans out the nozzle.  So I've been using a rattle can then immediately switch the nozzle to a Gumout can to clear it then return it to the rattle can for later use.  So far (fingers crossed) this hasn't failed me.

Mac

 

[jpaz]

Just turn it upside down and spray till no more paint comes out. It clears it out.

 

[Boss1Ray]

Just turn it upside down and spray till no more paint comes out. It clears it out.

Yes but unfortunately you are also loosing some propellant in the process.  Might be negligible but I always feel that I'm wasting some! 

Ray

 

[Don C]

And, some of the new cans continue to spray, no matter what the can orientation is.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I pull the spray head off the can and put in some lacquer thinner. Works most of the time, lol.

I thought I would be smart and take the paint out of the rattle can and put in a small detail spray gun. So I turned the can upside down in a tube and put a weight on the bottom of the can and got all the propellant out. I popped a hole in the can and poured the paint into a glass jar that I could seal up. I was going to spray a dash with the paint so I get the detail gun out and my paint in the glass jar. I was going to stir it up with a wooden tongue depressor. When I put the wood into the paint it reacted somehow and the paint just blew out of the jar. That didn't work.

There is not much paint in a rattle can for sure.