Rattle Can Nozzles

[Rick6a]

Does anyone know where I can purchase replacement nozzles for rattle can paints and primers such as Krylon, RustOLeum, Tempo, etc? You know the drill, the nozzle works fine the first time out of the gate. When done, you dutifully turn the can upside down and depress the nozzle to clear it. Hours, days, or weeks later, the friggin nozzle is clogged and useless so you pirate a new nozzle off another can.

 

[mannanj]

Pirate.

The only thing I know to do is hoist the skull and crossbones and don the patch.

 

[Bill Wightman]

Fix them and reuse

You might find replacement nozzles at Home Depot or similar.

But, they're pretty easy to fix and reuse. Just get a small glass jar, put some lacquer thinner in it and soak the offending nozzle in the lacquer thinner for a few minutes.

Then blow the nozzle out with some shop air and whalla - new nozzle!

I've also found the main clog problem isn't always in the little spray hole. If you look closely, the stem of the nozzle assembly has a very small slot in the side of it. That slot must remain clear or the nozzle won't work. I've even opened up the slot on some nozzles very carefully with an Xacto knife so it won't clog so easily again. That also influences how the nozzle sprays - the amount of paint delivered.

Finally, when you run a spray can dry, save the nozzle. You'll build up a good enough collection of them for future situations. Not all of these nozzles have the same geometry, orifice design, etc so you'll gain a variety of spray patterns too.

 

[airguy]

lacquer thinner

...is the trick. I invert the can and blow till clear, then pull the nozzle and use a small plastic squirt bottle of lacquer thinner and squirt some up the feed tube through the nozzle, and blow it clean with shop air. I've had good luck restoring nozzles that I forgot to clean after use by dropping them in a jar of thinner for a few days and blowing them clean.

 

[jferraro17]

You might find replacement nozzles at Home Depot or similar.

Yeah, there is a whole isle, full of shelves with new nozzles. They're kinda hard to find under the caps, but if you look hard enough you'll find them


Joe