I use the Isopropyl Alcohol for thinning the Tamia Arcylic paints I use besides cleaning the airbrush. I have read about the MeanGreen. Not ready to start experimenting again. To me the IPS was a great solution to having too much stuff around for painting.
Re-gripping golf clubs. One of my duties as the Bag Room guy at the Country Club I worked through high school and college was re-gripping clubs. Double stick tape wrapped to the specs from the Golf Pros, put a tee in the hole in the grip, add some gasoline, swish it around and push the grip over the grip. Pull the tee out and avoiding being in the way of the spray.
TomO
That's exactly the way I gripped clubs too for more than thirty years. Gasoline, golf tee in the grip hole.... It's been only in the last two years that I've even tried actual "gripping solution," and they DO have the advantage of not being (so) flammable. Or smelly. Or oily.
Disadvantage to using the actual approved solution, which I only just discovered the hard way, is that the working time with gasoline is a LOT longer. For someone like me who tweaks alignments looking down the shaft to the head, back up to the grip, over and over again....the longer working time gasoline offers is a definite plus.
On the other hand, gasoline as a grip tape glue solvent DOES leave the smell, and even a week later, it can still be annoying. Even a month later.
Heck...I can smell it on some grips a full year later. To avoid or reduce that, I washed the grips thoroughly using a heavy application of Dawn dishsoap, after a full day first of letting them sit in the sun, so that I wouldn't twist or ruin the alignment simply by cleaning them of the gasoline.
It's also true that...wait for it...wait......wait....
..............even in THIS economy, the "gasoline gripping solution" is still a lot cheaper. Probably cheaper even if you grip your clubs with 100LL (aka AVGAS).
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None of which really pertains to cleaning airbrushes...(oh Flo....more...decaf...please). But at the same time, gasoline to clean airbrushes is a solvent I hadn't considered at all.
And, all that said, if there is a cleanout problem which can (seemingly) be narrowed down to the needle area, it's also possible there is a mechanical problem which appears to be a cleanout problem, but isn't. Something might be bent, and might be snagging or rubbing on a nearby part. It might break loose, but then snag up again...which can mimic a paint/varnish buildup, but which actually isn't.
A magnifying glass might be a big help there.
Just a thought.
When you said he's an airline pilot, I automatically assumed you were referring to Luke Towan.*