Varnish trouble - more or less

[Mosch]

Hi everyone, I am about to go berserk. How are you all doing?

I have this can of spray-on matte varnish here. Now for some days I am tryingh to matte varnish some gloss varnished miniatures, just to get metaphorically kicked in the crotch by that damn varnish can. The problem is that every time I gleefully try to spray those minis (and after several hours in a cellar where you varnish and prime in you get really gleeful) the nozzle (I am talking about that plastic thing you press on, just to be clear) clogs up and the varnish doesn\'t really come spraying out of it instead of vomiting out of the can and onto my table (average distance covered: 6cm). I have cleaned that damn thing several times in hot water, tried my luck with needles and thin wire, but nothing, no varnish spraying, and Mosch sits sadly in front of his shining minis (don\'t you dare ask me how my chick challenge entry looks after four botched up varnishing attempts).

Any of you people who are more varnish-can-educated than me: What the *insert word of your choice* am I doing wrong? How can I stop the varnish from clogging the can?

 

[lahatiel]

Have you tried holding the can vertically upside down and spraying until nothing but air sprays out for a few seconds. That should help clear out not only the nozzle but also the entire tube assembly that goes down into the can. if you have done that, I don\'t know what else to tell you. If not, I hope this helps.

 

[Mosch]

Tried it already, didn\'t work.

 

[Modderrhu]

Originally posted by lahatiel
Have you tried holding the can vertically upside down and spraying until nothing but air sprays out for a few seconds.

Yes, that\'s the trick. Hold the can upside down and spray until no more varnish comes out, just the propellant. If you can\'t see the difference, then you\'ll be able to hear it.

However, if it still clogs, which it should not, then soaking the nozzle in thinners will work.

Edit: Oh, it didn\'t work? I\'m stumped as to why it should not, perhaps the nozzle itself is malformed.

 

[vincegamer]

What do you mean by \"didn\'t work?\"
What happened when you held the can upside-down and (not pointing it at a mini) depressed the nozzle?

(mental image of depressing the nozzle: \"you\'re a lousy nozzle. You aren\'t fit to sit on that can. I don\'t know why anyone would bother trying to spray through you. You\'re worthless. Your mother didn\'t love you. You are an adopted nozzle.\")

 

[Mosch]

lol vincegamer, that was pure comedic gold

What I mean by \"didn\'t work\" is that the sputtering continued. Now before you tell me that I didn\'t do it long enough, I spend at least 15 minutes trying to make it work.

In the meantime, I have exchanged the nozzle with one from a can of gloss black I had lying around. I was afraid it would be slightly blackened, but the varnish came out cleanly. I used that nozzle now and then replaced the old one - the old one didn\'t work, neither on the varnish can nor on the black paint. I am about to believe in the \"nozzle malformed\" theory...