Paul...There are alot of guys on here that can probably answer your question better than I but, I will tell you what I do. Also, there have been some excellent posts regarding airbrush cleaning. First of all, I use waterbased paint and I have found that if I flush my airbrush when I'm finished with Windex, it eliminates about 90% of my problems. If I experience problems while I'm painting...I just put my bottle of windex on....backflush and spray it about 10 seconds...put my paint back on and keep painting. Also, I think I remember reading that you should not soak your airbrush. I used to be guilty of that but, since I've started using Windex, I haven't had any problems. Hope this helps!