So I’ve been using a needle bottle as an applicator for MEK, and it’s suddenly clogged. I’ve tried soaking the needle in MEK to see if a small piece of styrene might have got into it, but no luck. Any other ideas for cleaning out the tiny needle?

I’m willing to toss the whole thing and buy a new one… But I can’t find a local source. Ace Hardware, Lowe’s doesn’t have any, Jo-Ann’s only has plastic tipped ones…Amazon and other online retailers have them cheap ($5 for 10 pack) but I’m impatient at the moment because I’m trying to work on my scratchbuild project.

Any suggestions?

Can you ream out the needle with…a needle? Like a sewing needle.

HEHEHE…it’s so easy you are gonna be real mad…heat the end of the metal tip with a lighter (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Edit: been there done that

But first remove the tip from the full bottle. MEK is rather inflammable.

David Russell said:

HEHEHE…it’s so easy you are gonna be real mad…heat the end of the metal tip with a lighter (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Edit: been there done that

Ohhh Thanks… I’ll try that. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

David Maynard said:

But first remove the tip from the full bottle. MEK is rather inflammable.

Why that is just extra work besides it only takes a split second .

I ended up pulling the whole needle out and heating it up because it was plugged on the bottle end. Now it works like it was new. Thanks for the tip Rooster! While I was filling the bottle up with MEK, I started a soak of some scrap styrene in MEK (in a glass jar) to use as putty. Back to business. Hopefully I will have some progress pictures to show later this long weekend on my Snow Dozer thread.

Craig,

What happens is the “plastic” wiks back up the tip and dries causing the clog. One way to prevent this is to keep the tip from touching the plastic when applying. I just touch the flame to the tip for a second then point it downward and squeeze the bottle expelling the MEK and clearing the tip.

Edit : who’s Rooster?

David Russell said:

Edit : who’s Rooster?

possibly he means Rooster Cockburn?

David Russell said:

Edit : who’s Rooster?

He was a fat, one-eyed sheriff who had to prove to some young girl that he had “True Grit”…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

David Russell said: who’s Rooster?

Funny! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)