Cleaning old paint bottles?

[RedHeadKevin]

I went through my old paints today and got rid of some that are dried in the bottle. Rather than just junk the bottles, does anyone have a good method for cleaning paint out of the bottles? I'm thinking a soak in lacquer thinner or other solvent would get them clean, but is there something less messy and carcinogenic? They're Model Master bottles, which get expensive if you're buying them empty.

[Hubbie Marsten]

Had a bunch of those tiny 10ml Tamiya enamel paint bottles dry on me and, instead of trashing them, I got rid of the hardened paint inside by sticking a drill bit into them so that the dried paint would divide into smaller bits which could exit the bottle on the opening.

Then I adapted a dry chunk of 0000 steel wool around the shaft of an electric milk froth to scrub the rest of the paint from the glass. 

I didn't have to use any kind of thinner.

Those jars come in handy everytime.

[Rob de Bie]

Maybe in an ultrasonic cleaner?

Rob

[Helmsman]

Lacquer thinner works great and mask helps to avoid smell and other unpleasant effects.

[Kurt H.]

For model master enamels, I found soaking the bottles in large container full of a purple degreaser really got the bottles clean. Purple degreaser is products like Purple Power, super clean, and Zep degreaser. SInce it is good at stripping enamels from models, it seems to work well on bottles as well.  After a good soak and brushing, wash the bottles with soap and water. Do not soak the caps, this kind of degreaser seems to cause metals to corrode easily. 

[viper730]

For Tamiya I throw the bottles in a container filled with windex.

 

[caudleryan]

Lacquer thinner in an ultrasonic cleaner. Set on longest setting for best results. Every ten minutes or so, I take the bottles out to see how clean they are. If any paint is being stubborn, I take my putty applicator and scrape the sides of the bottle. Then let them keep soaking. Repeat until the bottles are clean. You can get a decent ultrasonic cleaner from eBay for around $20-30.

[ElectroSoldier]

Dont know. I use something called RPDE as a heavy solvent, its safe for aquatic life but how you would get it smaller than a 45gal drum Ive no idea.