Cause of white spots on a CA finish

[Monty]

There has been a lot of discussion about the accelerator causing a white precipitate on the finish of a CA finished pen. I personally have never seen this until just recently. Upon further examination, I noticed that the accelerator that caused the white spots was a heptane based accelerator. I have always used acetone based accelerator in the past. When I refinished the same pen and use the acetone based accelerator, I did not see the white spots.
If you have been getting these white spots, is you accelerator heptane or acetone based (check the MSDS, it should tell you what the base is). Could the this be the cause? Please post which base accelerator (no brand names please) you were using when you got the spots.

 

[rd_ab_penman]

I don't use any accelerator. Results are too unpredictable.

Les

 

[longbeard]

Not sure of the base without lookng. I use to use NCF satellite city accelerator (switched cause of price for the most part) now i use stick fast accelerator and satellite city med CA and i have not had any problems with spots or clouding. I use to get that on the ends when i wet sand till i started sealing the ends, no more problems after that.


Harry

 

[1080Wayne]

I don`t get white spots , but I only use accelerator on the last of several coats of medium . The hexane based is certainly oilier , and takes longer to dissipate . I prefer the acetone based for that reason .

My best guess is that the white spot problem is caused by large droplet size . Even with your good spray bottle , I sometimes get large droplets if I don`t put just the right amount of pressure on the nozzle . Distance from the nozzle to the blank is also important - farther away is generally better as the larger drops get pulled down by gravity .

The other variable never mentioned is the air flow pattern around the spinning blank . Placement of a vacuum to keep CA fumes away from you will determine the pattern . I don`t use a vacuum for that purpose , but I still see air flow drift the spray from right to left because of the influence of the lathe motor .

 

[Sylvanite]

I have tried two different accelerators (regular and mild) from the same manufacturer. The MSDS they publish show the same ingredients in the same proportions for both, but they are obviously different formulations (not only do they smell different, but the regular dissolves plastics that the mild does not). I suspect the "regular" is acetone based - I don't know about the mild.

Anyway, my experience is that using either on heavy coat of thick CA causes it to foam. Otherwise, the mild accelerator yields the dreaded "white spots" but the regular does not.

Regards,
Eric

 

[kovalcik]

I guess my answer would be E. I don't use accelerator for pen finishing. I don't feel it adds anything to the finish and I am never in that much of a hurry that I cannot wait a minute or two for CA to dry. Consequently, I have never had problems with white spots.

 

[Dan Masshardt]

There has been a lot of discussion about the accelerator causing a white precipitate on the finish of a CA finished pen. I personally have never seen this until just recently. Upon further examination, I noticed that the accelerator that caused the white spots was a heptane based accelerator. I have always used acetone based accelerator in the past. When I refinished the same pen and use the acetone based accelerator, I did not see the white spots. If you have been getting these white spots, is you accelerator heptane or acetone based (check the MSDS, it should tell you what the base is). Could the this be the cause? Please post which base accelerator (no brand names please) you were using when you got the spots.

Can you interpret the 'bases' to actual products? Is this the aerosol vs pump difference?

 

[triw51]

I use BLO as an accelerator so do not have any problems