Acetone is wicked stuff

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Russianwolf

Russianwolf

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Jul 13, 2007
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Martinsburg, WV, USA.
So with all the failures that I have laying around from my clear casting attempts. I wanted to see if I could salvage the tubes without putting a lot of effort into it. So I looked around for something to dissolve PR. since most plastics are petroleum based, and gas dissolved alot of petroleum based products (don't spill gas on asphalt) I tried that. Turned the PR yellow, but didn't do much else. granted I could have easily lit it at that point and would have wound up with a mostly clean and blacked brass tube. :rolleyes:

Then I tried our good old friend Acetone. I knew it was good on uncured PR, but wasn't sure about cured. So I got my mason jar and filled it halfway with Acetone and dropped a set of blanks in. I forgot to check on it for a few days, but when I did check I found some brass tubes in the middle of PR Armageddon. :eek:

Now the acetone didn't dissolve the PR like I expected, I expected to find brass tubes in a solution of PR/Acetone with nothing solid. Instead I find acetone with a bunch of PR shards in the bottom. It literally looked like the cured PR had been cut into chunks to get to the brass.

I strained the PR chunks and put the Acetone back in the jar with 4 more duds. I'll take pictures this weekend.

But the brass tubes are ready to go back into the resin again.:biggrin:
 
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All things in the solvent department considered yes on certain plastic resins it great to use along with certain paints. But on a hazard scale
It is listed as skin contact: slight,inhalation slight, TLV 500parts per million Threshold limit values

Compare that to Turpentine, all the assorted varieties Skin contact:high, inhalation high, TLV 20ppm

Or Mineral sprits or any of the other names it goes by Skin contact: moderate,inhalation moderate, TLV 100 ppm
as long as your body isn't made of a plastic resin, wear those gloves and masks.
:clown:
 
Acetone isn't particularly toxic. In fact, it's a metabolic byproduct of fat burning. Smell someone's breath when they're fasting- that's acetone and other ketones.

But one thing you do need to be careful of is that it absorbs into the skin, taking anything on the skin with it. So if you've got something nasty on your skin, the acetone can pull it into your blood. So don't use it for washing your hands!
 
A few years ago I went on a search for the most comfortable over the glasses safety glasses. I found some on the SNAP-ON truck that were great. Expensive but fantastic. As I was cleaning up after painting the bottom of a boat I set the glasses down and promptly knocked a cup of acetone over on them.

The effect reminded me of the scene in the first Indiana Jones movie when the Nazi's face melted.
 
Okay more on this.

If you need to clean tube without any real effort, acetone is the stuff to use.

Results on PR - many little PR flakes with brass tubes easily fished out.

Results on Alumilite - turns i into a sponge like material and the tube slide right out.

Results on Epoxy - less effective on cured epoxy, but still softens enough to allow he tubes to be retrieve fairly easily.


I'm still surprised that none of them were reduced o sludge, but i wasn't my intent anyway.
 
Russianwolf said:
Okay more on this.

If you need to clean tube without any real effort, acetone is the stuff to use.

Results on PR - many little PR flakes with brass tubes easily fished out.

Results on Alumilite - turns i into a sponge like material and the tube slide right out.

Results on Epoxy - less effective on cured epoxy, but still softens enough to allow he tubes to be retrieve fairly easily.


I'm still surprised that none of them were reduced o sludge, but i wasn't my intent anyway.
Click to expand...

Mike I've done this also. Like you it doesn't dissolve the PR it softens it. I've turned them down to close to tube then a couple hours of soaking and you can just pick off the PR like a wet label.
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That's how I clean off my blanks.

Its funny how the PR stays kinda "spongy/rubbery" long after its removed from the acetone. I have thought about reusing the "removed" PR in another cast just to see if it will re-harden???? Havent ried it though, was thinking it would make a nice fractured glass look on some new blanks....
 
That is a great tip! I have some acrylic blanks that I didn't like the way they turned out. I was thinking about turning off the acrylic. I will have to get a jar and do that!
 
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