Regarding the use of acetone, etc. for removing adhesives --- I buy acetone
in 1-gal cans at the hardware store. I also have cans of toluene
("toluol") and laquer thinner that come in quite handy. The last gallon of
acetone I bought was $13.95 at Furrow (Payless Cashways/Lumberjack chain).
It comes in handy for lots of cleaning jobs.
Acetone is a "polar" solvent that is miscible with water and has a very
high vapor pressure at room temperature, so it's good for "drying" stuff.
But it's *REALLY* flammable, especially due to the vapor pressure. I've
seen a pretty incredible demonstration of an acetone vapor explosion, so BE
CAREFUL. Don't use it near a water heater or spark source.
Toluene is a "non-polar" solvent that is not water soluble, but it's
very good at dissolving tars and greases. Xylene is a similar product -
sometimes sold in small containers as "bug and tar remover".
Everytime I see these solvents I'm tempted to buy some more, because
they're getting harder to find and I'm concerned that Our Helpful
Government is hoping to remove them from retail shelves altogether.
Lee M. Daniels Laboratory for Molecular Structure and Bonding
daniels@tamu.edu Texas A&M University
http://acs.tamu.edu/~lmd1191
Your Home Is Your Castle --- so, Automate It! http://www.automate-it.com
|