raygreenwood wrote:Naptha works great. MEK works great but is a little rough on filler.
Acetone is too weak to use on certain grease and oils.
Laquer thinner is most certainly NOT Acetone. Laquer thinner is a blend of several solvents..of which acetone can be one. Ray
I'll defer to you since you are more knowledgeable than I am (honest opinion, no sarcasm intended or implied).
That being said, the only ingredient listed on the brand of 'lacquer thinner' I get from my local Rocky's is 'acetone.' It is also the only active chemical listed and no inert chemicals listed so as far as this generic product, it appears to not be a blend.
Ah......let me ask...and this is important for many who may be using a laquer thinner:
is this laquer thinner by any chance advertized or labled as "improve" or "environmentally safer" or clean air compliant etc etc etc??
If so what you are running up against is the problem that .....acetone....oddly enough is one of the few VOC exempt "hot" solvents under federal and many states laws. It is a co-solvent with water...like most alcohols and has low toxiicity. We have had the real problem in the printing industry of acetone being substituted either in whoel or a higher fraction for more potent solvents....without any proper relabeling. This causes REAl problems when your chemistry stops working wit hcertain inks and coatings.
While acetone may in fact be accetptable or usable for "mixing" with laquer as a thinner....I know that acetone is not strong enough to cut or remove most automotive soap based greases and some oils.
Since one of the main uses of laquer thinner used to be also degreasing metal prior to painting....whether it was the proper product or not....you can get yourself into real trouble if you end up using a "faux"...dwtuned laquer thinner to try and degrease with prior to painting. It just will not cut certain greases, oils and waxes.
Its horrible for cleaning bearings with for instance. Ray
Yep...thats commonly the bucket of "soup" that I know of as Laquer thinner also. You will notice that acetone is about 1/3 of the total voulme.
Acetone is a good solvent for suspension. Its moderately fast evaporating....incomparison to some of teh more active chemicals in teh brew like heptane. Ray
raygreenwood wrote:
Ah......let me ask...and this is important for many who may be using a laquer thinner:
is this laquer thinner by any chance advertized or labled as "improve" or "environmentally safer" or clean air compliant etc etc etc??
If so what you are running up against is the problem that .....acetone....oddly enough is one of the few VOC exempt "hot" solvents under federal and many states laws. It is a co-solvent with water...like most alcohols and has low toxiicity. We have had the real problem in the printing industry of acetone being substituted either in whoel or a higher fraction for more potent solvents....without any proper relabeling. This causes REAl problems when your chemistry stops working wit hcertain inks and coatings.
While acetone may in fact be accetptable or usable for "mixing" with laquer as a thinner....I know that acetone is not strong enough to cut or remove most automotive soap based greases and some oils.
Since one of the main uses of laquer thinner used to be also degreasing metal prior to painting....whether it was the proper product or not....you can get yourself into real trouble if you end up using a "faux"...dwtuned laquer thinner to try and degrease with prior to painting. It just will not cut certain greases, oils and waxes.
Its horrible for cleaning bearings with for instance. Ray
See, I knew you know more than I do!
As a matter of fact, it's listed as 'green' on the label, though I didn't buy it for that reason, it happens to be the only brand they carry and the store is less than 1/4 of a mile away.
This is good to know, I'm glad this came up and got clarified. I'll be using a different product when start prepping my baja for paint.
Bug and tar remover is fabulous for what its made for. Its designed to be a very light solvent...and mostly designed to get underneath certain substances and keep them from adhering. It beaks the bond of adhesive greases, dirt and sap.....but it is not strong enough to attack the paint...and its relatively "greasy" to keep from drying out the paint. Its a light degreaser. It may or may not leave residue...but it certainly is not strong enough to remove oils to the level required when painting. Ray
I'm using Crossfire enamel paint. It's mixed as: 5 parts paint, 1 part hardener and 1 part reducer. But Napa only had reducer in gallon containers. So I have a lot of extra reducer. Can this be used as a cleaner? Would it affect bondo?
I'm not teh most knowledgable paint person. I just know chemicals...an I mainly work with inks and coatings. Most enamel reducers are blended for their ability to solve or blend with a specific range or type of enamels. But oen thing they all have in common...is that they are generally very clean....because they have to be in order not to contaminate the paint.
Because they are going into the paint they may not necessarily have to flash off very quickly. I'm sure most reducers would make great cleaning solvents.....but because they are desigend to blend and solve plastic polymers...which is what most enamels are....just test some first. If it does not melt the Bondo it will probably be fine. Ray
