I am looking for advice on the construction of an acetone bath. Yes, I know it is a simple device, but I wanted to hear if anyone had any suggestions before I tried it myself. I don't have any metal working tools; will I be able to get a metal pipe cut and threaded at, say, Home Depot?
Along with my desire to ask for suggestions, I offer this story. My roommate in college (a Chemistry major, no less) decided to make an acetone bath for his blades. What material did he choose? Why, PVC pipe, of course. So cheap, after all. It seemed like a good idea to me. Turns out that PVC pipe and acetone have an interesting relationship. He got the wire out of the blade with no problems. And he left the acetone in the pipe for a while. His acetone bath soon had the consistency of a wet noodle. It was facinating to see PVC pipe bend so easily. Pretty cool actually, for a disposable acetone bath.
So, I guess I am worried that building one of these might not be as easy as I think, so I turn to those more experienced for help.
Thinwall Copper pipe and end caps-- solder one end, use the other as a slip-on. (Or, add a threaded fitting for a better seal). If you are only occasionally rewiring, try CyA remover to soften the glue, followed by a small screwdriver/dental pick, etc., to remove the old wire. Finish with a dremel/small cut off wheel in the slot.
The simplest solution is to get a piece of copper pipe and two copper endcaps. Solder one on the bottom. Use the other as a cap for the pipe. Fill with acetone, drop the blade in, and voila.
A bigger pipe for multiple blades can be made from a piece of steel pipe. Have it threaded by a hardware store on both ends. Get two screw on end caps. Use teflon tape on the bottom one and put it on very tight. The top one screws on and off. A 3" pipe holds quite a few blades.
I made mine a long time ago, and I don't believe I ever had to get the pipe threaded and cut.
You'll want 3/4" - 1" pipe (as you know, some kind of metal, NOT PVC). Try to get a 3 ft piece (long enough for the blade) and a 1 ft piece (long enough for the tang of a french grip). Then, couple the two pieces together and get pipe caps for either end. Fill it up with Acetone, insert a blade, and viola!
You'll want the two sections so you can accomodate both french grip and pistol grip blades. The coupler allows you to unscrew the 1' piece to get to the blades.
There was some thread with a really great picture of a pipe, but I can't seem to find it. A search may do some good for you.
You should be able to get a 3 foot long galvanized nipple ( length of pipe threaded at either end) right off the shelf at Home Depot. 1/2" diameter works nicely for foils. It's OK for epees, but if you'll primarily be doing epees, you might want to look at 5/8" or 3/4". Get an end cap and screw it on tightly for the bottom. ( you might even want to apply some solder after you screw it on, to keep the acetone in). After use, I usually pour the acetone back in the can or just discard it because it's usually so long between uses for me that the acetone finds a way to evaporate from the pipe, even if I close it.
Go to Home Depot (or Lowe's, or better yet, you local hardware store). Assuming you can find any help, you should be able to get a piece of steel pipe cut to length and threaded at each end. Simply fit a threaded cap on one end (maybe apply a bit of plumbers putter to the threads for a better seal), pour some acetone into it (leave room for the blade), then screw the other end on as a cap. A 1-inch diameter pipe is usually large enough for two or three blades.
If you can't get someone to cut the pipe for you then look for a precut length of pipe that is 36-inches long and threaded at both ends, a six-inch long nipple (a short length of pipe that is threaded at each end), a threaded in-line coupling to join the two lengths of pipe together and two threaded end caps. This way you won't have to cut anything and if you are having trouble reaching down to get at the tang of a blade you can remove the short section from the top of the pipe.
As expected, everyone was very helpful; thank you. I believe that I know now what I need to make a more lasting (but less fun) bath than my roommate's.
My one small contribution to the art of acetone bathing. Rather than going with rwo lengths of pipe, I went with one steel pipe (around 3/4", I think, good enough for two foil blades at a time) with screw caps. One's cranked on so tight it ain't never coming off, the other, of course, isn't.
I found it a pain getting blades in and out, as they tended to be fully immersed and the only non-wet way was to invert the tube to tip the blades to the cap end, and then gently right tube, keeping the blade at the top. Not always successful, and often involving some acetone hand washing.
So I now have a small alligator clip on the end of six inches of flexible wire - I think it's several thicknesses of slightly used foil wire - held in place inside the cap with a circle of stiffer wire, coiled to fit into the cap and then stretched out on the far side of the cap's thread using needle nose pliers so that it doesn't just fall out again. So now, when I put a blade in to soak, I attach the alligator clip to the tang before I put it in the tube, and taking it out is mussless and fussless.
With a copper tube, I guess you could solder such a contraption in place; but preferably not while the cap's on the tube...
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My solution to this problem is to have two "pickle pipes" One is sized for a foil, the other for an epee. The length of the pipe is enough to get the whole groove in the bath, but the tang sticks out. This means the cover is off while the blades are soaking. It doesn't seem to be much of a problem (small surface area; I get much more acetone in the air when I take them out).
Of course, I don't use acetone any more. A heat gun is faster.
I went along to Boots (a chain store pharmacist) to get some acetone only to be told they can now only sell it from Head Office under license. Good job I'm a chemistry teacher and have other sources of supply. What on earth do they think we're going to do with it? Terrorist threat to remove all nail varnish from people we don't like?
My pipes are 1 1/2" copper, copper slip cap at the bottom and copper male threaded top (both soldered on...thanks you nearby auto shop!), with a galvanized screw cap. They're long enough for a French tang-length blade (since I like to dunk my brand new blades for a bit to make sure I get all the gunk off of them...especially the dry blades.).
For when I drop in pistol-length blades (or French #2s), I use a cut-off French tang and an outside hex nut on the tang of the actual blade...the result is something to grab and pull the blade out with easily.
'Course, since i ALSO do so much maintenance, I have 12 sets of cut tangs and coupling nuts...and each nut is scored with a hash mark (from 1 to 12). Those belong in Ziploc bags marked in the same way. That way I can be sure that a specific blade gets the grip, socket, and other parts is came to me with!
I went along to Boots (a chain store pharmacist) to get some acetone only to be told they can now only sell it from Head Office under license. Good job I'm a chemistry teacher and have other sources of supply. What on earth do they think we're going to do with it? Terrorist threat to remove all nail varnish from people we don't like?
lol....
Lets seeeee....
acetone is very ---censored----so it works well in home made ---censored--- and can be especially nasty mixed with ----censored----cause then it makes a slurry which can be used in ----censored----then again you can simply mix it with ---censored---- and its a very slow ---censored----and then if you hide it ----censored----you can ---censored-----
I went along to Boots (a chain store pharmacist) to get some acetone only to be told they can now only sell it from Head Office under license. Good job I'm a chemistry teacher and have other sources of supply. What on earth do they think we're going to do with it? Terrorist threat to remove all nail varnish from people we don't like?
I believe it's a known carcinogen, so the restrictions are likely a personal health/safety issue, not national security.
I believe it's a known carcinogen, so the restrictions are likely a personal health/safety issue, not national security.
The evidence that I have seen says no, including the info below:
The Department of Health and Human Services and the International Agency for Research on Cancer have not classified acetone for carcinogenic effects. The EPA has determined that acetone is not classifiable as to its human carcinogenicity.
Information excerpted from
Toxicological Profile for Acetone May 1994
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
United States Public Health Service
That said, I worked a lot with the stuff in industrial applications (as well as the fencing ones) and it is pretty nasty. Best not to breathe it or get it on you to be on the safe side.
Rick
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How often should th eacetone be replaced? How many rewires can one filling of the tube go through before it's too gunked up? Also should the tube itself be scoured at all, and if so how often?
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Depends on the concentration you started with. If it's pretty pure acetone, and you aren't doing 100 blades at a time, I think you'll get a year out of it. One good way to track this is to track how much time it takes to work a blade. When the acetone is fresh, it goes fast. As the acetone gets gunked up, it takes more time. When it gets to maybe twice the time it was when you started, you might want to change the acetone.
How many blades? Dunno. Too many variables. A lot, if its reasonably pure acetone. Even with nail polish remover, I could usually get 20 or so blades out of a fill. Probably had to wait much longer, but back then, I could usually just leave it soak overnight.
I've never had a problem with the pipe having a lot of gunk on it. I swabbed it out when I changed the acetone, but you don't have to to be fastidious.
These days, I use a heat gun, so my "pickle pipe" is dry.
I made the mistake of dropping the old acetone from an acetone bath onto a small bush by mistake...and the next day it had become a sickly yellow. So yes, whilst it probably won't kill you, its not exactly safe either:P
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