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Brcamera
Tinkerer
Username: Brcamera
Post Number: 136
Registered: 08-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2011 - 03:35 pm: | 
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A recent post mentioned using alcohol as a solvent. This is a good idea and in fact I use alcohol in my electronic/camera lab quite a bit. But the type of Isopropyl alcohol available at the drugstore really is not the best type to use. I would suggest an Anhydrous Isopropyl alcohol as it is a technical grade and typically has less than 1% water. Drugstore Isopropyl alcohol will have from 10-30% water. Anhydrous alcohol works much better as a solvent and of course has no water residue.
As a side note, Anhydrous alcohol could be used on live circuits as the lack of water gives it a very high resistance. As a further side note, if you add say 10ml of Anhydrous alcohol to 10ml of water, you will end up with less than 20ml of fluid as the mixing creates an exothermic reaction as the molecules overlap each other and create heat.
Probably more than you wanted to know about Isopropyl alcohol!
Bill |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 1160
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2011 - 09:07 pm: |
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You can get 99% Isopropyl alcohol at the drugstore. It's a good solvent for inks and some kinds of residue, but it is not a very effective solvent for hydrocarbon grease. Lighter fluid is better for that, in most cases. |
Cooltouch
Tinkerer
Username: Cooltouch
Post Number: 179
Registered: 01-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2011 - 09:20 am: |
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If you go to the hardware store or a big box store, you can find quart-size and larger cans of naphtha -- usually for around $6 or so. This is the same thing as lighter fluid. A lot cheaper and a quart can of it is likely to last you a lifetime. I use drug store isopropyl for some solvent applications, but I'll also use denatured ethanol alcohol. I like it because it is essentially water free. You can get it in quart cans at the box stores also. Price is about the same as naphtha. |
Mndean
Tinkerer
Username: Mndean
Post Number: 272
Registered: 08-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2011 - 03:58 pm: |
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I used anhydrous isopropyl alcohol 15-20 years ago, and I found that it's pretty good for some things, and not too good for others (for instance, I'll never clean a leaf shutter with it again). Naphtha is a far better general purpose cleaner/degreaser. |
Finnegan
Tinkerer
Username: Finnegan
Post Number: 107
Registered: 09-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2011 - 05:11 pm: |
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I find that isopropyl alcohol is good for cleaning chrome. |
Br1078lum
Tinkerer
Username: Br1078lum
Post Number: 190
Registered: 11-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2011 - 05:30 pm: |
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That's kind of what I should have said, that I use alcohol on the exterior, and Ronsonal on the interior.
PF |
Mareklew
Tinkerer
Username: Mareklew
Post Number: 264
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2012 - 07:31 am: |
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Rick:
I have to disagree :D
At least in Germany when you buy pure alcohol (isopropyl, ethanol, methanol - this one they won't sell usually) in a drugstore they take it from their reagents supply.
While it says on the label "99% water free" the label corresponds to the state before the bottle was opened the first time. Unfortunately as I've found out, the handling of water-free alcohols is a complete mystery to drugstors here.
Long story short: they will sell it till the bottle is empty and won't mind if the amount of liquid grows in-between (virtually) out of thin air...
Marek |
Neuberger
Tinkerer
Username: Neuberger
Post Number: 59
Registered: 01-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2012 - 09:33 am: |
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German pedantism. Perhaps this is because there they usually consider alcohol is for drinking?! |
