Hi all,
Does Acetone go off at all, i am looking at buying some but want to know what the life of it is? I will be keeping it in a bucket so i can chuck the brushes in when finished.
Is that ok for keeping the brushes fresh or will they need agitating in the acetone to remove the resin?
Thanks John
the resin should come off by itself when letting it sit in the acetone for a while, unfortunately so does the glue that potentially holds the brush together and the paint on the brush…plus the acetone likes to evaporate when not in a closed container…I think one-time-use brushes are a little less messy/headache
On here somewhere I posted a picture of my former classroom acetone bucket with a modified waste basket in it…here it is:
The black and red one was the dirty acetone that we first used and then the white one was clean acetone for final washing. The waste basket was one of those wire type ones and the lid would still close on the bucket too! But I now see that it is my screw on lid and maybe a 6 gallon version white bucket… from US Plastics.
had a smile when i looked at the picture. My shop (well the shop that i work at) also have similar buckets for acetone but 100 times the dirtier 
. We have an acetone recycler, but got broken and hasnt been fixed yet. Becoz of that, i think we’re using a whole drum of acetone in just 3 months. Everybody uses it like it’s water from washing face to washing hands (save the lecture, these are ol timers with 30+ years in composite, trust me, they wont listen).
Word of caution though John, if you have the setups that werksberg has, be careful of the first bucket, which is the first wash. When you wash dirty brushes, you tend to scrape the excess resin/gelcoat on the wall of the bucket or the rims. And becoz of this, sometimes you might accidentally flicked those excess to your face or eyes. Acetone by itself is dangerous to your eyes, but if you have a cocktail of acetone, resin and gelcoat and what have you, trust me … it’s deadly :eek:
yes, that’s why we wear safety goggles. But even with safety goggles, it’ll find its way to your eyes.
RinAZ, good advice. But we had 1x waste bucket for each bucket but I think that photo was from the first time I started to use the waste can…
Acetone: Cerritoes Composites college would do a little demo of placing an onion on someone wrist, but they wouldn’t taste anything.
Then 1 drop of acetone on a rag and the onion on the rag…applied and they would taste the onion almost immediately! :eek:
Hmm…, what does that tell ya!
PS: You still need to wipe the excess of resin out on a rag and even in the first wash to rub out the brush until it stops looking whitest (resin). But if you would just throw in the brush (as most students did…) the brush still would be junk as the resin will still kick off!
Crazyman say WHAT?
So the acetone would transfer the…taste…of the onion, into the skin, and you could actually taste it in your mouth.
Yes! It also shows what the chemical transfer can do to get it into your system!
If I splash Acetone on my wrist I wonder why I can’t taste that? 
If you get much exposure to solvents, they can be smelled when you sweat. The body working to remove them. so sweating is actually very good for the body to remove impurities. If you don’t sweat much, think about using a sauna for the recomended amt of time a couple times a week.
If you work with acetone I hope you wear rubber gloves and a respirator. I use it but like i said… i try to go sparingly. I suppose polyester and vinylester wet lay ups require a good amount of tool washing/soaking in acetone though.
Damn…
Ok, I need to find an intern and an onion.
What harm does Acetone etc do to the human body?
I’ve been using gunwash/cheap cellulose thinners to wash my hands in for many years, just through ignorance and lack of anything else available that does the job aswell. When it got to hometime at the workshop I used to work at and you’d been painting, you simply wiped your hands in it and went home, there was no hand cleaner provided! Same sort of thing in the garage at home, fixing the car up to the elbows in grease, wipe your hands on a rag of thinners before going in the house and using the correct cleaner at the end of the day…
I don’t now though, I’ve broken the habit and wear rubber gloves. Not only that I provide them for anyone else who is working with me.
A respirator? Well, I’m not so sure there, I figure if you can still smell it (which you can unless its fresh air fed) it’s not worth it, I could be wrong.
I also think that you are going to die one day and that if you can enjoy your work before then it’s no bad thing, wondering around in a workshop like an Astronaut in a suit, mask, etc unable to even talk to anyone all day long is no fun.
Everyone has a different perspective or level on safety, some take no precautions, some every one they can find, some people will worry themselves into an early grave, others of low intelligence are blissfully unaware and the happiest people you will ever meet…
That’s not to even insinuate that safety isn’t paramount though of course and I’ve managed to go for 20 yrs in one of the most dangerous trades there is with all my limbs still intact.
the toluene in thinners, wax and grease remover, gumwash etc can make you sterile.