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Techniques for Collectorsremoving paperweight resin
5th Feb 2009 17:36 UTCMatt Neuzil Expert
5th Feb 2009 18:43 UTCRay Hill Expert
5th Feb 2009 18:58 UTCWayne Corwin
5th Feb 2009 19:41 UTCMatt Neuzil Expert
5th Feb 2009 20:47 UTCSteve Kittleson
I know of a few chemicals that will dissolve plastics and resins, but they are all extremely dangerous to work with, even for qualified people. For liabilty reasons, I won't name them.
TTFN:)-D(:P)::o(:P):)-D
5th Feb 2009 20:58 UTCJohn Truax
Heat softens the resin as well, I have rescued some copper matrix slabs with a torch so I could cab them.
5th Feb 2009 22:20 UTCMatt Neuzil Expert
6th Feb 2009 00:22 UTCAlysson Rowan Expert
Heating acrylic resins is not a good idea - the acrylate monomers released by this are quite toxic.
Newer resins are epoxy-based, and are attacked only by the specific resin-digesting product for the particular formulation. All epoxies, however, are heat-sensitive, and may be successfully peeled from encapsulated material if brought up to their softening temperature (they never melt, they just become rubbery and easily ripped). Just hope that you haven't got a piece that has been encapsulated in a high-temperature resin (still solid at 220 celsius).
6th Feb 2009 15:13 UTCHoward Heitner
6th Feb 2009 20:05 UTCMatt Neuzil Expert
6th Feb 2009 23:22 UTCAdam Kelly
5th Mar 2009 08:40 UTCRock Currier Expert
Usually the minerals that are embedded in plastic are not worth the trouble of trying to remove them. What treasure is it in the plastic that you want to remove?
28th Jul 2011 18:52 UTCJim Walker & Mary Fong/Walker
Virtually all of the common embedding/potting resins will yield to a soak in Methylene Chloride. That said, I HIGHLY SUGGEST THAT YOU PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE MSDS/ HAZARDOUS CHEM WARNINGS THAT GO ALONG WITH THE USE OF THIS MATERIAL. It is CARCINOGENIC, HARD ON LIVERS AND BURNS LIKE HELL IF YOU GET IT ON YOU. But it does eat most common plastics for breakfast. It is sold commercially as "Paint & Epoxy remover". For Epoxy removal it is occasionally it is combined with THF (Tetrahydrofuran) another evil compound to watch out for.
It goes without saying (but I'm saying it!) that strong medicines can produce strong results - for good or ill. Make sure you know what you're doing before you start out.
Buen Suerte
28th Jul 2011 20:52 UTCDonald Slater
15th Jan 2015 00:15 UTCMatt Neuzil Expert
Pictures to follow
15th Jan 2015 03:12 UTCMatt Neuzil Expert
This is one crystal of few I liberated from the resin. It is what I think is a twinned zircon. It might just be 2 grown together but it reminds me much of a knee-shaped twin. Sorry for the bad pictures I cannot get much better on my sony camera so i took these on my galaxy.
26th Jan 2015 17:52 UTCReiner Mielke Expert
26th Jan 2015 18:07 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
That's good info. I would have made the same suggestion before I heard this!
26th Jan 2015 23:55 UTCMatt Neuzil Expert
Now, can i where normal latex cheapy gloves or should i wear the PVC or whatever heavy duty kind I have for use when I use HCL??
I am really happy with the results, once again thanks for the warning.
27th Jan 2015 02:02 UTCDoug Daniels
27th Jan 2015 02:10 UTCReiner Mielke Expert
31st Jan 2015 04:25 UTCMatt Neuzil Expert
I wonder now if you could mix the pure stuff with the "value" nail polish remover. That cheap crap doesn't work for the intended purpose.
Thanks for the responses Doug & Reiner much appreciated. I'm glad i got around to doing this and we learned not to dip our fingers in it :)
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Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: March 29, 2024 10:31:45