Mr. Tool Cleaner.

[KarlW]

I recently picked up a bottle of my tool Cleaner and am quite impressed with it for cleaning the airbrush.
However, I put a bit into a plastice shot glass to soak my cleaning brushes, come back a bit later and.......
I now have a gooey mess comprising of what used to be a plastic shot glas(Intact one for reference.), 2 cleaning brushes and part of my, relatively new, cutting mat.....

Lesson learnt, this stuff is hot.

[Jim R]

Hi Karl
Oh dear :tired:. I think there are a few of these solvent based ab cleaners around. Very effective but as you say 'hot'. I use Premi-air Liquid Reamer which also eats plastic.

[Allen Dewire]

Dang Karl, that's some pretty potent stuff there. I can't believe it ate 1/2 of the shot glass and chewed up your mat too!!! Weren't there any warnings on the label of it??? Hope it didn't damage your AB too. It says it is for cleaning ABs on the bottle (in German) though...

Prost
Allen

[KarlW]

Dang Karl, that's some pretty potent stuff there. I can't believe it ate 1/2 of the shot glass and chewed up your mat too!!! Weren't there any warnings on the label of it??? Hope it didn't damage your AB too. It says it is for cleaning ABs on the bottle (in German) though...

Prost
Allen

That bottle you see is the green stuff world cleaner that I use for acrylics, which it is designed for.
The Mr Tool Cleaner is a Gunze product, now I've read the label it does warn about melting plastic, but I never even noticed the English text until now......

[Allen Dewire]

Oh, my bad. I read the wrong bottle Karl. Pretty heavy stuff from Gunze though. Only used to clean the Ab and such then. Can it damage the seals in the Ab???

[KarlW]

Oh, my bad. I read the wrong bottle Karl. Pretty heavy stuff from Gunze though. Only used to clean the Ab and such then. Can it damage the seals in the Ab???

It could if they're not PTFE, which I made sure of when buying incase I wanted to use hot solvents in the future. Which is now.....
I always finish cleaning with a flush of water, though my lab days tells me it should be 3 flushes.

[Tim Marlow]

Pretty sure that’s Tamiya extra thin in disguise……..a good rule of thumb is “if it dissolves acrylic paint it’s going to dissolve most styrene type plastics”…….I wouldn’t use that to clean decent sable brushes though. It will strip out the oils and kill the bristles in pretty short order.
Well at least you know what to use if you run out of glue on a Sunday evening LOL……

[KarlW]

Pretty sure that’s Tamiya extra thin in disguise……..a good rule of thumb is “if it dissolves acrylic paint it’s going to dissolve most styrene type plastics”…….I wouldn’t use that to clean decent sable brushes though. It will strip out the oils and kill the bristles in pretty short order.
Well at least you know what to use if you run out of glue on a Sunday evening LOL……

It's a good bit cheaper than TET......:thinking:
I have brush soaps, just wanted to clean the brushes I use for cleaning the airbrush, back to cotton buds and pipecleaners it is........

[Tim Marlow]

Took a bit. Of looking, but finally found the MSDS on a Czech modelling site……..can’t read Czech, but chemical names are universal :thumb2:
It‘s basically nail varnish remover made from Acetone and Butyl acetate……not TET at all, which is Butanone based. That’s why it’s cheaper :tongue-out3:
Absolutely fine for cleaning airbrushes with decent Teflon seals, but just keep it in glass jars in future

[Guest]

It‘s basically nail varnish remover made from Acetone and Butyl acetate……not TET at all, which is Butanone based.

Tamiya Extra Thin is 50% acetone and 50% butyl acetate, not butanone (AKA MEK).

Tamiya airbrush cleaner is a vastly different beast, though, as it consists of 49% acetone and 51% butyl acetate …

[Tim Marlow]

Tamiya Extra Thin is 50% acetone and 50% butyl acetate, not butanone (AKA MEK).

Tamiya airbrush cleaner is a vastly different beast, though, as it consists of 49% acetone and 51% butyl acetate …

Good point…….Butanone isn’t butyl ethanoate :tongue-out3: Explains why TET isn’t as obnoxious to use as MEK.
That one percent makes all the difference though LOL……

[Tim Marlow]

Mr tool cleaner is 50-60% acetone and 40-50% butyl acetate……just checked it for anyone that wants to brew their own……basically half and half will be close enough it seems. Nothing space age in there at all.

[Guest]

That one percent makes all the difference though LOL……

I don’t understand why the different mix ratios — it would surely be easier to mix it exactly the same and just pour it into a different pot?

Also: that clearly means that if you don’t want to mess with mixing your own TET-equivalent from cheap chemicals, you can still get relatively cheap TET by just buying the airbrush cleaner and pouring some into a glue bottle. I mean, a quick search turns up that it’s €6.99 for 40 ml of one or €10.75 for 250 ml of the other … That’s just over four times more glue for the same amount of money.

[Tim Marlow]

I don’t understand why the different mix ratios — it would surely be easier to mix it exactly the same and just pour it into a different pot?

Also: that clearly means that if you don’t want to mess with mixing your own TET-equivalent from cheap chemicals, you can still get relatively cheap TET by just buying the airbrush cleaner and pouring some into a glue bottle. I mean, a quick search turns up that it’s €6.99 for 40 ml of one or €10.75 for 250 ml of the other … That’s just over four times more glue for the same amount of money.

Most of the cost actually comes from buying and filling the bottles I think. Acetone is about six quid for five litres, for example, and I’m sure butyl acetate isn’t that much dearer.

[Guest]

Most of the cost actually comes from buying and filling the bottles I think.

Probably, yes, but even then, not having to adjust mix ratios in a machine is simpler and easier. Not much, granted, but why not keep the mix the same for both?

Acetone is about six quid for five litres, for example, and I’m sure butyl acetate isn’t that much dearer.

I bought 200 ml of both last year, or the year before, and I think it cost me, including shipping, about the same as if I were to buy one bottle of TET and have it mailed to me. Buy bigger bottles and it gets relatively cheaper, of course, but I don’t need ten litres of liquid cement. Yet, anyway