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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
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for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Any ways of de-waxing other than trichlorethelene?
Hi . I'm interested if anyone has any other ideas of how to remove the wax residue left on parts after they have been de-waxed in boiling water ?
at the moment , after they have been in the dewax tank (hot water), we degrease in trichlorethelene to ensure parts are clean , and ready for de-embrittlement etc..
We have tried a hot air gun but that just burns the wax on .
We have invested in a new trichlorethelene degreaser that meets the strict environmental rules , but the cycles take a long time , and some parts need to be de-embrittled within a certain time of plating so I would like to know if anyone has any other ways other than trichlorethelene ?
Thanks
plater - Essex, UK
April 30, 2008
Hi, Jay.
Letter 10079 offers additional potential ways to remove the wax; letter 38720 discusses replacement solvents. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
May 1, 2008
May 1, 2008
Hi , thanks Ted , your help is greatly received .
N-propyl bromide seems to be the most popular answer I have found ( never heard of it if I'm honest)
people recommended aqueous cleaning but we bought an expensive unit only to find it was not very good !
Other recommendations I found on here was to burn the wax off in an oven ? surely that would only burn the wax to the parts ?
I welcome the regulations regarding trike because of the obvious health issues but its cleaning ability is second to none .
our new trike degreaser is a sealed unit - very expensive but much longer cycles - to make sure all traces of trike are removed before it can be opened.
Anyway, can anyone explain n-propyl bromide method ? is it just a replacement of trike , and works in the same way as a trike degreaser?
thanks
- Essex, UK
May , 2008
N-propyl bromide is usually available as a proprietary chemical under trade names rather than as a "basic chemical". It is a "drop in" replacement for trike. This does not mean that it's absolutely identical -- you may have to make minor temperature adjustment, for example -- but is quite similar, and almost as good. Just darned expensive.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
May 6, 2008
Jay,
Just be careful with n-Propyl bromide. You may get caught out by the Solvent Emissions Directive (SED) as this material has a preliminary classification of R-61 as set by the UK Health & Safety Executive
(HSE). It may well do the job you want, but it also only be a short term solution.
Aerospace - Yeovil, Somerset, UK
May 7, 2008
Hi Brian , thanks for the advice , it seems I will have to continue to use trike method as the n-propyl bromide seems to be much the same as trike method therefore the cleaning cycle will be the same
.
think I was just hoping someone had a miracle method of removing the wax residue but it looks like I'll have to keep on with the tried and tested hot water and trike !
- Essex, UK
May 12, 2008
Dear Sir,
We are using Trichloroethylene for etching & cleaning the dust / dirt on the wax patterns in the Investment casting process. As the disposal of trichloroethylene is difficult, we need some alternative for it which can be disposable easily.
Thanking you.
Buyer - Solapur, Maharashtra, India
May 12, 2008
Hi, Sadanand. I thought trichlor instantly dissolved wax, and therefore could not be used for cleaning a wax pattern. Please explain what I am misunderstanding. Thanks!
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Hot Tri is fairly fast. room temp Tri is a lot slower. If he says that he is using it, I guess that he found a way to control it, or we both do not understand what he meant.
James Watts- Navarre, Florida
May 12, 2008
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