Ski Builders Forum

What cleaner do you use to wipe down the p-tex and topsheets before laying up a ski?

thanks

Plain water and compressed air. No solvents

Vinman wrote:Plain water and compressed air. No solvents

What he said. Once I had some tip spacer that sat around forever and got REALLY dirty, so I washed it with soapy water, then rinsed it about a thousand times, dried it REALLY well, and flame treated it. I used to wipe everything with acetone, but then learned about how that is detrimental for bonding.

^ yep. We've learned a lot

Water, then a final gentle pass with denatured alcohol. I've heard rumours of acetone enhancing uptake of solvents into the skin <shuddder>

OnDeck wrote:Water, then a final gentle pass with denatured alcohol. I've heard rumours of acetone enhancing uptake of solvents into the skin <shuddder>

Yeah... I've used acetone to clean things off my hands (like epoxy) more times than I'm proud to admit...

Try butter for removing epoxy & other materials. It's like magic and your pets'll love you more But it's best for your health to let epoxy harden on and then clean. I learned first hand about absorbing stuff through your skin years ago picking mushrooms on a dewy morning. Lets just say it was surprisingly fun.

Huck Pitueee wrote: .But it's best for your health to let epoxy harden on and then clean. I learned first hand about absorbing stuff through your skin years ago picking mushrooms on a dewy morning. Lets just say it was surprisingly fun.

Hahh! Reminds me why i never eat rice krispy treats any more if i didn;t personally see them getting made. Well, not if i want to get anything done in the shop that day.

MEK is my solvent of choice.

Actually I only use methyl ethyl ketone for cleaning up epoxy before it hardens. Nothing else seems to work as well. Acetone doesn't do it. Of course I'd never use it against bare skin, you need very sturdy gloves, it eats through most.

To final clean materials, cores included, just prior to pressing I use a quick wipe with a non-shedding rag that is slightly damp with acetone. But I learned the hard way to never wipe my transparent topsheet with acetone because it makes it cloudy, sort of etched. I'd like to learn why acetone is detrimental to bonding, please explain Twizz.

-S

I read on here a while back that Crown had said wiping the flamed/abraded PTEX with acetone removed some of the molecular activity created by flaming therefore reducing bonding. As I recall they said to just use air to blow off any contaminants.

low quality solvent acetone has oil/petroleum residuals in it. The stuff you use on your nail polish is much more pure but 5 times the cost.
Denatured alcohol, mineral spirits or as you said MEK is the strongest most evaporative solvent but water or air should only be used to clean the plastics and then dried completely and re-flamed before layup.

I think it was Crown said use water, but if you are using double sided tape, there is a residue to clean off.

I'm going to give the butter thing ago - sounds like it's a good barrier cream!

My epoxy cleaner of choice is household vinegar. Great to dunk the paint/jiffy mixer in, if you're not in the mood to clean it up and the end of the lay up. Great for wiping things down with too - appears to dissolve the epoxy.

Haha Huck, man did THAT ever bring back memories. I went to University of Oregon for awhile and I remember walking through cow pastures pickin those little blue capped buggers

Ho that stuff is high test! Mine was on Maui and I had to make a call to let my mom know I was ok. I know I sounded some kine stoked!

so r we still talking about absorption "boomers" or r u we talking about solvents....

i used isopropal until i was told that is adversely affects adhesion.