Hi Joe:
Yeah, I remember 1,1,1
Trichloroethane. Great stuff, and would cut through just about
anything. Also would dry the skin right off your hands and arms in no
time flat not to mention your forehead from wiping the sweat from your
brow. After OSHA stepped in, we had to switch to Naphtha. Not
nearly as good, but you could keep your zippo full at all times for
free.
Anyway yeah, if you can get some trichloroethane go for
it! I don't see any problems for just one job. I was elbow deep
in the stuff 8-hours a day for around 4-years. I got some scars, but
no cancer yet (knock on wood).
BigDave
My all time favorite solvent has to be
trichloroethane. I just went looking for some recently, without success.
Banned as an ozone eater. I can suggest a few readily available
noxious chemicals that you might try. Kerosene is fairly cheap, fairly
benign, and fairly slippery. Turpetine is a non-liver-eating replacement
for turpentine. If your glue is an old pine tar material, turpetine
may cut it. Denatured alcohol may work better than isopropyl, but it still
evaporates too quickly for my taste. Mineral spirits (paint thinner) might
be worth a try. Paint stripper can work miracles, but OSHA and the ozone
hole have taken some of the fun out of that, too. Do you have a big fan,
and somebody to spot you?
Joe
(Sorry, I've been off line for some
months due to technical difficulties. Well, okay, computer incompetence
and laziness.)
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2001 6:17
PM
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Phone #
for Mine sweeper hulls
A chap "down
under" wanted the phone # for the place that sells the mine
sweepers. It is Lague Sales, Robert Lague
209-825-2582. I think he
wants $250 each.
If you work out a deal with him to ship one to you, I'd be
glad to go and pick out one for you. (Just to make sure you
get the best of
the pile). Some of them have some pretty deep
marring where they were
dragged on the sand. I'd look for one
with no damage.
I cut one in half the other day and took out the
foam blocks. They weigh 600
lbs, total, without the foam.
Did the math calcs to estimate how much it
would displace.
Figured to be 4400 lbs on paper. After I cut it at
"station 10", I stood each half on a large scale and filled them
with water.
The front 10ft. weighed in at 3200 lbs and the
tail (8'10") weighed 1100 full
of water. Total weight =
4300 lbs. The first 14" of the nose is sealed
from the
rest and did not fill with water. I don't know if it is full of
foam or just empty. There is a 4 inch steel tube across the
inside at
station 6. There is a glue substance (very sticky
yet after 50 years) on
parts of the inside, apparently to hold the
foam in place during assembly.
Tested acetone, alcohol,
gasoline, detergent, and tolulene. Only tolulene
will cut the
glue and then only with scrubbing. Heat softens it so I used a
heated pressure washer to get alot of it out but that was a VERY
slow and hot
process. I'm not willing to climb
inside with a gallon of tolulene and
start scrubbing away.
Any suggestions?
Gene