Warning about IPA

Started by austinbob, June 27, 2016, 09:25:53 PM

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austinbob

Just a warning about IPA (not the drinkable stuff!!)
I always thought that IPA was pretty safe to use on locos and didn't affect the paintwork.
Wrong!!
I was cleaning some track on my test layout and a couple of drops of IPA ended up on the roof of my M7 tank. Didn't notice at the time but then after a few minutes I noticed that the cab roof had gone white - dissolved the paint I guess.
Not a big problem as a couple of drops of thinned black paint will bring the M7 back to as good as new.

Just thought I'd warn people that IPA is not as safe as I thought.
:beers:
Size matters - especially if you don't have a lot of space - and N gauge is the answer!

Bob Austin

cjdodd

Yeah it is a solvent so it will bleach plastic. It is safe to use, just don't leave it on stuff :-)

austinbob

Quote from: cjdodd on June 27, 2016, 09:39:24 PM
Yeah it is a solvent so it will bleach plastic. It is safe to use, just don't leave it on stuff :-)
you're right of course - but cos of the nature of what I was doing (cleaning track) I didn't know the IPA had dripped on to loco.. A tale of caution. Now where's that black paint??
:beers:
Size matters - especially if you don't have a lot of space - and N gauge is the answer!

Bob Austin

Newportnobby

I have highlighted this before when I managed to let a drop of IPA get onto a coach roof :doh:


Sprintex

It's done a good job of taking the paint off my Tomix track cleaner :D


Paul

austinbob

Quote from: newportnobby on June 27, 2016, 09:50:42 PM
I have highlighted this before when I managed to let a drop of IPA get onto a coach roof :doh:


Wish I had spotted that before NN... I would have been more careful!!
:beers:
Size matters - especially if you don't have a lot of space - and N gauge is the answer!

Bob Austin

Luke Piewalker

IPA is safe in terms of it won't dissolve plastic, paint however....

PaulCheffus

Hi

IPA makes a good paint stripper when mixed with a little water far cheaper than the branded products. From memory you need around a 93% solution for it to work.

Cheers

Paul

Procrastination - The Thief of Time.

Workbench thread
https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=54708.msg724969#msg724969

austinbob

Quote from: PaulCheffus on June 27, 2016, 10:40:58 PM
Hi

IPA makes a good paint stripper when mixed with a little water far cheaper than the branded products. From memory you need around a 93% solution for it to work.

Cheers

Paul
I'm sure you're right. I just wish I hadn't found out by accident!!
:-[
Size matters - especially if you don't have a lot of space - and N gauge is the answer!

Bob Austin

dannyboy

Quote from: austinbob on June 27, 2016, 10:46:25 PM
I just wish I hadn't found out by accident!!


You are in good company Bob - some of the worlds greatest discoveries were made 'by accident' - remember that fella who jumped out of the bath shouting "Eureka" and got hit on the head by a falling apple?  :confused1:
David.
I used to be indecisive - now I'm not - I don't think.
If a friend seems distant, catch up with them.

Dr Al

It is exceptionally good at this - I've used it to strip paint from models before (ones I wanted stripping!). That's why I don't tend to use it as a track cleaner - just too risky of an error.

Cheers,
Alan
Quote from: Roy L S
If Dr Al is online he may be able to provide a more comprehensive answer.

"We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces."Dr. Carl Sagan

railsquid

Quote from: dannyboy on June 27, 2016, 11:18:02 PM
Quote from: austinbob on June 27, 2016, 10:46:25 PM
I just wish I hadn't found out by accident!!


You are in good company Bob - some of the worlds greatest discoveries were made 'by accident' - remember that fella who jumped out of the bath shouting "Eureka" and got hit on the head by a falling apple?  :confused1:

The discoverer of the waterproof iPad?

I must confess early on I was enthusiastically cleaning wheels of some 2nd-hand stock and wondered how well it would work on the bodies. Luckily I realised very quickly.

Yet_Another

I think this should be on a big billboard surrounded by flashing lights somewhere. I've got a big bottle of IPA, acquired when I was about 18, and used to clean the heads on my cassette decks.

I've never seen a reference to it being used as paint stripper, and it never occurred to me that it might work - one sees regular references to brake fluid, but why would one use that when there's such a nice substance as IPA instead?
Tony

'...things are not done by those who sit down to count the cost of every thought and act.' - Sir Daniel Gooch of IKB

Bealman

#13
Put it on a cotton bud and it'll take all that horrible black sweat and skin remains or whatever from the insides of metal watch strap links  :D

Mind you, you still have to use a toothpick to get at the really stubbon bits in the hinges and joins  :sick2:
Vision over visibility. Bono, U2.


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