“Rubbing alcohol is a mixture of acetone , methyl isobutyl ketone, and ethyl alcohol.” on MedicineNet.com
If mixing epoxy resin and acetone is a No-No, then it would stand to reason that using rubbing alcohol around epoxy resin is also a bad idea - right?
I saw some posts here from a while ago that recommended rubbing alcohol for cleaning up epoxy. That would appear to be bad advice, possibly leading to sensitization/rash.
Only denatured alchohol should be used, apparently.
Sorry if this is old news to anybody, but there’s been some discussion of sensitization and it got me to reading up…
PS I was also reading up on acetone because I noticed that the cough medicine I’m taking (Triaminic Thin-Strips) actually has acetone in it, listed as an inert ingredient (?!@?)
Glad you brought that up. I did clean up with soap and water, but I used rubbing alcohol to prep the board between lam and hotcoat (using RR epoxy and add F). I didn’t have any problems, but in the future if denatured alcohol is the call, where can it be purchased?
Proper rubbing alcohol is isopropyl alcohol; like ethyl alcohol with an extra methyl group on that carbon there. If contains any of the other entities you’ve listed there, then you’re getting some bum-ass rubbing alcohol; go buy it elsewhere. It may contain water, but again, if the surface dries up after use it’s no problem. Wouldn’t use it for thinning resins though.
Denatured alochol, on the other hand, is more likely to have methyl alcohol (aka methanol or methyl hydrate), acetone, methyl isobutyl ketone (VERY unlikely) or benzene (again, VERY unlikely).
Home Depot up here, north of the border, sells Toluene, Methyl Hydrate and Isopropyl Alcohol by the gallon and it’s pretty good stuff. I’ve even used it in the lab before! Don’t know about across the border though, with all those postal workers and terrorists you guys have ;).
I use isopropyl alcohol for my rub-downs (on BOARDS now guys…outta the gutter) and haven’t had a single problem. I’ll also use toluene on occasion to thin resins or to wipe down heavily contaminated surfaces (it’ll cut greases much better than isopropyl). Both of these chemicals ARE volatile, should be used in a well vented area, away from any heat sources (i.e. that space heater you’re running in your shop should be turned OFF until the fumes are gone) and inhalation exposure “should” be minimized. I always use toluene for cleaning my squeegees; keeps 'em soft, supple and clean, clean, clean. I DON’T “re-use” it. Just a bit on a paper towel will go a long way; then the towel goes outta the shop while the vapours dissipate.
If there’s acetone in your cough syrup, I think I know why you’re coughing. Stop taking that crap! If they’re solid strips, then the acetone is probably there to get the formulation to gel up properly and if there’s really any left in the product it’ll be in the low, low ppm if not ppb range…The FDA wouldn’t approve anything with a real amount of acetone in it for human consumption. Stopped using acetone to wash my glassware at work in 1999…that stuff is evil.
sounds like its possible to get “additives” such as acetone in unlikely places. How can you be sure what’s in a container of denatured alcohol (what it was denatured with) or in “proper” rubbing alcohol, then?
I became a label reader when I became sensitized in 1993. My particular chemical burn caused by mineral spirits contaminated with pentachlorophenol (about a table spoon amt on my arm) set off an allergic reaction to corn and all corn products that lasted for years. I eventually found a cure, which I have had to use twice since then when other exposures set it off again. In effect I was allergic to 99% of all processed food. I found the biggest shocker to be Tri-sodium phosphate in Honeynut Cheerios. I wonder how they get to sell them in NY where TSP has been outlawed?
Try drinking water, lots of water, instead of taking cough syrup. Water is the universal solvent.