Adhesive dissolver?

[Gary McGowan]

What chemical will dissolve any of the adheseives we use. What won't adhesive stick to i.e. certain types of plastic, metal, etc. Thanks Lenny.

[Joe Corlett]

Gary:
I posted the excellent results I got from two products on the ISSFA website BB. The first is called Mist, which is a silicone tooling agent. You spray it on after applying silicone and you can tool the bead without making a mess of the top and splash. The second is a silicone remover that works really well on dried silicone. You're going to have to search the BB for my posts for any additional information because I don't have the original bottles these things came in. Fortunately, after Andy's reorganization, this may not be too difficult.

Good luck,

Joe

[KC]

Sorry Joe.. I have to tell this story... I was a little hesitant about spending the money to go to the ISSFA training class when Steve was there. The last day, Steve showed us how he does his silicone on the backsplashes.
Without telling his secret, I can tell you he made it so easy, that in itself was worth the $1000+ dollars for the class.. He did not use a "product" he just made his own. I love the 1-2 minutes it takes to silicone a perfect bead!!, each time every time!!!

Kelsey

[ChenWeiLun]

Hi GAry,

Speaking of tips I have to agree with the esteemed Paul White on this one, buy a new tip. I know its some change and in this biz every penny counts, but if you did a time motion study on plopping it in, disolving, taking the thing out shaking out the solvent flushing drying, factoring in solvent cost and disposal or reclaiming by distillation its most likely cheaper to buy a new tip.

But if you insist try the follwing chemicals

a.) Ketones (i.e. Acetone- very volatile, low vapor pressure, explosive like gasoline, and not great on the liver)
b.) acetates- like ethyl acetate
c.) chlorinated solvents- dissovle anything practcally- theres chloroform (good for sedating irate employees too) and the incredibly toxic carbon tetrachloride CCL4, and 111 trichloro ethane.



Let me know if any of these also dissolve the tips (heh heh).

Regards,

Lenny Elbon

[ChenWeiLun]

Opps GAry,

I forgot, try MMA, it will solvate and dissolve acrylic based adhesives.

I also forgot to answer the stick to question..Silcones are great as previously mentioned, Dow Corning sells silcone oils of various viscosities.

Any waxes should also make a non stick situation.

Regards,

Lenny

[MAldridge]

Gary,

Joe is right about that Myst. It comes in a little spray bottle and you spray it on after you run your bead. Then you use this little tool that comes with it that pushes your beed into place and removes the excess silicone. The Myst does not disolve anything but it acts as a release and keeps you from having to remove any excess with solvents. If you work with alot of caulk or silicone, you will see that this stuff is magic. The Myst that I have used is Myst by ColorRite. They also make PolySil color match silicone. Weather you find solvent to disolve it or not, try some Myst, I bet you'll like it.

-matt

[Matt Kraft]

In my experience, Windex accomplishes the same thing as Myst.

I would bet it is a bit cheaper and easier to find.......

[Bill Wolle]

I offer to pass on some "tips" on caulking with silicone that I learned from Fred van Meter long ago that work very well and have served me well over the years. I will admit to having pants that are water proof and stand up in the corner without me in them! That is, until I learned this process. The major key to working with silicone is that you can add more if needed but NEVER remove it if you get too much. The process is called push caulking and is being used by many fabricators around the world. Cut the tip off square, not at an angle. Cut the smallest hole possible. Holding the tube at about a 45 degree angle pointed away from you, push the material ahead of the tip. This will fill any small gaps with silicone and the tip will provide the slight "fillet" to make the line look great. At no time should the bead of silicone ever roll around the tip. If you do get any over flash, lightly spray the area with a mixture of water with 2 drops of clear dishwasher detergent. This will prevent the extra from sticking and help clean up. I think it might also be cheaper than other options. As you are wiping up the excess, remember to lift up your finger as soon as you get into the material you are trying to remove, do not smear it around. With a little practice, you should be able to caulk an entire kitchen project and use only 1 paper towel for silicone clean up.

Give it a try.

[John Turner]

Thanks Bill,
Will give push a try. I have used alcohol as release agent. This sounds easier.
jt

[Joe Corlett]

Matt:
I've tried Windex and it is not remotely comparable to Mist. If the guys who make Mist have a cult, I'm gonna join it.

Bill:
I've tried your method successfully, the bead produced is very small but good looking. However, it may be too small. I've done many recaulkes on jobs that had too small a bead installed, especially behind Kitchen sinks. It also takes a great amount of practice. I've caulked more than I care to admit, and it took me a while to get the hang of this method. Your field tech's are going to need some practice before you turn them loose on customers. Also, for those who like to apply latex caulk at the joint between the wall and splash, a bead this small is useless.
If you pull a medium silicone bead at the splash/deck and a medium latex at the splash/wall you can Mist and tool them simultaneously. Too small a bead will not be a problem at either junction and there will be no callbacks. It's fast as hell, and I could train a chimp to do it in about five minutes.

Caulkingly,

Joe

[FEDSAWDAVE]

If you wanna join a "cult" following for removeing silicone from ANYTHING with out hurting the product it's on try DSR-5 Silicone & Adhesive remover.
www.dsr5.com

[Mr. Mike]

I'm in the stone restoration business, & I've used a Akimi that was mix w/ a hardener. This stuff was great. It would dry by the 5th hole. All I would need to do was disolve the surface using alittle acetone. I've since stopped working for this company, & to my dismay cannot locate this glue or anything even remotely similiar to it. Does anyone know what this stuff is?