Quote:
Originally Posted by hawnjigs
Used to just melt em together with the clip ons with the resulting foul smelling smoke. Last batch I separated the stick ons and soaked in paint thinner for a coupla days and still had to peel off the plastic tape by hand and deal with gummed up thinner. Was worth separating - the lead appeared to be pure or very close. Is there a more efficient way to process stick ons?
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I used to do the solvent soak for a few days or a week, drain then rinse in Simple Green, pour the ww's on a piece of screen and blast with high-pressure water. That stripped all the gum off.
The most time-efficient method, of course, is to just melt 'em down as-is. The smoke can be minimized by melting rapidly over high-heat, and fluxing with paraffin during the melt. Light the wax so you have flames, and that'll combust much of the smoke-- as well as decreasing the melt time.
You're damned either way. Using solvents isn't good for the environment, and paint thinner is especially bad for fish, for example, since it has water-soluable components. The smoke is also noxious, but if you burn it, the flames will reduce most of the noxious aromatic compounds to simpler less-egregious chemicals, CO2, and carbon soot.
If anyone knows a faster/better way, let's hear it!
