@@ballinator I have one of the fancy jam jars - the skinny tall ones - so I don't have to pour as much acetone out or have as much of its surface exposed to air. Fits tool handles pretty well. I just dip for maybe 1-2 seconds, lift out, shake up and down gently to get excess fluid back into jar and stick the blade of the tool into a clamp or rack or something.
Great idea! I’ve bought a few things over the last few years made from 3D printers that people sell on eBay and Etsy and generally I am not impressed with this technology. I imagine it may get better in the future though. I am more of a traditionalist. But I have been impressed by a few videos of people making impossible to locate rare car parts like vintage taillight bezels and the like, and knobs for old radios that are not available or insanely expensive.
Those screwdrivers kind of work, but really almost none of those really work all the time. But they are nice to have. Thanks for sharing your experience. Charles
@@ballinator My father has the ones that are made for older screws with the skinny slots. His have a spring loaded blade that rotates to grab the screw slot. I always felt those held better but when you use more modern screws they just dont hold. The sliding ones like you and I have seem to work fine straight up and down but if you try to use them sideways the screw falls out. Thanks for trying out and sharing your experiment, I have wanted to do that myself but just havent found the time. Charles
@@465maltbie yes you won't have trouble until you really start applying torque. But for whatever reason lots of people do that with screw starters. I guess they figure the tool is in their hand? Which I can see and understand. That tends to really mess screw starters up though. The shank being split reduces the strength by a more than half. Something to do with the strength of rounds. Screw starters are flimsy screwdrivers. Far worse than you'd think they'd be just looking at them. When I was an electrician we had screw starters that looked like plastic straws. So you wouldn't even think about trying to torque with them. Plus they worked differently anyways. Most folks are complete putzes when it comes to slotted screws. They don't have the first clue what they're doing. They know so little they don't even know how ignorant they really are. All they know is they hate them some slotted screws! Little do they know but they're the reason why Phillips screws were invented. It wasn't to help them out either. It was to keep them from doing even more damage.
Neat experiment, no doubt! Personally, those wedgy drivers are precious enough now to justify a complete re-handle out of special hardwood or something.. I've had a few old plastic handles split on me and they were kinda fun to make handles for. Sidenote, magnetic tips are just fine in PC's. I think the danger came from days past when all floppies (and tapes) had to do was just stare at a magnet from 20ft across the room to fail, HARD.
Yeah, they beat that into our brains back then not to have magnets anywhere near computers. Not sure how big of a deal it was even back then, but still today out of habit I usually won't use a magnetic screwdriver in a PC.
@ballinator somewhere in the back of my mind I kinda remember someone in data recovery doing an experiment on a head crashed hard drive with a rare earth magnet to see if he could get the head to pull up off the platter without opening the lid and still got most of the data back. Just scoured TH-cam, it was years and years ago. I'm so glad we don't live the Connor Peripherals and IBM Deathstar life anymore 😆
You don't know what you're missing out on until you try it for yourself. Now you know. From my experience with acetone and plastic is it is a touchy process. Things tend to go from better to worse rapidly. A fast wipe can be good but a longer soak can be disastrous. It's just easy to overdo it. Some things working it isn't the answer. It's one touch and done.
@@ballinator acetone is so volatile it can't really turn a solid surface into a viscous fluid. Acetone will melt something to tacky. So it can't be worked like wet paint can be. But there is a moment before the acetone really starts dissolving something where you can wipe it around like it's water. So that's something to note. I'm thinking maybe there's a retarder that can be added somehow to get a fluid viscous workable state? But what you'd use or how you'd use it I don't know. That's chemistry beyond my experience. I've just wiped stuff with acetone.
Have you ever thought about learning how to parkerize in order to protect bare metal on tools? I have done it at home for many things and it makes difference since it is a great finish for absorbing oils.
My dad & I did parkerizing several years ago. IIRC it was a lot of work. One of the parts we did was a door handle for an old gym locker that I still use for storage. No rust on it years later.
It is best to have a long strip or two of fabric running up the sides of your container, with the bottoms dipped into the acetone and secured near the top. The acetone will wick up the fabric and better distribute the acetone vapor in the container. Alternatively you can use a sleeve of paper the same height as the jar.
When I vapor chamber parts, I do it outdoors with a hot plate. Very small amount of acetone in the jar, and a bigger jar. It's supposed to be a very quick process if done right, not something you let sit overnight.
I saw in most of the tutorials they had a lid on the box with a few vent holes in it. I figured the smaller opening on the jar would be small enough, but maybe I should have fashioned a cover for it or put it in a box.
I bought one of the split starters for Philips years ago and found a good magnetic tips works better. If you bump something on the way to the hole, then you need a magnet... Every once in a while, I would need to avoid a magnet or I would have to degauss everything. This is probably not a vid of how to restore a plastic tool.
this was painful to watch, if you want the container to be filled with vapor you don't need a "wick" or a "fan" just cover the top with tinfoil, yeesh. (also... acetone is largely non-toxic... but you could just set it in a pan of warm water if you don't want to bring it inside)
I just dipped mine quickly, then let dry. Some foggy clear acetate handles took a couple dips. Came out shiny and smooth
Interesting. Something else for me to try out.
Agreed, I’ve been doing the acetone dip since the 70’s. Takes about 30 seconds to dry but still looks wet. 👍👍
@@ballinator I have one of the fancy jam jars - the skinny tall ones - so I don't have to pour as much acetone out or have as much of its surface exposed to air. Fits tool handles pretty well. I just dip for maybe 1-2 seconds, lift out, shake up and down gently to get excess fluid back into jar and stick the blade of the tool into a clamp or rack or something.
@@asafoetidajones8181 I have some graduated cylinders that might work well for that.
This is giving me the vapors!
Happy new year 2025, young man !
Thanks! Happy New Year!
I finished out the year with a video where I learned something.
Happy New Year!
Thanks! Happy New Year to yours as well!
Good results with the rub down. I'll try that. Happy new year.
Thanks! I'm still not super happy with it, but there's def potential for the rub down method.
Great information I appreciate you saving me the unnecessary steps.
Thanks!
Great idea! I’ve bought a few things over the last few years made from 3D printers that people sell on eBay and Etsy and generally I am not impressed with this technology. I imagine it may get better in the future though. I am more of a traditionalist. But I have been impressed by a few videos of people making impossible to locate rare car parts like vintage taillight bezels and the like, and knobs for old radios that are not available or insanely expensive.
Thanks. Yeah I've been doing a bit of research into 3D printing lately. May have to pick one up at some point.
Keep your awesome tool vids coming!
Thanks! More on the way.
I was once kidnapped by a bunch of mimes...they did unspeakable things.
If you drink enough old Milwaukee you can just get wobbly and order a brand new screwdriver on the webs
I have a bright red handled version , use it often .
Those screwdrivers kind of work, but really almost none of those really work all the time. But they are nice to have. Thanks for sharing your experience. Charles
You're welcome. Used to use these all them time when building PCs. Back then we were concerned about magnetic screwdrivers messing up the hard drives.
@@ballinator My father has the ones that are made for older screws with the skinny slots. His have a spring loaded blade that rotates to grab the screw slot. I always felt those held better but when you use more modern screws they just dont hold.
The sliding ones like you and I have seem to work fine straight up and down but if you try to use them sideways the screw falls out.
Thanks for trying out and sharing your experiment, I have wanted to do that myself but just havent found the time.
Charles
They're not screwdrivers. They're screw starters. When you try to drive a screw with one that's when they don't work.
@1pcfred yes but as a screw starter you have to screw it in enough to start it. Have a great New Year
@@465maltbie yes you won't have trouble until you really start applying torque. But for whatever reason lots of people do that with screw starters. I guess they figure the tool is in their hand? Which I can see and understand. That tends to really mess screw starters up though. The shank being split reduces the strength by a more than half. Something to do with the strength of rounds. Screw starters are flimsy screwdrivers. Far worse than you'd think they'd be just looking at them. When I was an electrician we had screw starters that looked like plastic straws. So you wouldn't even think about trying to torque with them. Plus they worked differently anyways. Most folks are complete putzes when it comes to slotted screws. They don't have the first clue what they're doing. They know so little they don't even know how ignorant they really are. All they know is they hate them some slotted screws! Little do they know but they're the reason why Phillips screws were invented. It wasn't to help them out either. It was to keep them from doing even more damage.
Neat experiment, no doubt! Personally, those wedgy drivers are precious enough now to justify a complete re-handle out of special hardwood or something.. I've had a few old plastic handles split on me and they were kinda fun to make handles for. Sidenote, magnetic tips are just fine in PC's. I think the danger came from days past when all floppies (and tapes) had to do was just stare at a magnet from 20ft across the room to fail, HARD.
Yeah, they beat that into our brains back then not to have magnets anywhere near computers. Not sure how big of a deal it was even back then, but still today out of habit I usually won't use a magnetic screwdriver in a PC.
@ballinator somewhere in the back of my mind I kinda remember someone in data recovery doing an experiment on a head crashed hard drive with a rare earth magnet to see if he could get the head to pull up off the platter without opening the lid and still got most of the data back. Just scoured TH-cam, it was years and years ago. I'm so glad we don't live the Connor Peripherals and IBM Deathstar life anymore 😆
al labor of love 😊
Clean, sand the defects and spray it with brake cleaner. Don't touch until dry or you'll get finger prints---don't ask.
Thanks for the tip. Something else to try.
You don't know what you're missing out on until you try it for yourself. Now you know. From my experience with acetone and plastic is it is a touchy process. Things tend to go from better to worse rapidly. A fast wipe can be good but a longer soak can be disastrous. It's just easy to overdo it. Some things working it isn't the answer. It's one touch and done.
Yeah I'll def be a bit more careful next time I experiment with acetone. I think there's potential there, but like you said, a touchy process.
@@ballinator acetone is so volatile it can't really turn a solid surface into a viscous fluid. Acetone will melt something to tacky. So it can't be worked like wet paint can be. But there is a moment before the acetone really starts dissolving something where you can wipe it around like it's water. So that's something to note. I'm thinking maybe there's a retarder that can be added somehow to get a fluid viscous workable state? But what you'd use or how you'd use it I don't know. That's chemistry beyond my experience. I've just wiped stuff with acetone.
After sanding try hitting the plastic with some heat. Heat gun or propane torch. Nice work!!
Thanks! I'll def try out the heat trick sometime in the future.
Have you ever thought about learning how to parkerize in order to protect bare metal on tools? I have done it at home for many things and it makes difference since it is a great finish for absorbing oils.
My dad & I did parkerizing several years ago. IIRC it was a lot of work. One of the parts we did was a door handle for an old gym locker that I still use for storage. No rust on it years later.
It is best to have a long strip or two of fabric running up the sides of your container, with the bottoms dipped into the acetone and secured near the top. The acetone will wick up the fabric and better distribute the acetone vapor in the container. Alternatively you can use a sleeve of paper the same height as the jar.
Thanks for the tips! If I try it again I'll use paper sleeve.
A light pass with a propane torch will take some scratches out of Lucite, but I've never tried it on other plastics.
Hmm, might be something else for me to try in the future.
Have you done any research on Cornwell tools
Not much. They are on the list for a future video.
When I vapor chamber parts, I do it outdoors with a hot plate. Very small amount of acetone in the jar, and a bigger jar.
It's supposed to be a very quick process if done right, not something you let sit overnight.
Thanks for the tips. I might have used too small a container and too much acetone.
Try a cake pan . Lay it horizontal.
That makes sense to spread out the surface area of the acetone. Suspend the handle above it and maybe rotate it around every few minutes.
The acetone box has to be covered for the vapors near the top to not escape.
I saw in most of the tutorials they had a lid on the box with a few vent holes in it. I figured the smaller opening on the jar would be small enough, but maybe I should have fashioned a cover for it or put it in a box.
I bought one of the split starters for Philips years ago and found a good magnetic tips works better. If you bump something on the way to the hole, then you need a magnet... Every once in a while, I would need to avoid a magnet or I would have to degauss everything.
This is probably not a vid of how to restore a plastic tool.
The Phillips ones were always a bit more finicky. I used to use them quite often years ago when assembling computers.
FWIW Isopropyl is about twice as toxic as acetone in terms of LD50 but that doesn’t say much about occupational exposure.
Interesting.
Try zippo lighter fluid
Interesting. I'll give it a try next time.
Acetone vapors are acetylene
Yeah, not breathing that in. Another guy said it was 'non-toxic' still not breathing it in though.
@@ballinatorya. You can weld and cut steel with acetylene.
this was painful to watch, if you want the container to be filled with vapor you don't need a "wick" or a "fan" just cover the top with tinfoil, yeesh. (also... acetone is largely non-toxic... but you could just set it in a pan of warm water if you don't want to bring it inside)
Well, it was an experiment. I didn't say it would be a successful one..