I attempted to assemble the Totally Featureless Clock’s case using Liquid Nails Clear Seal, figuring that it’d be easier to fixture than runny epoxy. I hoped that the joints would have enough surface area to allow curing, but was dead wrong.
Hope is not a strategy and proper fixturing is your friend.
Anyhow, I was left with eight surfaces on four dislocated panels covered with more-or-less cured sealant. I left ’em sit for a few days, then had to choose between:
- Remove enough of the sealant to make the joints fit or
- Machine new panels
Turns out that xylene (from my can of Goof-Off) removes cured Liquid Nails Clear Seal just fine, without affecting the surface of the acrylic panel. Soak the corner of a rag, rub vigorously, and the gunk comes right off.
Note, however, that Goof-Off comes in many different formulations. The one I have is mostly xylene, but the California “VOC Compliant” version is mostly acetone… which, I think, eats acrylic plastic for lunch.
All of that stuff eats your liver for lunch, too.
Don’t do like I did and use your bare finger in the rag. Alas, any solvent that actually works also eats any protective glove in my inventory for lunch.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
4 responses to ““Clear Seal” Sealant Removal”
“Hope is not a strategy”
Thank you. I really like that phrase.
I’ve been a secret admirer of Xylene since high school. If it doesn’t remove glue, it removes what you have glued.
Well, I admit to first testing xylene in an inconspicuous location: some cutoff scrap.
And, as I see it, if the juice doesn’t have some serious aromatic hydrocarbon bouquet, it won’t do jack in the way of dissolving things… like, for example, my liver. Whooof!
I was all set to make a smart-ass remark about the inadequacy of your glove selection. But it turns out about the only thing recommended for xyelene is *Viton*. Who the hell ever heard of *Viton gloves*? Impressive!
Gemplers actually had a table of chemical resistance for each of their gloves, but it was all in terms of the agricultural usage codes rather than actual chemical names. I asked if they could convert that to something useful to the common man and was told they don’t actually intend that the common man buy their stuff; their table is useful to the intended audience.
IIRC, I then empirically determined that acetone and neoprene don’t get along well at all…