Acetone
Acetone is a useful solvent for the plastics industry. Furthermore it has many general purpose uses, and is quite safe to humans in small amounts - it is not dangerous unless exposed to fire or ingested. It can be purchased at the grocery store as Nail Polish remover. Small amounts of Acetone evaporate when exposed to air.
Safety
Acetone is flammable. Store Acetone in a closed container. Dirty Acetone can be saved and re-used until you deem it is too dirty. It is not corrosive in small amounts, and does little more than dry human skin (though keep away from open wounds). For full details of the health and safety of Acetone refer to a MSDS/SDS.
Use in a well ventilated area. More or less, the only way you will get in trouble are either being near a source of flame, or working in a small room without ventilation (and using a lot of acetone).
How to Use Acetone
Cleaning Tools
Acetone can be used to clean off many kinds of uncured and cured plastics and polymers from tools. Tools can be soaked in an acetone bath over time. It is best to cover any open containers of Acetone, as small amounts evaporate, and it is flammable.
Preparing Surfaces
In cleaning a concrete floor, for example, Acetone can be used as an alternative to water as it will evaporate quicker. This is done when preparing a concrete floor for finishing (epoxy, urethane, etc).
Cleaning Hands
Acetone can be used to clean resins off of hands or surfaces. Simply apply, and rub the acetone in, until the resin is dissolved in the solvent.
Obtaining Acetone
Acetone can be purchased from grocery stores in household amounts. It can also be purchased from Advance Coatings in small to large quantities. Note that these acetones are not 100% equal. The quality of acetone from consumer/retail stores tends to have a more recycled smell, than what we sell. As someone who has used Advance Coatings acetone for many years, I instantly recognize that consumer acetone has a 'dirtier' or 'rougher' scent to it. Not including nail polish remover, which is only some percentage of acetone, along with fragrance. But even consumer supposedly 100% pure acetone can vary in quality.
For general purposes it may not matter, but it is something to be cognizant of. We also internally store different levels of acetone. Some are internally recycled and have been used for various purposes. At the same time we have clean 'tone from another part of our warehouse. You may also find that acetone can be recycled depending on its usage.
e.g. a 5 gallon pail of acetone can be used for many purposes, and even if ink or paint soaks into the pail via rags, it is still usable for new projects.
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