cleaning of rims

sms wrote:
On 6/9/2021 12:37 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 9 Jun 2021 08:50:43 -0700 (PDT), Sir Ridesalot
wrote:

But will any/all of the suggestions posted in this thread clean off the
WAX that the OP was asking about?
Cheers

Good question, especially since Ralph didn't mention the brand or type
of wax he used to lubricate the chain. My guess(tm) is that he used a
paraffin derivative wax. Any non-polar solvent will remove such wax.
Acetone, ethanol, gasoline, and such are NOT non-polar solvents. They
won't work very well. Isopropyl alcohol is mostly non-polar and
should work. Toluene, xylene, and n-hexan are all non-polar and
should also work, if you can find them. They're all VoC's and banned
in California.

Ralph: What brand and type of wax are you trying to remove?

Better cycling through chemistry.


I’ve been using a standard paraffin wax on my chain.

But what kind of lubricant to you add to the wax in order to lubricate
the chain?



Nothing.

On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 3:23:23 PM UTC-7, Ralph Barone wrote:
sms wrote:
On 6/9/2021 12:37 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 9 Jun 2021 08:50:43 -0700 (PDT), Sir Ridesalot
wrote:

But will any/all of the suggestions posted in this thread clean off the
WAX that the OP was asking about?
Cheers

Good question, especially since Ralph didn't mention the brand or type
of wax he used to lubricate the chain. My guess(tm) is that he used a
paraffin derivative wax. Any non-polar solvent will remove such wax.
Acetone, ethanol, gasoline, and such are NOT non-polar solvents. They
won't work very well. Isopropyl alcohol is mostly non-polar and
should work. Toluene, xylene, and n-hexan are all non-polar and
should also work, if you can find them. They're all VoC's and banned
in California.

Ralph: What brand and type of wax are you trying to remove?

Better cycling through chemistry.


I’ve been using a standard paraffin wax on my chain.

But what kind of lubricant to you add to the wax in order to lubricate
the chain?


Nothing.
To make the wax longer lasting and FAR more effective, buy some fine grained Teflon powder from (if you can't find it anywhere else) Amazon. For two blocks of wax add about two tablespoons. Buy a used Slow Cooker from a thrift store and melt the wax/Teflon to a clear hot consistency that is below the smoking point. Using a NEW chain clean it thoroughly to remove any grease or oil. Soak it in the wax for about 30 minutes. Use a GOOD set of long nose pliers to take it out. BE CAREFUL it will leave scars for the 20 or so minutes it takes to cool down hanging off of a nail on the wall. Near the end of cooling gobs of wax will harden on the end link. After it is COMPLETELY cooled you can pinch this blob off of the end of the chain. I use quick links but others prefer new pins.

My experience is that if you clean your chain often enough you can just dump it back into the hot wax again after it starts to make noise. But if you have the Teflon and the Wax amounts correct the chain might wear out before it needs rewaxing. Certainly a Shimano 105 chain will. That's why I use KMC and if I feel rich, a Connex.

On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 1:03:20 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 12:37:16 PM UTC-7, Ralph Barone wrote:
Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 9 Jun 2021 08:50:43 -0700 (PDT), Sir Ridesalot
wrote:

But will any/all of the suggestions posted in this thread clean off the
WAX that the OP was asking about?
Cheers

Good question, especially since Ralph didn't mention the brand or type
of wax he used to lubricate the chain. My guess(tm) is that he used a
paraffin derivative wax. Any non-polar solvent will remove such wax.
Acetone, ethanol, gasoline, and such are NOT non-polar solvents. They
won't work very well. Isopropyl alcohol is mostly non-polar and
should work. Toluene, xylene, and n-hexan are all non-polar and
should also work, if you can find them. They're all VoC's and banned
in California.

Ralph: What brand and type of wax are you trying to remove?

Better cycling through chemistry.

I’ve been using a standard paraffin wax on my chain.
It would take and awfully lot of that to effect the braking. The heat on the shoes is normally enough to vaporize wax.

I say hit it with a torch.

-- Jay Beattie.

Tom Kunich wrote:
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 3:23:23 PM UTC-7, Ralph Barone wrote:
sms wrote:
On 6/9/2021 12:37 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 9 Jun 2021 08:50:43 -0700 (PDT), Sir Ridesalot
wrote:

But will any/all of the suggestions posted in this thread clean off the
WAX that the OP was asking about?
Cheers

Good question, especially since Ralph didn't mention the brand or type
of wax he used to lubricate the chain. My guess(tm) is that he used a
paraffin derivative wax. Any non-polar solvent will remove such wax.
Acetone, ethanol, gasoline, and such are NOT non-polar solvents. They
won't work very well. Isopropyl alcohol is mostly non-polar and
should work. Toluene, xylene, and n-hexan are all non-polar and
should also work, if you can find them. They're all VoC's and banned
in California.

Ralph: What brand and type of wax are you trying to remove?

Better cycling through chemistry.


I’ve been using a standard paraffin wax on my chain.

But what kind of lubricant to you add to the wax in order to lubricate
the chain?


Nothing.
To make the wax longer lasting and FAR more effective, buy some fine
grained Teflon powder from (if you can't find it anywhere else) Amazon.
For two blocks of wax add about two tablespoons. Buy a used Slow Cooker
from a thrift store and melt the wax/Teflon to a clear hot consistency
that is below the smoking point. Using a NEW chain clean it thoroughly to
remove any grease or oil. Soak it in the wax for about 30 minutes. Use a
GOOD set of long nose pliers to take it out. BE CAREFUL it will leave
scars for the 20 or so minutes it takes to cool down hanging off of a
nail on the wall. Near the end of cooling gobs of wax will harden on the
end link. After it is COMPLETELY cooled you can pinch this blob off of
the end of the chain. I use quick links but others prefer new pins.

My experience is that if you clean your chain often enough you can just
dump it back into the hot wax again after it starts to make noise. But if
you have the Teflon and the Wax amounts correct the chain might wear out
before it needs rewaxing. Certainly a Shimano 105 chain will. That's why
I use KMC and if I feel rich, a Connex.


I’ve been considering adding a small amount of gear lube to the wax to make
it just a bit softer, and a solid lubricant like Teflon or molybdenum
disulphide is also on the “try it some day� list. Teflon sounds nicer,
since moly stains everything, which ruins one of the advantages of waxing
the chain.