[sdiy] keys!

[Andre Majorel]

On 2008-07-16 20:44 +0100, cheater cheater wrote:
> On 7/16/08, Andre Majorel <aym-htnys at teaser.fr> wrote:
> > On 2008-07-16 10:29 -0400, Nate Reeves wrote:
> >  > On Jul 16, 2008, at 5:47 AM, cheater cheater wrote:
> >  >
> >  >> Please, don't use alcohol on the plastic.
> >  >> It'll melt.
> >
> > No. I clean *everything* with 90% alcohol (ethanol or methanol).
> > Trust me, if it melted plastic, I would know it.
>
> Andre, I have had many, many bad experiences with this. I think the
> learning experience was when I decided to clean up my greasy tv
> console pads... well, let's just say the controller took on a slightly
> different shape in some places.
> Since then, most bad experiences come from previous owners trying this
> stuff and then this stuff landing in my hands..
> 
> Plastic comes in different forms - you never know what you'll get,
> unfortunately.

Fair enough. I just wish that people wouldn't spread unreasoned
fear of something just of a bad experience.

A blanket "it will melt the plastic" makes no sense because in
most cases, it won't. Saying "try it on a corner of the case
that's not normally visible first", now *that* is useful advice.

I wonder how come you've had "many, many" bad experiences with
alcohol when I've had very few. What kind of alcohol do you use ?
I use "alcool à brûler" (a.k.a. methylated spirits or denatured
alcohol according to Wikipedia). It's a mixture of ethanol and
methanol with "at least 6% of pyrogenic impurities" that has a
pale yellow-greenish tint. Other countries specify different
compositions :

  http://www.distill.com/specs/EU2.html

In Greece, for example, denatured alcohol contains 1% oil of
turpentine. That could conceivably dissolve materials that mere
alcohols couldn't.

-- 
André Majorel <URL:http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/>
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