The price tag seems to indicate that I got this at my favorite LHS in 2009. I can’t remember what they said it would do and for some reason it’s laid dormant ever since. The back reads (in part) “Debonds accidentally bonded skin. Performance is based on the substrate it is adhered to.” My English teachers would terrorize that last sentence, but that isn’t the point. What’s at issue is whether this stuff can loosen or free joints or detail parts secured by CA. The stuff is Mercury Adhesives M68DB. Thanks.
John
BTW, how do I get the photo to post and not the link?
Problem was that I was not using IMGUR’s “BBCode” copy option. Having used that, when I pasted it into the reply “Source” text box here on the forum, I had to remove some bracketing default coding at the head and end of the address (leaving only the URL with the .jpg extension), and finally resize it to 500x500. It worked!
FWIW: When I right clicked the photo directly from your imgur link, I captured the URL https://i.imgur.com/jHqrkiq.jpg. That’s all I pasted in the Source text box. No editing, no resizing, no fiddling with BBCode needed.
I used it on second hand resin kit. I don’t know what paint was used, but it removed the paint instantly as well as dissolving the CA. It did not harm the resin.
“Propylene carbonate” is an interesting material. It is an excellent polar aprotic solvent (it has a relatively enormous dipole moment) but its MSDS (one version available on its Wikipedia page for the digitally slothful) indicates very low hazard. That alone makes it preferable to acetone. Be aware that some commercial product may be thinned with dimethoxyethane, which is NOT a safe compound.
Suspect that this is what would be used for CA in the eyes or on delicate tissues; you wouldn’t do this yourself, of course, but it might assist some first responders or emergency-room staff who don’t know cyanoacrylate chemistry…
BTW: some nail polish remover formulations will work; I’d avoid any that contain things like lanolin or other emollients to keep skin soft when used – they will be tough to clean from many model surfaces
I use Zap Z-7 Debonder. The directions say it can be used on skin, but they discourage prolonged skin contact. I have used it that way, and have never had a problem. But I have never over-used it because I have always assumed the stuff could be an irritant. After all, it is intended to perform the awesome task of undoing something that was supposed to be permanent. Sensible people should understand that.
According to the Pacer MSDS, the only active ingredients in Z-7 are acetone (>80%) and water. If you paid more than nail-polish-remover price (or hardware-store price per ounce) you probably got taken … except for that zippy thin-nozzle applicator. You’d be better off mixing acetone and water and using one of those metal-needle applicator squeeze bottles if precise application is desirable.
I think I’d still opt for the 1,2-propanediol cyclic carbonate over acetone, which leads me to wonder why it’s not promoted as a debonder much more than it is. The Mercury M68DB product is a mix of acetone and propylene carbonate, with rather wild potential composition (CAS 67-64-1 40 to 70%; CAS 108-32-7 30-60% as of 8/27/2015) so not as much of a ripoff. This makes me wonder if the propylene carbonate is being used for ‘other’ than a CA-debonding agent.
If it does turn out to be effective, 2 liters of pure anhydrous propylene carbonate from Sigma-Aldrich is $157 (so technical or cosmetic grade surely much cheaper), it’s effective when substantially admixed with water, and most hobbyists wouldn’t need more than a comparatively small bottle… opportunity knocking?
