How to remove sticky label from chrome lights?

[Sean Delere]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

And the winner is ....................

White Spirit

Worked a treat - once again, many thanks for all the suggestions

Sean

[The Natural Philosopher]

"The advantage of lighter fuel is that most households already have a can."

"The advantage of petrol is that most households already have a can".

"The advantage of a shot blasting machine is that most households already have a can.."

Good grief...first of all there is nothing inherent in 'insect spray' generically that means it will have a solvent that is usable in this context, secondly of all the things 'most households have' I would say that insect spray comes about as far down the list as a pressure washer.

I do love it when people reveal the incredibly narrow and blinkered existence they lead by assuming that everyone else in the world is 'just like them'

[The Natural Philosopher]

Ah, but does every house have a bottle of it? ;-)

[Owain]

I have several bottles of peaty brown spirit but I wouldn't waste it on removing labels.

Owain

[Sean_K]

replying to Sean Delere, Sean_K wrote: Reading all these suggestions and wondering why no one has given good old WD40 a try, well I just tried it (since it?s all I have anyway) and I can honesty say the glue came off like a dream. Look no further: WD40

[Brian Gaff]

Tee Hee very much depends on the glue though, I have ttried it on some labels originally meant for floppy discs, and that is hardly affected at all. These are the very sticky sort not the removable ones. Brian

[tabbypurr]

They did mention white spirit. Why would anyone buy it for 10x the price?

NT

[John Rumm]

Dunno... but since WD40 is not the same as white spirit, what does that have to do with anything?

[Brian Gaff]

Nail varnish remover was very good stuff, but these days I do not have a source for it. It was also good for mending old 8mm movie film. I believe its main ingredient was acetone. Brian

[Robin]

[tabbypurr]

It's nearly 100% white spirit. The small amount of oil doesn't help with ad hesive dissolving.

NT

[PeterC]

Worth noting that nail varnish remover might have 'conditioner' in it (my neighbour was going to put a full bottle in the bin - sparks in the truck as it compacts the waste...!). I took it in case it would be useful, but I wouldn't use it and then try to paint/glue the area without further cleaning. I don't know what the conditioner is but it won't leave a surface 'clean', that's for certain.

[Robin]

Very true of retail products. But many nail bars seem to use wholesale acetone which doesn't have the smellies etc added. I know as I live near a wholesale supplier to nail bars: "trade only" but folding money/no receipt worked last time I wanted 5L of the cheap stuff :)

[Tricky Dicky]

Acetone aerosols are available from Screwfix et al, it is used for cleaning PU guns.

Richard

[newshound]

You are probably OK with an Irish name these days. As long as you don't have dark skin and a black beard, and ask "By the way, do you have any peroxide too?"

:-)

[tabbypurr]

people have gotten a lot more paranoid. My chemistry collection at age 9 would raise a panic today.

NT

[John Rumm]

A ready source of acetone are the cans of "foam cleaner" that the likes of SF and TS sell for cleaning the gun grade foam from the applicators.

[John Rumm]

That's wrong:

25% mineral oil

12?18% low vapour pressure aliphatic hydrocarbon

"50% 'aliphatic hydrocarbons'. The manufacturer's website claims this ratio in the current formulation cannot accurately be described as Stoddard solvent"

So the closest you could claim is a 50% solvent content that is similar to (but different from) white spirit.

Check the MSDS, you will note its a different hydrocarbon composition, and a much lower aromatic content than most white spirit:

Hydrocarbons, C9-C11, n-alkanes, isoalkanes, cyclics, < 2% aromatics

hydrocarbons, C9-C12, n-alkanes, isoalkanes, cyclics, aromatics (2-25%)

plus white spirit does not evaporate to leave the heavier oil residue like WD40 does.

With white spirit the solvent is the product, with WD40 in many applications the solvent is simply the bearer of the product.

That's not even wrong.

The mineral oil *may* well help dissolving adhesive - depending on the type of glue. However its a straw man, since it does nothing to support the assertion that its just white spirit anyway.

[Robin]

Good point. My only excuse for forgetting is that last time I used one by hand for a lot of cleaning the can damn near froze to my hand.

[Huge]

[50 lines snipped]

i) It's tabbypurr, so no surprise there.

ii) The WD40 haters aren't much interested in facts.