CONFIRMED: DOT 3 Brake Fluid can clean Lisa plastics

[aftermac]

Straight acetone will murder ABS plastic (if you want to do some fake plastic welding, acetone works pretty well). Diluting with an equal part of isopropyl will keep it from doing any damage.

Yup, found that out the hard way. Lesson learned. I am pretty pleased with the repair job so far, however.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Straight acetone will murder ABS plastic (if you want to do some fake plastic welding, acetone works pretty well).

That'd be relatively ineffective plastic fusing if tried with acetone. It's done properly with a MEK, usually with acrylic in solution to thicken it up a bit. It's also called solvent bonding.

Plastic welding involves compressed air, heated in the welding gun and welding rod made of a compatible plastic. Strips of Mac or PowerBook Case Plastic for our uses.

< reminds self to get the rig out to practice and take some pics of the MacWelding process >

 

[mcdermd]

Yeah, I'd like to learn some real plastic welding sometime. It has always seemed like something useful.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

The thought crossed my mind of using brake fluid on a spray painted 7100 and it should be noted that this would be a huge mistake on the metal part of the computer, as it will remove the original paint as well!

I feel reasonably good that retrobrite won't remove non-sticker labeling that's printed directly onto Macs, i.e. "Macintosh", "Power Macintosh", "Macintosh Quadra 700", etc. Has anybody seen what happens to these labels in the presence of DOT3 brake fluid? Even rubbing alcohol dissolves/smears these labels slightly sometimes.

 

[onlyonemac]

Why would someone do that to the poor Lisa anyway? It looks horrible with all that paint on it 8-o !

 

[Schmoburger]

Great little trick... will definitely keep in mind for those ex-DET macs that are emblazened with asset numbers in 17 year old black sharpie.

I knew about the paint stripping properties for a long time, but have thus far only used em on metal or chrome-plated surfaces... I found it particularly useful for stripping dodgy looking silver paint off chromed Volkswagen hubcaps, headlight surrounds, and chromed ROH 12-slot wheels.