How to manually clean (safely) hotstamped chips (1 Viewer)

[MD Mike]

For some Paulson chips with inlays, I have had great success manually cleaning them in warm baths with soap and water and sometimes even a little oxyclean.

However, I understand that hotstamps can be sensitive to chemicals.

So take the following chip:

How would YOU clean it safely?

 

[joepro]

Is it safe to use an ultrasonic?

 

[MD Mike]

Is it safe to use an ultrasonic?

I don’t know. I also don’t have an ultrasonic.

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

For intact hotstamps I've found up to 45 seconds with Lundmark TSP (2 tbsp per gallonish) is safe. 1.5 minutes or more (maybe even less depending on power of ultrasonic) though they can start to get discolored and come off the chip.

I personally wouldn't trust TSP/oxy on imperfect hotstamps however since the solution could easily get under the foil.

Best and safest (though not quickest) cleaning is always with Dawn, a Magic Eraser, and elbow grease. While I've never had issues with the foil being damaged this way (even scrubbing the foil directly) I highly suggest keeping the magic eraser away from the foil itself.

 

[MD Mike]

For intact hotstamps I've found up to 45 seconds with Lundmark TSP (2 tbsp per gallonish) is safe. 1.5 minutes or more (maybe even less depending on power of ultrasonic) though they can start to get discolored and come off the chip.

I personally wouldn't trust TSP/oxy on imperfect hotstamps however since the solution could easily get under the foil.

Best and safest (though not quickest) cleaning is always with Dawn, a Magic Eraser, and elbow grease. While I've never had issues with the foil being damaged this way (even scrubbing the foil directly) I highly suggest keeping the magic eraser away from the foil itself.

Yeah I’ve had great success with Magic Eraser but damn does it take awhile.

Sounds like that might be the safest option.

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

Yeah I’ve had great success with Magic Eraser but damn does it take awhile.

Sounds like that might be the safest option.

Yeah... while Lundmark TSP (in a bucket or ultrasonic) done properly won't damage the hotstamp accidents happen.

 

[duffman]

If your planning to do them by hand, put your thumb over the hot-stamp. Lightly scrub with a soft toothbrush & dawn dish soap. I like to use Sterling's Magic or Quick n' Brite. I cleaned some old Boomtown Roulette's this way. I tried my best to save the stamp.

 

[Chile85]

@MD Mike I was told to never use the ultrasonic with Dawn. But, before I was told that, I cleaned hundreds of hot stamps this way and had excellent results. The amount of Dawn was minimal and I made sure there were no suds, so I added the dawn after the warm water.

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

@MD Mike I was told to never use the ultrasonic with Dawn. But, before I was told that, I cleaned hundreds of hot stamps this way and had excellent results. The amount of Dawn was minimal and I made sure there were no suds, so I added the dawn after the warm water.

Word on the street is bubbles/suds defeats the cleaning process of the ultrasonic so while you won’t hurt the hotstamps you’ve just turned the ultrasonic into an expensive bowl (or so they tell me).

 

[Chile85]

 

[MD Mike]

View attachment 256211

Want to clean 1000 PCR chips for me?

 

[Chile85]

@MD Mike Yea, I'd do that for ya!

 

[MD Mike]

@MD Mike Yea, I'd do that for ya!

Haha I was only half serious

 

[Chile85]

@MD Mike I figured... Shipping rates would basically buy you your ultrasonic. Well worth it IMO and I don't have a ton of chips. I've probably cleaned around 2,000 chips in it and have been very pleased.

 

[MD Mike]

@MD Mike Yea, I'd do that for ya!

I’m going to try a few chips with Magic eraser and warm water first. When my hands start to hurt I will consider shipping these to you with a wad of cash.

 

[Chile85]

@MD Mike payment in the form of a few chips would be fine, just sayin' . But would honestly do it for free if you shipped em!

 

[MD Mike]

@MD Mike payment in the form of a few chips would be fine, just sayin' . But would honestly do it for free if you shipped em!

I always pay for honest work

 

[MD Mike]

2 down, 998 to go

 

[ceramicmike]

Scrubbed every one by hand. It sucked but was worth it.

 

[ceramicmike]

I ruined 5 extras buy using oxy clean. Took the stamp right off. Used dawn and warm water for the rest.

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

I ruined 5 extras buy using oxy clean. Took the stamp right off. Used dawn and warm water for the rest.

i feel your pain! ruined a barrel of Claim Stake $1s... they're not totally off but they're all partially fkd

 

[MD Mike]

I ruined 5 extras buy using oxy clean. Took the stamp right off. Used dawn and warm water for the rest.

Oxyclean worked well with the National poker Series chips I had. But yeah, I am terrified of destroying the hot stamps

 

[AWenger]

2 down, 998 to go

When cleaning chips by hand, I soak/clean chips 20 at a time, then use a rack (I have a few old racks I don't mind getting wet/dirty) to align the barrel, and then can clean the edges of 20 chips at a time that way. Still need to go over the faces after that.

 

[Pat Keating]

Hi all, First post. Looks like Mike may have shifted the cleaning duties to me, as I just bought 1000 PCR's from him today. Nice price but I was warned about a need to clean. So when I get these I will need to find a good method to clean these. Tried the removable erasers on the back of a pencil and that worked great for most of them, but it took about 2 minutes average/chip to do. I tried ultrasonic cleaning 40 PCR's and half of them had damage to the foil. I put them in for 4 minutes and swished them around with my hands. (Dumb idea. Don't try what I did. the ultrasonic didn't hurt, but my hands had a bunch of scabs on the back the next day) It did work great on my Pharaohs, but I had to keep them in longer than suggested to get them clean. Wondering if I could get away with a removable sticker on the PCR's and try ultrasonic again. If that don't work I bought an electric eraser and can try that.

 

[MD Mike]

When I was using Magic eraser it took more than a few minutes a chip. A little tedious

 

[allforcharity]

Uhm...please don't put your hands in an ultrasonic bath when it's on. Call this a public safety message.

4 minutes was probably way too long. Most heavily soiled chips can be done in 2 minutes. Lightly soiled in 1 minute.

 

[AWenger]

First post. Looks like Mike may have shifted the cleaning duties to me, as I just bought 1000 PCR's from him today. Nice price but I was warned about a need to clean. So when I get these I will need to find a good method to clean these.

I saw you picked up the PCR set. Nice pickup! I have a set of PCR chips myself, and I had been watching that ad, and was thinking several times about pulling the trigger on the set myself, but didn't. Hope you like them.

Here are some tips I can share about cleaning chips, and PCRs specifically. Just recently, I acquired some PCR chips that had been used a lot and needed a light cleaning. Since all the PCRs are Paulson home chips, they started out brand new to the consumer, and shouldn't need a lot of cleaning and heavy duty cleaners (like TSP) that casino dirty chips need. Some of the chips in the photo didn't look too dirty, so you may need to judge whether they need a cleaning or not.

Some of the 'dirt' on PCR chips can be more from color transfer of the darker clay to the lighter clay areas from the chips being stacked, played with in a game, or just shuffled. Colors like black, dark green, and dark blue have worse color transfer than other colors.

If you are going to use an ultrasonic, I'd limit the time with the machine on to 30 seconds or less, to avoid damage to the foil hotstamp (yes, from experience). For the dirty PCRs that I cleaned, I ended up soaking them first in very warm water & Dawn for about 10 minutes before transferring to the ultrasonic, but then I actually went back to the fully by-hand cleaning method, and skipping the ultrasonic, to avoid damage to the hotstamp . And I thought hand cleaning worked better for the PCRs, but I only had 300 chips to clean, and they weren't that dirty.

For hand cleaning, I'd second @duffman 's method above using a toothbrush. Here's my method:
- soak 40-100 chips at a time in very warm, not too hot, water & dawn.
- soak between 5 and 20 minutes, depending on the level of dirt. If the only soap is dawn, soaking that long is fine for the hotstamps.
- optionally stir the chips a little while soaking to make sure chips faces don't stick together and keep the soapy water from getting to the surface.
- if chips are really dirty from use in a poker game, a little bit of TSP can help cut the grease and grime
- after soaking, take out chips 20 at at time and put in a rack. then grab a barrel of chips together, hold flat on a towel, and use a toothbrush and soapy water to brush the barrel, then rotate it to brush the edges of 20 chips at once. In my experience, this gets the edges much cleaner than ultrasonic alone.
- if there is dirt on the surface of the chip, then spread the chips out flat on a thin towel, and use some more soapy water (I use a foam soap dispenser with water and some Dawn in it) and a toothbrush to clean the edges. Go in a circle around the hotstamp, and try to avoid too much direct contact with the hotstamp, although a toothbrush won't do much if any damage.
- optionally, you can put your thumb over the face of the hotstamp while using the toothbrush, and could even use rubber cleaning gloves to protect your thumb from the scrubbing

After cleaning and drying, I like applying a coat of mineral oil to the faces & edges. This can take some time, but the chips look better, and this is just a guess -- but it might help a little bit to help prevent 'color transfer' in the future, as the oil may add a protective layer to the chip.

 

[MD Mike]

Yeah, those PCRs were going to be my grail set. In a rush to dampen the shame of defeat at the casino, I sold them. I will probably regret it forever but at least they are going to a good home ...

 

[Pat Keating]

Thanks. I'm going to follow your method. I think this is better than the ultrasonic method. The Pharaoh's I did worked good using ultrasonic. I did the mineral water in a bowl of water method to oil them because they were already wet. That seemed to work. I'll try both of the oiling methods to see if they are any different. Great advice.

 

[Pat Keating]

I noticed today that someone sold a set of PCR's that we different than the ones bought. I have 2 types of $100 PCR's, one that matches the $20 chips from the just sold. Any idea how many different versions of them that were made.