boltonguy
Flush
Yikes. I can imagine the reaction!!
HSI Secondary Snapper Cleaning Tips (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter davislane
- Start date
horseshoez
4 of a Kind
I'd say the one on the left is perfect. I'm actually keeping one of the rags with the film on it. Giving it to a friend who works in lab. He said he's going to give it his best shot and see if he can find out what the yellow film is.
boltonguy
Flush
Very cool. Thanks for doing this!
boltonguy
Flush
Doing a final edge cleaning with magic eraser and Dawn platinum as I remove the inlays in batches of five ... so much work but looking pretty good. One chip at a time.
Forty4
Full House
I was wondering when someone was going to do this. Could unlock the key to making clean up easier.
I was also wondering if anyone has ever tried vinegar.
Always intrigued about cleaning chips.
horseshoez
4 of a Kind
If I had an extra few of these, I would be trying other stuff that's more aggressive than just TSP, etc... I'd be giving it a shot with stuff like GooGone just for shits and giggles.
boltonguy
Flush
clean chip looks good - what is your process?
Same as everyone else...dawn and a lot of US finished with magic eraser. That is one of the better ones.
TKEUofM
Flush
Wow, you guys are dedicated. I'm almost glad I didn't get them in the sale now. I don't know if I could have gone through all this effort.
boltonguy
Flush
It is brutal. After cleaning the murdering adds labor. I may only be able to get through 2 racks and may be selling the other 2 along with the ultrasonic!
horseshoez
4 of a Kind
I'm going to get a barrel of them to experiment with using different methods just for the hell of it. First one is going to be one of the methods I used to clean engine spare parts at one of my first jobs, diesel fuel lol
horseshoez
4 of a Kind
That's another one worth trying although I feel like after stripping off the yellow film, the chip might absorb some of the color from the soda.
boltonguy
Flush
More pron. final scrub and inlay removal. Aligned chips are ready for labels
mtl mile end
Flush
Vinegar and Coca Cola are both acidic. Vinegar is acetic acid, Coke has carbonic acid. I'm not sure which is more acidic (although it would seem to be vinegar).
Diamond Chip Cleaner and the like are buffered TSP solutions. The buffering agent is sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) which keeps the solution on the basic side of things. This is probably to optimize the cleaning action of the TSP, it may, however, be to protect the chip components from damage.
Diamond Chip Cleaner and the like are buffered TSP solutions. The buffering agent is sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) which keeps the solution on the basic side of things. This is probably to optimize the cleaning action of the TSP, it may, however, be to protect the chip components from damage.
Forty4
Full House
So vinegar and TSP would cancel each other out?
mtl mile end
Flush
Not exactly. But in a way, acid may reduce the intended cleaning effect of the TSP. It may also increase the corrosiveness and thereby increase the "cleaning" - potentially at the cost of some chip surface. I can no longer find the patent application page for the original Diamond Chip Cleaner, so to understand the chemistry, I'd actually have to... understand the chemistry. It has been a looooooooooooooooooong time since I studied chemistry.
I'll do a little chemistry refresher and let you know what I can figure out.
Forty4
Full House
All I know about chemistry is put baking soda in battery acid. What’s the other one vinegar and baking soda for the volcano?
horseshoez
4 of a Kind
I’m all for any method that entails nuking the fuck out of the face of the chip, stripping off a tiny layer in order to destroy the everlasting shit out of that yellow film. Sacrifices must be made. Sorry snapper.
I am really curious to see what these cleaned snappers look like in 10 years. Will it come back?
horseshoez
4 of a Kind
Not sure about the chips but I’m pretty sure I know what all of us who handled them will look like 10 years from now...
mtl mile end
Flush
Wikipedia explains it again: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisodium_phosphate
It appears that a 1% solution of TSP is pH 12 (very basic). The addition of calcium carbonate and calcium bicarbonate stabilize the pH to a more neutral level (7.0 is neutral). This helps the TSP's oxidation properties (oxidation is what bleach (hypochlorite solution) does).
As a degreaser, TSP can saponify (turn to soap) any oils or greases. I think as a degreaser (finger jelly remover on a chip), the higher (more basic) pH is necessary to facilitate saponification. Since the patent describes a buffered solution, the pH necessary to clean and sanitize chips is probably much lower than 12. Since we're not concerned with degreasing, addition of an acid may increase surfactant effect as the acid/base reaction proceeds (like the volcano, but with TSP as the baking soda) and will certainly lower the pH to something less basic than 12, but depending on concentration, it could be higher or lower than the buffered solution. Without actual data, it's hard to say what the ideal pH is for removing the Evil Yellow.
One thing that may be worth trying is to soak the chip in the "strongest" mild acid solution you can find (off the shelf vinegar is 5% acetic acid, 7% used to be available). Remove the chip from the "acid bath", and let it dry with the vinegar coating the chip. Once it's dry, drop it into a TSP solution in the ultrasonic, and you should see bubbles streaming off the surface - this should aid the surfactant effect of the TSP and "lift" off as much of the Evil Yellow as possible.
It appears that a 1% solution of TSP is pH 12 (very basic). The addition of calcium carbonate and calcium bicarbonate stabilize the pH to a more neutral level (7.0 is neutral). This helps the TSP's oxidation properties (oxidation is what bleach (hypochlorite solution) does).
As a degreaser, TSP can saponify (turn to soap) any oils or greases. I think as a degreaser (finger jelly remover on a chip), the higher (more basic) pH is necessary to facilitate saponification. Since the patent describes a buffered solution, the pH necessary to clean and sanitize chips is probably much lower than 12. Since we're not concerned with degreasing, addition of an acid may increase surfactant effect as the acid/base reaction proceeds (like the volcano, but with TSP as the baking soda) and will certainly lower the pH to something less basic than 12, but depending on concentration, it could be higher or lower than the buffered solution. Without actual data, it's hard to say what the ideal pH is for removing the Evil Yellow.
One thing that may be worth trying is to soak the chip in the "strongest" mild acid solution you can find (off the shelf vinegar is 5% acetic acid, 7% used to be available). Remove the chip from the "acid bath", and let it dry with the vinegar coating the chip. Once it's dry, drop it into a TSP solution in the ultrasonic, and you should see bubbles streaming off the surface - this should aid the surfactant effect of the TSP and "lift" off as much of the Evil Yellow as possible.
Are you guys looking to get these 100% perfect from an aesthetic perspective or are you mostly concerned with cleaning them enough to be acceptable for play?
I bought a rack that is about 95% clean from my perspective (a few chips slightly more yellow than others but not much if any residue left behind on surfaces under blacklight) and I feel fine about how they are looks wise but is there any concern for color transfer if the chips have been pretty thoroughly cleaned through an ultrasonic/magic eraser protocol?
I bought a rack that is about 95% clean from my perspective (a few chips slightly more yellow than others but not much if any residue left behind on surfaces under blacklight) and I feel fine about how they are looks wise but is there any concern for color transfer if the chips have been pretty thoroughly cleaned through an ultrasonic/magic eraser protocol?
boltonguy
Flush
I am working on 100% 
Bar Keeper’s Friend is far more acidic than vinegar or Coke...and has been used on chips, including these snappers with some positive result, but nothing better than we have seen from other solutions, as far as I am aware.
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