111 Trichloroethane

[topct]

I still use it mixed 75% trike and 25% ATF to stop it evaporating, as a tapping fluid.

Can't get any better stuff.

Just common sense, use sparingly as it's hard to get and don't drink the stuff.

That's what I was waiting for, a recipe. I have 3 quarts of the stuff I drained out of 6 of those deadly "fire bombs".

[Evan]

Wrong stuff. That is Carbon tetrachloride.

[topct]

Wrong stuff. That is Carbon tetrachloride.

So it won't work? Darn

[Evan]

No, it won't work and it is also highly volatile as well as toxic. At least it isn't flammable...

[JRouche]

I still use it mixed 75% trike and 25% ATF to stop it evaporating, as a tapping fluid.

Can't get any better stuff.

Just common sense, use sparingly as it's hard to get and don't drink the stuff.

Oh cool!!! I have 30 of these hanging out with no use for it cept drying brake parts and firearms. I think I'll make up a lil tapping fluid and give it a try. JR

[Evan]

I'm not sure how well the Trichlorethane works as tapping fluid. Maybe somebody else can give an answer. The stuff that used to be in the tapping fluid and that I still use is Trichlorethylene.

I'm not kidding about the ventilation. It really isn't a good idea to breathe the fumes, especially for me. I already have a bad liver from excess iron buildup. Same goes for anybody that enjoys a few too many drinks from time to time.

[RWO]

Trichloroethane works pretty well as a tapping fluid in ferrous metals. It reacts with aluminum , so is not recommneded there. The stuff is superb in vapor degreasers. I wish I had some.

RWO

[Bob Fisher]

I used to degrease things in carbon tet at GM in the early 60's. Had a 5 gallon can, poured some in a large tray and used a brush and BARE hands to degrease. On a side note, Evan, have you been tested for the hemochromotosis gene? It is sometimes known as "the celtic disease".I suffer from the same problem, just turned 75 yrs, and had my first phlebotomy. So far, tests have been negative for the condition being hereditary. I might enjoy an adult beverage or two also. Bob Fisher.

[rohart]

Carbon Tetrachloride was marketed as Thawpit in the UK in the fifties and sixties. Always had a bottle under the kitchen sink. Used it primarily for stain removing. Got it from the ironmongers/drysalters/hardware store.

I suppose that was my introduction to nice smelling aliphatics. Love it. I especially enjoy the bitumen fumes when they're laying new tar-macadam (black top ?).

Evan will say I enjoy the fumes because the carbon tet has already destroyed my brain.

[Evan]

I tested negative for hemachromatosis also. The problem with that is the test only checks for 2 genes out of 13 that can cause the condition. The two it checks only covers from 50% to 80% of the population depending on ethnic background. Regardless, my ferritin level was over 1000 and since last fall they have drained about 14 litres of blood. It's now down where it should be.

[Bob Fisher]

Rohart, I also enjoy the aliphatic odors, especially fresh hot tar. Wonder about Evan. Bob Fisher.

[Ram]

Used it for years in aviation cleaning plugs and components for corrosion.

After time I built up and intolerance to it some how. In 1985 and the fumes from it sent me to the hospital with a full blown anaphylactic shock. Eyes were swelling shut, could not breath, pulse went nuts.

I consider the stuff deadly toxic to this day and don't go near it.

[RancherBill]

Of interest if the use of trichlorethylene by German submariners in WW2 to clean barnacles off the hull.Some would pass out from the fumes leading to its use as an inhalation anesthetic(Often self administered by women delivering babies etc by a Duke inhaler which was strapped to their wrist and when they passed out their arm would drop along with the inhaler)

In a previous life I was a medical salesman that sold, among other things, IUDs. I was calling on a Gynecologist and the topic of pain on insertion of the IUD came up. He said he had never had any problem. He got me to lie on the table and gave me the Duke Inhaler with trichlorethylene. You get so loaded the mask just falls away from your face, when you 'wake up' a little you put the mask back to your mouth.

Deceptively simple and low tech and highly effective. He could have given me and IUD.

[Alan in Vermont]

I used to buy Trichlorethane by the 5 gallon can when I was foreman in a fab shop. We used it as a cutting fluid in the Hougen drills fabbing structural steel. Since the steel was to be primed after fabrication we used Trichlor because there was nothing to clean off like there was with soluble oils. Whatever you use in a Hougen has to be very "thin" so it can run through the little slot in the cutter pilot.

[J Tiers]

Years ago we used that trichlor as a cleaner. It was known as "headache juice", because if you breathed much of it you'd have a roaring headache PDQ.

I used to have a little bottle of the old tapping fluid..... worked great. yes, if you got it on aluminum, it smoked and ate the alu. Found the bottle a while back, but nothing in it anymore. Wasn't very big, I think it was a sample......no doubt it evaporated past the seal.