On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, Jeff Kaneko wrote:
> > formula 19 (methyl isobutyl ketone I think) as the denaturant so you don't
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Ok, so *thats* why modern denatured alcohol smells like that! I
> recently bought some from a hardware store to clean circuit boards,
> and it smelled very strange to me-- it had an MEK 'edge' to it. The
> last time I used denatured alcohol was almost twenty years ago-- I
> was un-aware that they had changed the 'formula'.
They changed it because ethanol/methanol mix is pleasant smelling,
people might WANT to take a drink. Drinking results in blindness or
death. By using 4% methyl isobutyl ketone (that's it, I checked) people
take a whiff, it stinks, they take a sip, it tastes horrible, they drink
anyway, they become violently ill (projectile vomiting) but they don't
die, and they don't go blind. This is formula 19, formula 1 is 5%
methanol, formula 2 was .5% benzene, so you can see the trend now is less
to kill the non-tax-paying drinkers, and more to just make them sick.
> Anyway, I'm seriously considering shelling out some real $$$ for
> ethanol-- this new denatured stuff leaves a residue which the old
> formula did not. (Anybody remember 'Zeracol' ?)
Just use straight methanol, it's poisonous, but not too stinky,
and should NOT leave a residue. Either that or pure acetone. You don't
have to use ethanol for just cleaning purposes, besides, cleaning boards I
find 99% isopropyl alcohol works best, you can't drink it, it's cheap, and
it's pure. :) Buy it at the drugstore, it's used for cleaning the
injection site for diabetics, just ask for it at the back counter.......sq
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Received on Mon Jan 26 1998 - 14:51:33 GMT