Trylobyte
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 101
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Post by Trylobyte on Jan 7, 2004 16:40:22 GMT -5
On the recommendation of many in the know, including some of our fellow RTH folks, I began experimenting with thickeners for my pre-polish and polish loads.
Sugar worked so-so. Cornstarch was slighly effective. Molasses was kinda gooey, but still didn't seem to be effective. Then...
I work for a company that does water treatment, and we use a variety of natural chemicals to clarify water. I had observed that some of these substances would really get gummy when wet, and I decided to give a couple a try. JACKPOT!
The answer is guar gum, or just plain guar. It's made from a bean that was originally grown in India. It is widely used in the food industry as a thickener for foods and cosmetics. It comes as either a flake or powder, and adding just one rounded teasthingy (the website text editor changes p00n to thingy?) to a load (Thumler Model B) turned it into the perfect consistancy...slightly thinner than pancake batter. This stuff works EXCELLENT! And it rinses clean.
I sourced the stuff from a company called Economy Polymers and Chemicals, and used the formulation called ECOPOL-RK (only because that's what we had laying around). They would probably sell you a 5 gallon bucket that weighs maybe 10 lbs. I don't know how much it costs, but I've been told it's around $2/lb. A 5 gal. bucket would last a lifetime...
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Post by hermatite on Jan 7, 2004 16:47:43 GMT -5
Dumb question but...what are the benefits of thickening the prepolish and polish? (I was probably fooling around and missed the thread - same thing happened to me in highschool physics).
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Trylobyte
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 101
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Post by Trylobyte on Jan 7, 2004 17:53:00 GMT -5
Good question...
Thickening the slurry during pre-polish and polish, particularly with rotary rollers, provides some "cushion" for the stones, helping to prevent fracturing, spalling (small fragments cleaving off) or cracking. Most of the books I've read recommend thickening for that reason.
My personal opinion is that it also keeps the compound stuck to the rocks.
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donwrob
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 509
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Post by donwrob on Jan 7, 2004 19:38:55 GMT -5
That is very interesting, I'll have to do some investigating. The plant I work at makes large quanitys of clean condensate also. The first step is through clarifiers. I know the lab adds some sort of agent as a coagulant to gather all the supended solids. I bet it is similar, if not the same stuff. I'll check it out, Don
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