Kev Williams
08-15-2015, 2:46 AM
Some of you may remember my not so nice posts about the last 500g bottle of Cermark 'paste' I bought that turned out to be the consistency of chocolate milk rather than the molasses like it used to be. I was told by Laserbits, Engravers Network, and someone on Ebay that Cermark had to change the formula because they were unable to acquire one of their proprietary ingredients.
I can only hope and pray that they soon CAN acquire that proprietary ingredient, because:
(A) whatever's in it now is causing 304 stainless to discolor and oxidize in the presence of water, and
(B) whereas the old stuff was extremely water soluble, and simply rinsed off very easily, this stuff hangs on for dear life, even when using a scrub brush and dish soap!
After I got over my initial disgust, I've found the new formula DOES work about the same as the old, and when it's all said and done, I've found I'm still able to get roughly a 10 to 1 mix of DNA to Cermark, and it sprays very well. So for those reasons, I'll give the new formula ONE star..
But no further stars. Because seriously, there's something wrong with it.
With the old version, I could run off 100 ID tags, and let them soak in a plastic pail of water--indefinitely- until I got around to rinsing them off and towel drying...
But tonight, for the second time in a week, letting the plates soak in a pail of water-tonight for only 5 minutes- the plates started discoloring in spots. I did 100 of these plates tonight, and about 25 of them have blemishes like in the pics. My procedure was: I put them in a pail and covered them with water. 5 minutes later I pulled them out in little handfuls and ran water over them, and set them on a makeshift table that spans the sink. Then I scrubbed each one with a brush and dishsoap mix, and put them back in the pail, all the while water is filling the pail. After the scrubbing, I poured out the water, and noticed black crud oozing from between some of the plates (this happened a few days ago too). I rinsed them again, then laid them out on a towel, and wiped the top sides dry with another towel...
Then I started taking pictures. (sorry for all the redactions)--
In the first pic, notice the haze of Cermark still on the surface, this after a rinse, a scrubdown, another rinse and a final towel wipedown. At least Weinman's SS cleaner will make them look good.
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm1.jpg
The rest of the pics show the oxidation, or whatever it is, that's happening to the plates as they sit next to each other in the water. I've accidentally gotten muriatic acid on some of the stainless on my boat when using it to remove calcium deposits from the hull. Muriatic acid discolors stainless much the same way. Kinda spooky that Cermark is doing it. I have found that I can rub part or all of the marks off with some cleanser, but, that also rubs off the etching, so that doesn't fly...
Here's a few pics, all of different plates. In 40 years of engraving, and 10 years of using Cermark, I've never had SS do this...
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm2.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm3.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm4.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm5.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm6.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm7.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm8.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm10.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm9.jpg
==================================
For now I'll just make sure to scrub and rinse every part one at a time...
For the record- I'm using Ajax dish soap, that's been here long before the Cermark change, I'm using the same DNA from HD as always as thinner, and the SS I'm using (1" x 3" plates tonight) is from a batch I've had also before the change. So, the only thing in this 'experiment' that has changed is the Cermark...
I can only hope and pray that they soon CAN acquire that proprietary ingredient, because:
(A) whatever's in it now is causing 304 stainless to discolor and oxidize in the presence of water, and
(B) whereas the old stuff was extremely water soluble, and simply rinsed off very easily, this stuff hangs on for dear life, even when using a scrub brush and dish soap!
After I got over my initial disgust, I've found the new formula DOES work about the same as the old, and when it's all said and done, I've found I'm still able to get roughly a 10 to 1 mix of DNA to Cermark, and it sprays very well. So for those reasons, I'll give the new formula ONE star..
But no further stars. Because seriously, there's something wrong with it.
With the old version, I could run off 100 ID tags, and let them soak in a plastic pail of water--indefinitely- until I got around to rinsing them off and towel drying...
But tonight, for the second time in a week, letting the plates soak in a pail of water-tonight for only 5 minutes- the plates started discoloring in spots. I did 100 of these plates tonight, and about 25 of them have blemishes like in the pics. My procedure was: I put them in a pail and covered them with water. 5 minutes later I pulled them out in little handfuls and ran water over them, and set them on a makeshift table that spans the sink. Then I scrubbed each one with a brush and dishsoap mix, and put them back in the pail, all the while water is filling the pail. After the scrubbing, I poured out the water, and noticed black crud oozing from between some of the plates (this happened a few days ago too). I rinsed them again, then laid them out on a towel, and wiped the top sides dry with another towel...
Then I started taking pictures. (sorry for all the redactions)--
In the first pic, notice the haze of Cermark still on the surface, this after a rinse, a scrubdown, another rinse and a final towel wipedown. At least Weinman's SS cleaner will make them look good.
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm1.jpg
The rest of the pics show the oxidation, or whatever it is, that's happening to the plates as they sit next to each other in the water. I've accidentally gotten muriatic acid on some of the stainless on my boat when using it to remove calcium deposits from the hull. Muriatic acid discolors stainless much the same way. Kinda spooky that Cermark is doing it. I have found that I can rub part or all of the marks off with some cleanser, but, that also rubs off the etching, so that doesn't fly...
Here's a few pics, all of different plates. In 40 years of engraving, and 10 years of using Cermark, I've never had SS do this...
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm2.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm3.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm4.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm5.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm6.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm7.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm8.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm10.jpg
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cm9.jpg
==================================
For now I'll just make sure to scrub and rinse every part one at a time...
For the record- I'm using Ajax dish soap, that's been here long before the Cermark change, I'm using the same DNA from HD as always as thinner, and the SS I'm using (1" x 3" plates tonight) is from a batch I've had also before the change. So, the only thing in this 'experiment' that has changed is the Cermark...