Polystyrene crust on my good Freud blade!

[Tom Overthere]

I found it necessary to cut a bunch of 1.5" white polystyrene 4x8 panels last week on my table saw.

Near the end, I noticed the blade was binding, so I removed it from the saw and...yikes. There's a hard, white plastic coating on both faces of my fancy red blade.

DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT WILL TAKE THIS OFF?

I tried SimpleGreen, gasoline, mineral spirits and lacquer thinner (in that order)... No dice.

Thanks,
Tom

[David DeCristoforo]

Acetone. Good ventilation!

[Bruce Page]

Acetone will certainly dissolve the polystyrene but it may also remove the red coating. I would test it to make sure.
A pressure washer might do the trick.

[Tom Overthere]

Acetone. Good ventilation!

Thanks, David. Where can I buy acetone? Is it found in the paint department of Home Depot, etc?

[Tom Overthere]

Acetone will certainly dissolve the polystyrene but it may also remove the red coating. I would test it to make sure.
A pressure washer might do the trick.
Good point, but I have no pressure washer.
Unless something else will work, I guess it'll have to be the acetone.

I should have used an old blade...:mad: I've cut polystyrene before without this happening, but never cut such a large quantity all at once.

I sure hope it doesn't take "The RED" off my blade, and I really hope the plastic doesn't seep into and gum up the blade's vibration damping slits(!) when the acetone melts it.

Ugh

[Joe Scharle]

I had some gum up a router bit once. Put the bit in the freezer overnight and I was able to pop it off.

[Mac Cambra]

You might want to try a heat gun as an alternative to the chemicals. It was heat that bonded it to the blade, heat will likely release it as well.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...but it may also remove the red coating..."

The "red coating" is teflon. There is, for all practical purposes, no known solvent for teflon. Acetone will not remove it....

[Joe Jensen]

I had this once, and it came off very easily with a razor blade. My crust was on the plate and not the teeth...joe

[Chris Kennedy]

You can get acetone at the Borgs in the paint department, alongside the BLO and mineral spirits. I would urge a little caution, though. Don't ask me how I know this, but you can mix acetone and styrofoam to make a poor man's napalm. You could end up with a bigger mess on your blade than before. Maybe if you use a lot of acetone, it will take care of the styrene.

Also, I would not apply heat to the polystyrene -- it can be toxic. More to the point, it was likely the heat that slagged it to your blade in the first place.

You might try a more elementary non-polar solvent like rubbing alcohol first.

Cheers,

Chris

[Doug Shepard]

You might want to try a heat gun as an alternative to the chemicals. It was heat that bonded it to the blade, heat will likely release it as well.

That was my thought too.

[Bruce Page]

"...but it may also remove the red coating..."

The "red coating" is teflon. There is, for all practical purposes, no known solvent for teflon. Acetone will not remove it....


Key word was “may”; it never hurts to check/test before jumping into the unknown.

I would steer clear of the heat gun. If you concentrate heat to one area you “may” very well warp the blade and make it unusable. I used to use heat (torch) to straighten out weldments, you’d be amazed at how much you can move metal with a little heat applied in the right area.

[Dave Lehnert]

No pressure washer? Just take it to the "do it yourself" car wash. I take my gas grill there in the spring to wash. Everyone looks at me like I'm crazy but then say "hey! good idea. Never thought of that" Cost like $1.25.

[Jim O'Dell]

Thanks, David. Where can I buy acetone? Is it found in the paint department of Home Depot, etc?

You might ask you wife and see if you can borrow some of her's.:eek: Finger nail polish remover is usually acetone. I did go look at my wife's, and it says non-acetone, so I guess they came out with something new for the softer half. Maybe none of the finger nail polish remover is acetone anymore. I really don't keep up with it. :D Jim.

[Alan Schaffter]

I just cleaned PVC residue from the disk on my Forrest- Like Joe, I just used a razor blade scraper. It was easy and worked great.

[Rob Sack]

Before I used highly flammable solvents, I would try using oven cleaner in a well ventilated area.

[Joe Jensen]

Before I used highly flammable solvents, I would try using oven cleaner in a well ventilated area.

Oven cleaner is pretty nasty too. It's a very strong base and if a business were to use it in their manufacturing it would create hazardous waste. Also, I seem to remember that over cleaner removed the red teflon coating from someone's blade on this forum...joe

[Lee Schierer]

Lacquer thinner dissolves polystyrene. So will diesel fuel. You can soak the blade in diesel fuel and it should soften and remove the polystyrene without harming the blade.

[Chris Barnett]

Have had that buildup before and being brittle, I could just break it off.

[Tom Overthere]

David DiCristoforo ==
As the saying goes, "YEAH, BAYBEE!" :D
I bought a quart can of ACETONE at a local home store, and used it to wipe that "inoperable" polystyrene coating right off the blade - and my red teflon appears entirely unaffected. Thank you very much for the advice.

Chris K ==
I did not concoct your "poorman's napalm" :D but you were right to warn me of the possibility, as sometimes I really do have a knack for that kind of thing...(and scars to prove it).

Other generous contributors ==
I tried rubbing alcohol and laquer thinner, to no avail.

Thanks guys. I'm really happy with the result.