dissolve zip lock bags?

[kywoodwrkr]

Does anyone know of a chemical or have a formula which will dissove zip lock bag material?
Have some melted onto metal and need to dissolve.
Cannot or will not used a hand process have got to use as solvent.
Acetone won't touch it.
Have lacquer thinner and will be trying that.
But any solutions(no pun intended!) appreciated.
Thanks.

[Wayne Smith]

Goof off is worth a try. A very light oil may penetrate between the layers and release the plastic.

[bohokii]

maybe xylene or toluene but if it is burned on it may have a tough outer skin

disregard

read this

http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Polyethylene/Polyethylene-Family.htm

[3006guns]

Oven cleaner? Hope there's no wood or painted surfaces nearby. Contains lye.

Paint remover, such as Stryp Eze bubbles up just about anything..should gobble up plastic easily.

[BD]

Unless things have changed, the insecticide "Ben's 100" (100% DEET) would dissolve a ziplock every time.
BD

[johnly]

There isn't a solvent for polyethylene, but some solvents will make it swell to the point that it can be removed.

If the bag happned to be PVC, there are plenty of solvents that will do the trick.

John

[cajun shooter]

MEK is hotter than xylene and I have seen it dissolve a Styrofoam cup before the guy could make one step. I was using it in a plant on two component epoxy and this electrican asked for a cup full. I told him that he could not put it in the cup he had and needed metal. He said oh hell ya, it will work and poured before I could stop him. The cup just vanished. MEK is for Methyl Ethyl Ketone

[scrapcan]

You can get MEK from a Chevy dealer, it is sold as top end engien cleaner. Hvae used a bunch to disolve carbon fouling in barrels. Never tried it on wad fouling in a shotgun though. Might try to search on wad fouling remover.

[jbc]

propane torch to finish melting it and turn it to ash maybe?

[S.R.Custom]

Oven cleaner? Hope there's no wood or painted surfaces nearby. Contains lye.

The OP doesn't identify the metal in question, but if it's aluminum, oven cleaner will eat that up, too.

I've melted plastic bags onto stuff before, and the getting under it with WD-40 works. At least well enough that I could then remove it with a plastic spatula.

[rhead]

If you do not have any luck with safe solvents try freezing it with some dry ice. You may be able to get it brittle enough that the difference in the thermal expansion ratios will break it off. Good luck.

[c3d4b2]

You might try some Bix tough job remover

[DLCTEX]

If it's a mould, dip it in the melt.

[runfiverun]

my moneys on the mek.
don't drink it. and it's dang flammable.

[leadeye]

MEK or Methylene Chloride. Meth will eat the tires off of your car.:holysheep

[454PB]

Try brake fluid. I know it will eat paint in short order.

[wallenba]

No joke here, I bought some real hot Chinese peppers from an asian food store once for my dad. I knew they would be sold bulk so I brought a baggie. Man said "you no put in bag...no good...you get jar! It was a short drive home so I put them in the baggie anyway. They disolved that baggy half way home.

[deerslayer]

I would use some P.B. spray or Kroil and either of those should loosen it enough for easy removal.

[timkelley]

MEK is bad stuff, it will absorb right thru your skin if you get it on you. Got some on me about 20 years ago while cleaning up after painting some pool fence. Next thing I knew I was back at the shop (10 miles away) and didn't know how I got there. Read the Material Safety Data Sheet if you desire to use it.

[MtGun44]

I have had hot glue, which is polyethylene like your bag, pop off of metal with a spray
of brake cleaner. Took maybe 1 minute and it fell off. Bad for me, maybe good for
you.

[jnovotny]

Ditto on the brake clean. Works to clean all kinds of stuff. You will want to keep it from any plastic and paint. But it darn sure works to get things clean!

[mroliver77]

Eds red is reported to clean out plastic fouled shotgun barrels.
Jay

[troy_mclure]

you can freeze it off with the spray gun remover. i laid my hot rifle barrel on my range bag and melted it to the barrel.

the gum remover froze it and made it brittle so it pulled right off.

[leadman]

The cheap carb spray from Auto Zone labeled valucraft will remove the plastic fouling from shotgun chokes. Might work on a plastic bag.

Alox will also dissolve a plastic bag over time.