Tempilaq thinner substitute?

[guninhand]

Went to use my Tempilaq temperature indicating liquid and it was dried up and solid, even though the lid seemed to be on tight. The bottle says to use only Tempilaq thinner but I want to use it now. Anyone know any local hardware store substance that can be substituted for the factory thinner? TIA

[bangerjim]

Try standard thinners (laq thinner, acetone, MEK) to see what cuts it.

It will probably be dissolved with laq thinner. (there are a bunch of different formulations out there!)

Do the "wipe" test with some of the residue around the lid. Do NOT dump the test solvent in the bottle, as you could ruin the stuff down there.

banger

[Guardian]

I think those solvents have a much lower flammability than the Tempilaq thinner.

http://www1.mscdirect.com/MSDS/MSDS00017/06914956-20030422.PDF

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927062

[bangerjim]

Do as I do.......try them all! Nothing lost for trying!

Between those and water, mineral spirits, and methanol, one of them has to dissolve that crud!

If those don't work, try toluene, benzene, and turpentine.

If none work, just throw the stuff away.

I have all those in my shop I use on a regular basis.

bangerjim

[guninhand]

Well I tried acetone. The chunks did not disolve but it became eaiser to break them up. So I tried grinding up the pieces to tiny crumbs and when fine enough it actually formed a sticky paste, more or less like when new. I had actually gone ahead and done my brass annealing before this discovery, so it will be a few days before I get to see if it goes clear when heated.

I have an accurate enough thermometer to see what temperature this will occur at.