RE: Hot Tanks

Dave,

I'm interested also. I never put MC in my hot tanks. We always used a 
caustic in our hot tanks. But I'll leave all the good writings on this subject 
to you and maybe throw in some tips afterwards (if you don't cover them 
all) since you are presently using that method and it's been a few years 
since I have. 

On another note, did you try the ping pong balls yet? 

BrianMc

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I have a question or two that steve didn't think of:

1. once the furniture dried, was it fuzzy?
2. was it all one drab color?
3. did you drink plenty of water while you were sweating?

michelle
wood not shop 


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David Reeves writes:

Steve,

Thanks for the response, sorry about your interaction with Minuteman,
that may be the reason they have not grown much, oh well....

Now concerning the Hot Tanks,

First lets rename it, nothing hot about them.  I currently use a three
tank system.  The two water based tanks run at 110.  However, I am 
not quite sure of the necessity of these two tanks, I love them, but then 
I have never tried another system.

The MC tank is 4' x 4' and holds roughly 110 gallons of the good stuff.
The tank I use is heated via a small heater element that heats up a
mixture of water and antifreeze in a chamber that surrounds the MC
"capsule".  I run the tank at 75-80 degrees in colder weather, in the
summer I never have to turn the tank on.  I only turn the tank on when 
I know I will use it. I usually have one huge strip day a month, at which
I will turn the tanks on the night before.  If I have a small day of
stripping, strip only items, I will turn it on when I get to the shop
and in 2-3 hours It's ready to go.  My electric bill for a 3000 square
foot shop is reasonable, @120 a month.

The clean up is pretty easy, the tank is flat bottomed, and once a week
I scoop the crap out with a specially adapted shovel and place the goop
on a tray over the tank until the next time, this allows the stripper to
drain back into the tank, then I dispose of properly the paint chips. 
(when the inspector arrives and questions me I never say I am drying
paint chips, I am always recycling my stripper solvent!!!)

The MC stripper, at 75 degrees does not evaporate too fast, except when
it hits 100 with 100 humidity down here, then I see the $$$ heading
straight out the door.  However, thanks to Brian Mc from Myrtle beach,
his visit over Christmas clued me in to what the bag of Ping Pong balls
are for, they float in the tank and keep the evaporation at bay.  I
currently use Benco B7 stripper, order once a month.

Does it ruin glue joints and veneer?  so far I have had no problems with
either.  The tank allows me to get the finish thoroughly wet and most
items spend very little time in the tank. The heavily painted items might 
spend some time, but so far no damage.  After a quick bath, and a few 
minutes of wait, I brush the old finish off, squegee the solvent off the 
furniture and back into the tank and take the item to my water rinse
area and Blast it,er gently rinse it down, wipe it off, spray on a coat
of "supersander" and take it to the drying area.

I have stripped junk furniture in the tanks as well as some pretty fragile 
cane and veneer with no problem.  I think the problem comes in the 
hands of a ruthless operator rather than in the system itself. Personally, 
I am in business first and foremost to make money, second because 
I love what I do and third, well , because I am crazy.  Therefore I use a 
system that allows me to work smarter and make more money for the 
time I spend with these chemicals while at the same time doing a
superb job that will thrill my customers and my banker.

Thanks for the questions, I'd be glad to show you the system if you ever
venture this way.  check with Benny at Benco, they sell some interesting
tanks.  I will be purchasing the door tank sometime this year,stick a
painted door in a door shaped tank, 1/2  hour later, remove it with the 
paint all gone.

For now,

Tank you much,

DaveR
Oak Ridge, TN


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Reed writes:

Be careful with the hot tanks.  I owned a Minuteman System for 10
years,  and it indeed will strip an incredible amount of PAINTED
furniture and whatever else you run through the system.  And it will
strip it very clean.  It will drive water VERY deep into the wood, 
allow 3 or 4 days for stuff to dry before even thinking of finishing.  

I use to say that I could strip thousands of dollars furniture in one
day working alone, and I still think it to be true.  But there are other
things to think about.

What Steve said about Minuteman being a ripoff is in many ways true. 
Let me give you a few examples of my own.  

Minuteman recomends using chopped fiberglass as a filler in the epoxy 
to add strength,  and they are right.   They will sell you one pound for 
about $8.00 if my menory serves me right,  but if you buy the stuff by the 
ton (literally) the price fron Owens-Corning is $1.05 per pound.  That is a 
great markup,  By that schedule, dewaxed blond shellac should cost 
about $64 per pound.

MinuteMan will tell you in thier catalog that you chould change your tanks 
every 3 months so you can be sure that they will strip the best. What they 
do not tell you is that if you do not change that often then you will get a 
buildup of lead in the stripper and bleach tanks above the 5ppm allowed 
by the Feds.  

When this happened to me and I spoke to the owner of Minuteman face 
to face at the conference last year in Sturbridge, Mass., he denied that 
there could be lead in the tanks, "because the stripper is not designed 
to remove leaded paints."  He offered no solution.  

Good thing Benco's table was on the other side of the room.  They knew 
what I was dealing with and solved my problem for just a few dollars.
  
Without Benny, I was looking at disposal of 800 gallons of waste at 
$400+ each.  Benco's solution was $18.00


Dont get me wrong, the Minuteman system works, just as advertised, 
if you can get through the hype.  I simply prefer to do business with a
member of this groop and one that will be honest with me as he helps 
me solve my problems. 

 Long live Benny, Long live Benco.

Reed Spaulding
Spauldings Furniture Restorations
Lancaster, NH 




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