I am about to start priming the HS. I am using the Valspar Zinc Phosphate primer spray cans from Aircraft Spruce. Vans recommended using coleman fluid to clean and prep the parts prior to priming. Can anyone confirm if they've ever used this stuff for cleaning before? Is it safe to handle? I'm not too familiar with it. How do I clean off the glue and scuff marks?
I use Coleman fuel to clean off the leftovers from blue plastic, then use Scotchbrite maroon pads to scuff the surface before priming with self-etching primer. Works great!
Can anyone confirm if they've ever used this stuff for cleaning before? Is it safe to handle? I'm not too familiar with it. How do I clean off the glue and scuff marks?
Coleman fuel (naphtha) was recommended to me by my first EAA technical counselor and 2-time RV builder Randy Lervold. He has a discussion of it on his RV-3 website, under his primer comments, found here:
I did exactly as he did, and as he recommended to me. I used it with maroon scotchbrite to scuff and clean my aluminum surfaces prior to priming. All I can say is, it works! While you do want some ventilation, the fumes are much less obnoxious than MEK and some other materials I've tried. It's terrific, and as he points out, cheap, too. The last gallon can I bought was less than $5.00 at a local store. No shipping, no hazmet charges. Can't beat it. You can use it without any hesitation.
Coleman fuel is a "naptha" (blend of light, quickly evaporating hydrocarbons), and is basically like a very low octane unleaded gasoline (about 60-65 octane rating). I think it's mostly composed of hexane and heptane. It evaporates very quickly and cleanly, leaving no residues behind. It's also extremely flammable just like gasoline, and can form explosive air/fuel mixtures, as I found out the hard way once in my 20's when trying to use it in lieu of charcoal starter fluid when trying to light a campfire once. Singed all the hair off my arms, got some good 2nd degree burns on my hands, and to add insult to injury, all the wood in the campfire I was trying to light got tossed into the air about 20 feet upward by the explosion and came raining down on top of me when I lit the campfire
I gotta say, most of us seem to be of an age where we toss around the words ( and the product) pretty casually. Being in the paint trade, I became aware of some of the hazards, and just because you are only using it for a few days etc. is not the same as protecting yourself from the solvents etc.
