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Cleaning HP Latex Printer Rails with 95% Ethanol

GB2

Old Member
Just wondering what all you HP Latex owners are using to clean your carriage rails. HP recommends 95% Ethanol but is that denatured or not? What are you using and where are you getting it?
 

Dan360

New Member
I just use Isopropyl Alcohol, when techs come to work on our printer they ask to use it as well if they didn't bring any.
 

GB2

Old Member
Actually Isopropyl and Ethyl alcohol are two completely different formulations. Ethyl alcohol is what liquor is made with in a pure state. Denatured alcohol has additives to make it unfit for consumption. None the less it is irrelevant because HP recommends 95% Ethanol (which I believe is synonymous with Ethyl Alcohol), unfortunately they don't specify if it should or could be denatured and they don't provide any further information.
 

signbrad

New Member
There are many alcohols. They are hydrocarbon molecules. Three commonly used alcohols are also among the simplest molecularly.

Methanol, methyl alcohol, is the simplest. It is highly toxic and has little use in the sign industry, though it is inexpensive. It is commonly used as an antifreeze and as a fuel. It is also used as a "denaturant" for ethanol.

Ethanol is ethyl alcohol. It is the alcohol in whiskey and other beverages. It can be sold as a general purpose solvent by making it poisonous. This is done by adding a small percentage of a toxic substance, such as methanol, and it is then sold as "denatured alcohol."

Isopropanol, or isopropyl alcohol, is often mixed with water and sold as "rubbing alcohol." A mix of 70 parts alcohol to 30 parts purified water is common for use as an antiseptic.

All three of these alcohols are miscible in water. Methanol is miscible in both oil and water.

A Laphroaig Manhattan is made from Laphroaig scotch, sweet Vermouth and a dash of bitters. This Manhattan variation has a smokey flavor due to the peatiness of Laphroaig scotch, which comes from Islay. It is a delicious way to enjoy ethanol.
If you are ever in Lawrence, Kansas, visit John Brown's Underground and order this cocktail from Dante or Logan and tell them Brad sent you.
 

ikarasu

Active Member
I didn't know methanol was that bad .We use it a lot... I pretty much have a huge bottle upstairs that I use to clean Coro before I print on the flatbed .it eats UV ink good too when I need to fix a mistake.

I always spray some and wipemit off without a glove. Worst it's ever done is cause my skin to be a bit dry.

Googling says people have gone blind from constant skin exposure / spillage, and even breathing it in is bad.

Guess I'll be requisitioning some isopropyl :mad:
 

Bly

New Member
Our tech said we should use acetone instead of iso to clean the rails.
We still use iso.
 

signbrad

New Member
I have been corrected. Alcohol is not a hydrocarbon, but a derivative of a hydrocarbon. Hydrocarbons contain only hydrogen and carbon. Alcohols have in addition a "hydroxyl group," which is a hydrogen atom bonded to an oxygen atom. So...hydrogen, carbon and oxygen in lots of varying combinations make lots of different alcohols.

I'm glad that was cleared up.

Here's a link to a textbook page about alcohols. It's from the BC Open textbook project.
I like the little diagrams chemists make to show how molecules are put together.

20.2 Alcohols and Ethers | Chemistry
 

GB2

Old Member
Well, here is my answer to my own question. It's available at any local liquor store for a reasonable price.
95% Ethanol.jpg
 
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