Yep, acetone eats plastics for breakfast.

Better use it only on metals (IHS, heatsink base). Or switch to less aggressive alcohol.

Don't drink it.

Isopropanol at 99% is much better for removing stickers. Acetone likes to melt adhesives, which just makes them gummy and sticky, and spread everywhere, but adhesives don't want to stick to any surface covered with alcohol. I can understand certain situations where you may need to start with acetone to soften a tough adhesive, but other than that you'll want to avoid messing stuff up with acetone.

May I say... well DUH! 🤣

As TELVM and Logistics said, alcohol based solvents are better suited for this. I personally prefer brake cleaner (non-chlorinated) or 99% isopropanol.

In Russia alcohol can substitute acetone and vice-versa 😁 I never knew. I use vodka to clean soft mess and when vodka does not seem to help I use aceton... And it's cheaper 😀

Ahh... The cool feeling as it evapourates from your hands 😀

Some people are adamant that lighter fluid is superior to alcohol.

Ultimately the best solution is to test whatever cleaner you're using on an unobtrusive spot of whatever you are trying to clean.

Jorpho wrote:

Some people are adamant that lighter fluid is superior to alcohol.

Brake cleaner == lighter fluid (but much cheaper at about €2.50/500ml) 😉

The only thing I use acetone for is removing superglue.

People are pretty cavalier about using Goof-Off for all situations, but it is worse than acetone. I have done more damage than good with that stuff.

Alcohol is good for cleaning almost everything except it will dissolve Latex paint.

I like citrus cleaners if alcohol wont dissolve something. It smells like oranges and cleans super too! I have some Goof Off if it is extra resilient gunk but I prefer to avoid it...

The Arctic Silver Arcticlean TIM remover is citrus based btw.

When I worked at a printing plant one of the tricks they would play on the new guy was to hand him a styrofoam cup and tell him to run and get some acetone FAST! 🤣

sliderider wrote:

When I worked at a printing plant one of the tricks they would play on the new guy was to hand him a styrofoam cup and tell him to run and get some acetone FAST! 🤣

OMG 😁 That made my day!

I have seen a cool trick our former professor made that was a shock to all of his students. We had a vacuum flask full of liquid nitrogen, he asked a girl to fetch some and washed his hands and face with it. We stood there shocked, the liquid boiling and the vapor going down instead of up, but he stood there unharmed. The temperature at which nitrogen boils at standard pressure is -195°C. Later we all did it, it was called "baptism to cryogenics". 😎

Who can figure out how it's done?

You mean what the Leidenfrost effect is?!?

elianda wrote:

You mean what the Leidenfrost effect is?!?

Exactly 😀 None of us thought of it at the time, though

I use isopro for some stickers, and eucalyptus oil for others. Some adhesives seem to respond more rapidly to one or the other.

This stuff came in handy for cleaning the "extra grungy" machines at the computer store: http://www.amazon.com/4-5-Oz-Oops-Cleaner-710 … 5/dp/B001TJ5KRY

One tech even used it on a laptop LCD screen out of desperation. That machine was "sticky" to say the least. Surprisingly it didn't damage the screen and you didn't need to wear a biohazard suit to touch the laptop afterwards.