best way to remove wax from clad proofs?

350gn

sigh

I acetone dipped then distilled water dipped some modern clad proof coins and had the bright idea to put them on my 3d printers heated bed to make sure they fully dried, well it would seem I had the temp set too high, as some of the wax from the wax paper I put them on transferred. Any tips on how to remove wax?

braddick

@350gn said:
sigh

I acetone dipped then distilled water dipped some modern clad proof coins and had the bright idea to put them on my 3d printers heated bed to make sure they fully dried, well it would seem I had the temp set too high, as some of the wax from the wax paper I put them on transferred. Any tips on how to remove wax?

Freezer.
Carefully pick the frozen wax off after it spends the night in your freezer.
This also works for gum on the carpet.
Use an ice cube to freeze the gum, which will easily remove from the rug/carpet.

jacrispies

Second acetone dip and air dry.

Try the freezer if you are confident you will not damage the coins.

Edit: I have never tried to remove wax with acetone so I am not sure if it will work, but it is worth a try.

lilolme

this gets kind of technical for me but is saying acetone won't work but vegetable oil will dissolve the wax. While I don't know it would seem easy to test out before. That is if vegetable oil will dissolve the wax.

https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/17109/how-to-dissolve-candle-wax-paraffin

Edit some oils worked better than others apparently.

Well this is kind of funny because this one indicates that acetone is effective for wax but could take 5 minutes +.
Again test it out to find out.

https://allnailart.com/how-to-use-acetone-as-a-wax-and-grease-remover/

JBK

Another treatment on the heated bed but with paper or a paper towel underneath might draw some of the wax away from the coin. Then there would be less to try to get off with whatever other method you'll be using.

ricko

@350gn ... Welcome aboard. I would go with the acetone first.. Or as @JBK said, the heated bed on a paper towel to remove the bulk of the wax, then the acetone to dissolve the rest. Rinse in alcohol after will help and let air dry. Cheers, RickO

Shane6596

I've gotten wax off metal stuff by boiling water. Wax floats to top.

On a coin, i don't know if i would try it. Don't know if it would do anything bad to the surface.

Maybe a quik dip to see if it melts off?

Just an idea.

Maywood

Blow torch, that'll get the wax off!!

Namvet69

Pro tip ixnay the axpaperway. Lint free cloth. Good luck

350gn

@Namvet69 said:
Pro tip ixnay the axpaperway. Lint free cloth. Good luck

can you link me to a specific product? I'd bought microfiber rags, the thin kind like that come with glasses, but don't think that plastic is safe.

Would be neat if someone sold toilet paper sized rolls of archival quality acid free lint free paper. I'm doing a lot of photography of raw coins and have been thinking about how to prevent cross contamination by having a roll of some material on one side of the podium kind of like the paper they have covering doctor's exam chairs.

Wax paper is nice because there is so little friction, so I know it won't mar the coins when they slide. I try not to slide but there's always some sliding when you put one down or pick one up. Works great at room temp, just shouldn't of put it on a heated surface, or is there some chemical in it too I should be wary of?

350gn

Thanks. Olive oil removed the wax immediately. Put some in a shot glass with a coin and within a second the wax all floated to the top. Followed by a quick acetone dip to remove the olive oil, then a rinse with distilled water. Every cloth I've ever tried leaves lint all over proofs. I'm letting them dry on the heated glass bed at 50C with one side propped up by pencil graphite so both sides dry.

Steven59

Wow! Live and learn Eh?. Great idea for the Olive Oil!