Sizing centers with alcohol & water

[John Formsma]

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 12:15 AM, Don Mannino <donmannino at ca.rr.com> wrote:

>  John,
>
> As others have said, 50/50 mix is useable - but is actually a rather strong
> mixture.  30/70 is milder, and works for many situations - and is also
> readily available as Isopropyl alcohol.  Some drug stores also sell 50% and
> 90%.
>
> Isopropyl should not have anything but alcohol and water - but read the
> label to be sure.  It is also cheap and readily available.
>
> Keep in mind that shrinking the bushings does not solve all problems.  If
> the sluggishness is coming from a simple tight bushing, and the cloth is
> still soft, or was poor quality to begin with, shrinking will help, but not
> necessarily fix all problems.
>
> If the bushings are gummy from lubricants, if there are burrs on the pins
> snagging the cloth, if the bushings are binding on the birds-eyes, or if
> glue has worked through the bushing onto the pin, the shrinking solution
> will not be a solution.  So plan on doing a careful check for friction after
> a good drying out period has passed.
>
> Don Mannino
>
>

Thanks, Don.  I re-read one of Spurlock's articles about this sizing method.
 He also says that 50% is high.  In fact, he said that 30% is high.

What I did yesterday is use four different strengths: 10%, 25%, 35%, and
50%.  I guessed which strength to use for which friction level (due to my
relative inexperience except for the occasional field sizing).  Any hammer
center over 10 grams resistance got the 50%.  Between 9-10g got 35%; between
7-8 got the the 25%; and anything that is slightly over 6g got the 10%.
 I'll be checking things today, so we'll see how it worked.

-- 
JF
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