I really miss 1,1,2-Trichloro- 1,2,2-trifluoroethane.

[Housedad]

Best dang solder flux cleaner ever made.  Sprayed it right off completely in a single pass.

They always take away the good stuff.

[coppercone2]

ultrasonic technology gives some dignity back

[Analog Kid]

I do too. (Have some Kodak film cleaner here, with 1,1,2-trichloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethane and heptane.)
Works great.

I don't miss it, though: stuff's too damn carcinogenic.

Same with the good paint stripper, methylene chloride. Nasty shit but it sure works well.

[tooki]

ultrasonic technology gives some dignity back

Indeed. At work, where I have an ultrasonic cleaner now, I have been using water-soluble no-clean flux more and more, because it comes right off in hot water, and the ultrasound gets it out from under ICs and whatnot.

Otherwise, regular flux and Safewash aqueous cleaner does a flawless job.

[tom66]

Kind of like asbestos.  Like, aside from the terrible human toll it had, it was actually a pretty damn great material.   Fire retardant.   Chemically resistant.  Strong.  Easy to work with.  Versatile.  Inexpensive.  It's just... yeah.  You can't work with it safely, it tears your lungs into pieces and gives you cancer...

[themadhippy]

Kind of like asbestos.  Like, aside from the terrible human toll it had, it was actually a pretty damn great material.   Fire retardant.   Chemically resistant.  Strong.  Easy to work with.  Versatile.  Inexpensive.

Also gets your homebrew wine crystal clear

[Analog Kid]

Kind of like asbestos.  Like, aside from the terrible human toll it had, it was actually a pretty damn great material.   Fire retardant.   Chemically resistant.  Strong.  Easy to work with.  Versatile.  Inexpensive.  It's just... yeah.  You can't work with it safely, it tears your lungs into pieces and gives you cancer...

Same thing with tetraethyl lead.

[Whales]

"If it doesn't cause cancer then it's not safe to use in aircraft"

[aeg]

Now wait just a minute. 1,1,2-Trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane is Freon TF, a non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, ozone-depleting CFC. It's trichloroethylene that's the nasty carcinogenic neurotoxic stuff.

[amyk]

Now wait just a minute. 1,1,2-Trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane is Freon TF, a non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, ozone-depleting CFC. It's trichloroethylene that's the nasty carcinogenic neurotoxic stuff.

Carbon tet and many other chlorocarbons are also carcinogenic to varying extents, although not all of them. Too bad they all have a rather pleasant smell.

[SteveThackery]

1-1-1 trichloroethane was a damn good solvent. I miss it.

Did you know it was a brilliant fly killer? Put it in a sprayer and spray it at a house fly or bluebottle in flight: the buzz stops immediately and the fly falls straight to the floor, dead. Brilliant.

[SiliconWizard]

Now wait just a minute. 1,1,2-Trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane is Freon TF, a non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, ozone-depleting CFC. It's trichloroethylene that's the nasty carcinogenic neurotoxic stuff.

Yes. It's pretty safe. The only reason it got banned is because it's a CFC and so yes, because of the ozone-depleting effect.

Trichloroethylene, OTOH, is awful.

[NE666]

1-1-1 trichloroethane was a damn good solvent. I miss it.

Did you know it was a brilliant fly killer? Put it in a sprayer and spray it at a house fly or bluebottle in flight: the buzz stops immediately and the fly falls straight to the floor, dead. Brilliant.

Acetone too.

A lot of the more volatile organics have that effect as they are very soluble in the chitin of the insect exoskeleton, and as a vapor rapidly find their way into the spiracles and air chambers, giving them what becomes effectively a huge overdose of general anesthesia. 

[jonpaul]

Polychlorinated Biphenyls PCB,  were banned decades ago due to cnacer risk.

They were the VERY BEST insulating oil used widely in power transformers, PFC capacitors, HV caps, etc.

The "safe" substutes are not nearly as good, just 3-10x cost


Jon

[David Hess]

1-1-1 trichloroethane was a damn good solvent. I miss it.

Did you know it was a brilliant fly killer? Put it in a sprayer and spray it at a house fly or bluebottle in flight: the buzz stops immediately and the fly falls straight to the floor, dead. Brilliant.

Wikipedia used to say that it was the best damn insecticide ever.  I was very happy with it dealing with wasps, instant death.

What are they using for brake cleaner these days?  It might be acceptable.

Things like acetone and toluene work well but also tend to attack plastics, and are very flammable.

[Analog Kid]

1-1-1 trichloroethane was a damn good solvent. I miss it.

Did you know it was a brilliant fly killer? Put it in a sprayer and spray it at a house fly or bluebottle in flight: the buzz stops immediately and the fly falls straight to the floor, dead. Brilliant.

Acetone too.

I used to shy away from using acetone because I thought, mistakenly as it turns out, that it was much more harmful than, say, naphtha because of its pungent and volatile-smelling odor.

Turns out it's actually safer than a lot of other solvents, so I use it now without much hesitation.
Certainly safer than any chlorinated hydrocarbons.

Our bodies actually produce acetone under some circumstances.

[Zero999]

1-1-1 trichloroethane was a damn good solvent. I miss it.

Did you know it was a brilliant fly killer? Put it in a sprayer and spray it at a house fly or bluebottle in flight: the buzz stops immediately and the fly falls straight to the floor, dead. Brilliant.

Acetone too.

A lot of the more volatile organics have that effect as they are very soluble in the chitin of the insect exoskeleton, and as a vapor rapidly find their way into the spiracles and air chambers, giving them what becomes effectively a huge overdose of general anesthesia.

Plain old orange oil also kills insects and is a good solvent, which is capable for dissolving polystyrene. I've noticed a polystyrene foam cup had started to dissolve and go tacky, when I left an orange peal in it.

[SteveThackery]

1-1-1 trichloroethane was a damn good solvent. I miss it.

Did you know it was a brilliant fly killer? Put it in a sprayer and spray it at a house fly or bluebottle in flight: the buzz stops immediately and the fly falls straight to the floor, dead. Brilliant.

Acetone too.

A lot of the more volatile organics have that effect as they are very soluble in the chitin of the insect exoskeleton, and as a vapor rapidly find their way into the spiracles and air chambers, giving them what becomes effectively a huge overdose of general anesthesia.

That's good to know - I've got plenty of acetone. I don't know if flies have the capacity to suffer, but normal fly spray does deliver a prolonged and ugly death. Acetone seems to be much more humane.

[tom66]

Just be aware acetone attacks plastics (especially acrylics) badly.  I once spilled a teaspoon of acetone on an Ikea coffee table and the fake laminate came off like it was liquid.  I've done similar with IPA and not had the same effect.

[SteveThackery]

Just be aware acetone attacks plastics (especially acrylics) badly.  I once spilled a teaspoon of acetone on an Ikea coffee table and the fake laminate came off like it was liquid.  I've done similar with IPA and not had the same effect.

Absolutely agree. If you are using it for cleaning purposes, it's best to avoid any kind of plastic.

[UnijunctionTransistor]

Radium;
That soft green glow that requires no power.

[amyk]

1-1-1 trichloroethane was a damn good solvent. I miss it.

Did you know it was a brilliant fly killer? Put it in a sprayer and spray it at a house fly or bluebottle in flight: the buzz stops immediately and the fly falls straight to the floor, dead. Brilliant.

Wikipedia used to say that it was the best damn insecticide ever.  I was very happy with it dealing with wasps, instant death.

What are they using for brake cleaner these days?  It might be acceptable.

There are two types, "flammable" and "non-flammable". The former is usually hexane-ish hydrocarbons, while the latter is perchloroethylene. Both are extremely good at killing insects by suffocating them.

[NE666]

I don't know if flies have the capacity to suffer, but normal fly spray does deliver a prolonged and ugly death. Acetone seems to be much more humane.

Debatable. Their CNS is very rudimentary but still has the capacity to respond to harmful stimuli, perhaps even 'remember' the same according to some studies. At what point a brain becomes complex enough to experience the concepts of trauma and suffering, I have no idea.

However, on a relative scale, acetone etc. are more akin to being put under with ether or chloroform (which still can't be pleasant) rather than being dosed with a nerve agent. Which is what fly sprays using pyrethroids effectively are.

[paul cotter]

1,1,2 trichloroethylene was used as an anaesthetic for a long time. Replaced now with various fluoroethers such as sevoflurane, enflurane and others. It cannot have been that toxic. The most toxic probably was carbon tetrachloride with tetrachloroethane supposedly bad also. 1,1,1 trichloroethane is supposedly one of the least toxic but really bad for ozone depletion.

[SteveThackery]

Just to confuse matters, "ethylenes" are now "ethenes". So trichloroethylene is now trichloroethene and polyethylene is polyethene.