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Praetorium Honoris

Monday, May 6, 2024

Tyvek, the devil's tape!

 Well to start off on an up note, a week from this Wednesday will be a good day in the juvat household.  Mrs. J will get zapped for the last time on that day.  (Beans, zapped is the official juvat terminology for radiation treatment. It just sits better with me.)  Once we get through that, there's a 30 day R&R period and then surgery mid-June to, hopefully, visually confirm the little buggers are in fact dead and then remove their rotten bodies.

Yeah, it's been a long ride since October.  Looking forward to not visiting medical folks every day.  Not that they haven't been great. No, they've been very supportive, generally upbeat and answering my stupid questions without laughing (too much).  Well done y'all!

But it will be nice for the both of us to go places and visit family and not have to worry if that's just a cold Miss B has or if it's the flu.  It will also be nice to be able to go out to dinner and not have to worry about that issue. And, maybe, just maybe, fall asleep immediately after hitting the bed. Yeah, been a long ride for both of us, and I had the easy part.

But... Thank all y'all for the prayers and kind thoughts throughout.  VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.

Now, on with the post.  One of the sanity enhancers for me over the last few months has been the construction of a Pikler triangle for my middle Grand child.



 This would be a Pikler Triangle. Source


My Mental Picture is a little different. Here's the triangle itself, just the slide still needing construction.


I had a piece of melamine covered particle board left over from a project a couple of years ago.  I decided I'd use that for the slide as shown in the top picture.  LJW had said she didn't want the climbing grips on it, she wanted a slide.  So it is written, so it shall be.

I went into my wood storage loft and found the left over melamine.  It was just about the right dimensions and I'd even covered it with plastic tape to keep the melamine from getting scratched and ruined.

Little did I realize the enormity of that mistake.

I had confided to LJW that I'd have the project finished in a day or so.  That was Monday after my last post. 

I think that's called "hubris", and we all know how that ends.

 In any case, I was on the last step in the plan, so, I pulled my melamine board out of storage, noted that I had preserved it by covering the melamine with Tyvek and patted myself on the back for keeping it looking good.  Put it on my work bench, got out my pocket knife and got ready to pull it off.

I think Tyvek in the original ancient Greek means "Stronger than the gods'.

So, in actuality, I started to TRY to pull it off.  Just wasn't happening.  Knowing that my wonderful wife has lots of concoctions with various powers in the house, I went there and asked her for something to remove tape. 

She recommended Goo Gone which she already had stored in her witchcraft cupboard.  Grabbed it,  went and soaked a smallish area of the Tyvek, went away for a half hour or so to let it work it's magic.  Returned, not much removal improvement.  Reapplied and tried again. This time, I tried that in conjunction with a hot air gun.

Nope!  It wasn't coming off very well, lots of very small pieces coming off, even more left behind.  So, I decided to visit Lowe's and ask my good friends there (who had sold me the Tyvek) what the best way to remove it was.  They huddled for a few moments throwing furtive glances at me over their shoulders.  Came back and recommended Goo Gone.  I told them I had and it didn't work.  They then recommended Goof Off and/or Paint Thinner.  

I bought both.  I also saw a angled scraper and bought it.  Went home and got to work. 3 days worth of about 3 or 4, 2 hour scraping sessions per day with R&R for wrist and Dust Mask/Face shield recovery as well as chemical smell recovery in between. (Yes Beans, the Fan was on and the windows were open).

 I'm now at this point.


Most of the Tape, per se, is gone, but...


As one can see, although the tape is gone, the glue, however, is still remaining.  I'm pretty sure that should Miss B start to slide down it under these circumstances, she's going to get about 6" and come to a screeching stop stuck to the board.

I'm going to give it one more once over with the chemicals to try and remove the glue.  However, IMHO, my sanity is worth more than $50, should that fail, I'm going to buy a new melamine covered particle board and start over.

I'm open to suggestions.  No, Beans, a flamethrower will not be considered a viable option, fun though it may be.

Peace out, y'all.

juvat





43 comments:

  1. Well, Juvat, I would venture, regarding your project, that if that had happened to a project of mine, one of the first words heard would have rhymed with duck.
    It is truly pleasing to see positive results for Mrs. J. I can totally understand and relate to how your lives are continually affected.
    The little distractions we get, or make, are a real blessing.
    Prayers are still up. 🙏🏻

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Skip,
      Rest assured, there were several large flocks of ducks involved in this project. Starting with installing the rungs on one side from the front risers and one from the rear riser. "How come it isn't straight?" "Duck"
      Thanks, prayers are always appreciated.
      juvat

      Delete
  2. Good news for Mrs. J, surgery is not that far off and that technical term you bandied about seems to be something Spaceman Biff used in his adventures...........:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nylon,
      I got all the Tyvek off the board yesterday. Started focusing on the glue. I think I've got a system down now. I pour some paint thinner down on a small, maybe 2'x2', area. Let it sit for about a half hour, come through with the scraper and industrial strength paper towels (also from Lowes) and scrape as much off as possible. Move to an adjacent area, rinse and repeat. Now that I've got a 2'x4' area, I spray it with the Goof Off, let it sit for a half hour then scrub it off with the rags. An additional advantage of the Goof Off is it changes the color of the glue from transparent to slightly opaque, so I know where I've missed some. Obviously this is a pretty slow process, but I got about a third of the board done yesterday. Gonna run the touchy feely test this morning before I start on a new area, but it seemed to be working when I ran out of airspeed yesterday.
      We'll see,
      Thanks.
      juvat

      Delete
  3. Huzzah for the continued good progress of Mrs. J!

    I had never though of Tyvek sticking to anything. We use in my industry for gowning; to be fair, pretty durable stuff. So the difficulty in removing it makes sense.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. THBB,
      I think the tape is intended to hold the insulation in place. Given my experience, I’d bet it’s excellent at that.
      juvat

      Delete
  4. All the best to Mrs. J. Enjoy the R&R

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Chris, much appreciated
      juvat

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  5. Yay for finishing Mrs. J's treatments. And maybe type wash would work on the glue. We use it at work to clean up sticky junk on our bindery tables. Ask your local print shop if they have some...OFFSET NOT digital!!! We are old fashioned and still print offset....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Applegoat,
      Thanks for the idea. No idea if we even have a print shop in the 'Burg, but at least I've got a vector to take.
      Thanks
      juvat

      Delete
  6. Good news on the health update. I'm always happy when charlie loses.

    I think I'd have burned the board just to hear it sizzle. Another bit of melamine covered wood would chuck.... wood chuck would..... would wood... Yeah, replace it....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. STxAR,
      Those darn wood chucks. Although I have chucked a bit of wood in my workshop, generally after I have uttered the rhyming duck word.
      juvat

      Delete
  7. Try Acetone, insert standard caveat about testing on a small inconspicuous area first. Melamine is fairly solvent resistant if my memory is correct, but acetone eats almost all pressure sensitive adhesives for breakfast.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anon,
      Thanks for the idea. I think I made some progress late yesterday, if not, that's next on my list. And I'll keep it in mind for future projects.
      juvat

      Delete
  8. Prior to the Age of OSHA (and the rest of the government agencies) which/who feel that almost everything save water is "illegal, immoral, or fattening", you used to be able to purchase solvents (ether, etal) that actually dissolved/removed adhesive remnants sine problema; THTB (and lawyers) have decided that the great unwashed (or so they consider us) are unable to properly use such materials without damaging ourselves.
    Apologies: I'm in rant mode today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Boron,
      I hear ya man! Any sentence that starts with "The Gummint says" sets me on edge immediately. If the sentence continues with "You can't..." Well, the gummint could then save billions by strapping a payload to my butt as I will generally launch into low earth orbit. And...It's gotten much worse since the current admin took over.
      just sayin'
      juvat

      Delete
    2. MEK comes to mind.

      Delete
  9. Congrats to Mrs. J! Huzzah, in fact!
    Even as I type, Miss Jeanie is at the clinic for her four years' clear blood work and check-up. Good to have the stress continue to decrease.
    On the other hand, inquiring minds need to know - do you put a dollar value on your time?
    D4, etc.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fuzz,
      Glad to here Miss Jeanie continues to do well. Stress decrease...Good? Out...ducking...standing I would think.
      As to money/time. Not for friends and family. I still think of myself as an apprentice and additionally, I like this as a way to get things off my mind and focus on the project for a while. However, I'm always looking for project ideas.
      juvat

      Delete
  10. Bravo Zulu on Mrs. J's continued progress.

    Many of your stories have convinced me that I'm glad I never took up woodworking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sarge, that was good for a chuckle.
      juvat

      Delete
  11. Juvat, I've experienced more of those what I call "great ideas that turned out be not worth a "hoot" (or other suitable word of choice) over my 83 years. Seems many turned out to require more sweat or money than planned. Just to prove those projects that faltered were "great ideas", I continued to work on 'em till I was as sweaty as a bull (substitute appropriate word for sweaty) or succumbed to the reality of defeat and went back to the drawing board. Sounds as though you've progressed to the point of success over the glue due to pure sweat equity.
    Great news on the upcoming "last zap" for Mrs. J!
    Cletus

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cletus,
      I've been back to the drawing board many (many many) times. That doesn't bother me too much unless I make the same mistake again. That's when the duck starts quacking in the shop.
      Yeah, we're looking forward to (hopefully, prayerfully) a return to normalcy.
      juvat

      Delete
  12. Au contraire, mon frere. Fire (or heat) is always a possibility. Thus the invention of The Heat Gun, which is great for loosening up sticky gunk like old paint and... adhesives. For those like juvat who don't know what The Heat Gun is, think of a hair dryer, on steroids, that puts out... HEAT.

    Very useful for all sorts of applications like warming frozen metal pipes (do not use on PVC or other plasticy tubes.)

    Geez. Ya think a figter plot would understand heat applications...

    And, on a brighter note, very glad to hear progress on Mrs. J. Hope the surgeries go very well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beans,
      I proof read this post several times and still didn't not notice that I left our the Heat Gun. After the first round of Goo gone and scrapping, I tried adding the Heat Gun to it. All it did was shrink the Tyvek making it harder to grip to pull it free. However, in my last session, when I'd got all the tape off, it and the Goof Off actually worked pretty well together. The stickyness at the end of the day and now that my chores are done today, I'm going out and check if it's good to go. Hope so.
      juvat

      Delete
  13. Congrats and gratitude on the medical progress.

    The Tyvek project seems to be well beyond the practical or monetary limitations and should have been abandoned long ago. However, some people are know to be stubborn, or even vengeful when provoked or frustrated. So, good therapy to finish it up, even if a total waste of time and money. BTDT, but its embarrassing to show weakness when engaged in manly mechanical stuff.
    JB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JB,
      Exactly, as a great man in a great movie once said..."Never give up! Never surrender!"
      I just hope I'm getting close to finishing the finish of the finish.
      juvat

      Delete
  14. It is great to hear that Mrs. J has (maybe) conquered this problem. Prayers that the surgery shows that it is conquered.

    Juvat, when you said Tyvek tape, I had to go look it up. Seems as though it is good stuff for some applications but in others maybe not so good. What a task to get that off of that panel. If it had been me, I would have retired the panel to the burn pile after a few futile attempts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bill,
      I'm pretty sure as I left the shop last night that I heard a whisper "Give us one more chance, we'll be good!"
      But, you know kids and wood is like kids.
      juvat

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  15. Looks like some torture device found at 69 park street

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anon,
      Thanks for the chuckle.
      juvat

      Delete
  16. The adhesive in Tyvek tape (I'm assuming that's what it was) is "...a specially formulated permanent acrylic adhesive..." per Dupont.
    Some have suggested some success with WD-40 (and let it sit); according to some commentors, heat appears to be contraindicated (specially formulated to be heat-resistant).
    If you have a friend who works in a lab with access to pure 100% acetone, try that first; if not, try (in order, preferably outdoors), zero-alcohol gasoline, benzene, chloroform, and finally ether.
    If none of the above work to remove the adhesive cleanly, well ...
    My OL didn't do the high frequency - hers was non-radio-sensitive: that was 32 years ago and she's still playing tennis at 72.
    Wish you the best.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Boron,
      Last First, thanks for the good news that recovery is possible. We'll see what will be pretty soon.
      Re: the rest, I tried WD-40, didn't seem to make much of an impact, but I only had a small can, so tried on a small area. Just didn't seem to work so went to the next try.
      Thanks for the list of other options. Hopefully I don't have to step through too many before success.
      juvat

      Delete
  17. Juvat, no thanks needed.

    Tyvex for protection? Sounds more like destruction. Even at $3.65 per hour (my first minimum wage job), I think it would be worth just buying that new melamine board. Then again, why ruin a perfectly good blog post topic? Might I recommend mitering the bottom end of the slide to be flush with the deck? While the angle won't match every rung, it might save a stubbed toe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tuna,
      Thanks anyhow! Good thought on the end, wish I'd thought of it prior to cutting and angling the slide side supports. I'll take a look and see if I can figure out a fix. As to the Tyvex, I've got virtually all the tape off and most of the glue. It's definitely an exercise in patience. The solvents remove the glue, but also kind of spread it a bit, so you've got to let it dry then lightly touch the board to see if there are still some sections with the glue remaining. Knock on wood, I'm almost done. One lesson I did learn with glue removal products. It also removes the glue from the melamine side tape I put on a couple of weeks ago. One more trip to Lowe's I guess.
      :-)
      juvat

      Delete
  18. An unconventional approach (that works with sticky tar on hands). Cover the surface with a fine absorbent (for tar dirt or sand or maybe cat litter). The absorbent takes up some of the sticky stuff and rolls off in balls. Repeated, most of the sticky eventually comes off. Kind of overwhelms it. Not sure if it would work with adhesive. Messier, but less smelly than solvents.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don,
      Thanks, I think I'm making progress, but...Might have to try that also. We'll see. I appreciate the idea.
      juvat

      Delete
  19. Yay for Mrs J...continuing to storm Heaven cause I figure that if all the prayers have been working up til now, I see no reason to stop.

    You are MUCH more patient that I would have been with the Tyvek. I would probably have either sanded it all off and re-painted with white enamel paint, or, more likely, just bought an new piece of board and moved on to another project.

    Do hope you all stay safe tonight, the radar on the TV for your neck of the woods looks a tad bit concerning...just saying...

    Suz

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suz,
      Last first, it's been a bit different weather wise lately. Regular rain storms have, one, led to grass growing quite well and two, disabled the ability to mow there of. Need to figure out a work around. But, HEY, It's Texas. If you don't like the weather, wait an hour or two, it'll change.
      We're hunkering down and, hopefully, should be ok. Thanks
      juvat

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  20. Great news, prayers will continue for Mrs. J! Re the melamine covered particle board, just go buy a new piece and be done with it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Old NFO, I was dangerously close to doing that. However, I think the combination of Goof Off, Paint Thinner, and Acetone did the trick. It was still a tiny bit sticky in a few areas when I called it a night yesterday afternoon, so we'll see what's what this morning.
      But....I think I'm chemically done. If it's still sticky...Time for another Lowe's Date.
      juvat

      Delete
  21. That's great to hear, juvat! Sounds like you had very attentive, caring staff, too. Yeah, I asked lots of questions, too. All the medical staff I had hovering over me were the same. Ask a question, and get a straight-forward, understandable explanation.
    Bless you, juvat.

    Paint stripper should get it off, but it's nasty stuff. My SLW has this "Safe" stuff called "2 minute Remover Advanced" that works pretty well and does NOT have Methylene Chloride in it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. DrJim,
    Glad to hear that's a common value in the medical profession. I've run into a few "notsonice", but they were few and far between. Thank You, Lord!
    As I mentioned above, I think I may have conquered the "Goo". (I wonder if I get a victory medal for that?). I didn't try paint stripper because with all the rain we've been getting down here, I couldn't take the project out of the shop and didn't want to do it IN the shop for exactly your reason. I'll keep your "Remover Advanced" in the record book in case I ever use Tyvek again. I'm pretty sure the only project I'd use it for is sealing the hull of Noah's Ark 2 though.
    juvat

    ReplyDelete

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