Silca chain stripper
11-26-24 | 08:36 AM
#51
Mad bike riding scientist
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 29,209
Likes: 6,286
From: Denver, CO
Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones
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Stuart Black
Dreamin' of Bemidji Down the Mississippi (in part)
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Dreamin' of Bemidji Down the Mississippi (in part)
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
11-26-24 | 09:05 AM
#52
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,332
Likes: 373
11-26-24 | 09:50 AM
#53
Newbie
Joined: Nov 2022
Posts: 35
Likes: 12
I generally agree
The main reason to remove the manufacturer's lubricant may be to avoid softening the paraffin wax with a solute. But some hot-waxers deliberately introduce softening agents. Your line of argument generally matches my experience, but I think that hard paraffin wax is only marginally soluble in mineral spirits. I have been using mineral spirits to clean the chain and relying on a thorough hot wax bath and agitation to remove any remaining crud on the chain. What settles out in the wax bath can be scraped from the bottom of the block after it cools. I put a mesh screen in the bottom of the pot to permit the crud to settle below the chain, maintain a temperature around 170 degrees F. so the wax fluid is thin to aid penetration, agitate and flip the chain over a couple of times in about a half-hour period, and let the bath cool until it's starting to skim before removing the chain. However, I'm now inclined to skip the cleaning (mineral spirits state or a boiling-water bath) and drop the uncleaned chain in hot wax as sufficient for both cleaning and waxing.
Why would the factory lubricant prevent adhesion to the surface of the metal? If the chain is hot waxed, the factory lubricant is melted off with the wax…it is a wax itself. If the chain is being solvent wax lubricated, the solvent dissolves the factory lubricant. As to any particles adhering to the metal, that would depend on the particles suspended in the wax. Teflon, for example, would not bond to the metal no matter what conditions you use. If the particles are something like molybdenum sulfide, I question the conditions needed for the MoS to bond to the metal. Additionally, the MoS is suspended in a wax that will also interfere with the adherence. If the wax doesn’t interfere with the adherence, the factory lubricant…again, a wax…won’t interfere either.
Finally, all this foolishness is only going to result in marginal gains in terms of wear and chain longevity. Bicycle chains are going to wear out and all the magic juices and magic waxes and magic incantations aren’t going to change that by much. An incredible expensive chain using an incredibly expensive lubricant and incredibly expensive cleaning system really isn’t going to wear slower than a cheap chain that hasn’t be pampered.
Finally, all this foolishness is only going to result in marginal gains in terms of wear and chain longevity. Bicycle chains are going to wear out and all the magic juices and magic waxes and magic incantations aren’t going to change that by much. An incredible expensive chain using an incredibly expensive lubricant and incredibly expensive cleaning system really isn’t going to wear slower than a cheap chain that hasn’t be pampered.
11-26-24 | 10:20 AM
#54
Mad bike riding scientist
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 29,209
Likes: 6,286
From: Denver, CO
Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones
The main reason to remove the manufacturer's lubricant may be to avoid softening the paraffin wax with a solute. But some hot-waxers deliberately introduce softening agents. Your line of argument generally matches my experience, but I think that hard paraffin wax is only marginally soluble in mineral spirits. I have been using mineral spirits to clean the chain and relying on a thorough hot wax bath and agitation to remove any remaining crud on the chain. What settles out in the wax bath can be scraped from the bottom of the block after it cools. I put a mesh screen in the bottom of the pot to permit the crud to settle below the chain, maintain a temperature around 170 degrees F. so the wax fluid is thin to aid penetration, agitate and flip the chain over a couple of times in about a half-hour period, and let the bath cool until it's starting to skim before removing the chain. However, I'm now inclined to skip the cleaning (mineral spirits state or a boiling-water bath) and drop the uncleaned chain in hot wax as sufficient for both cleaning and waxing.
I drip wax and only clean the chain once. The wax is dissolved in mineral spirits in that case and, since it is so fluid, it flushed the small amount of dirt that gets stuck on the chain out with the solvent. But I never have to clean the chain nor drivetrain other than the initial cleaning.
__________________
Stuart Black
Dreamin' of Bemidji Down the Mississippi (in part)
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Dreamin' of Bemidji Down the Mississippi (in part)
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
11-26-24 | 09:33 PM
#55
Newbie
Joined: Nov 2022
Posts: 35
Likes: 12
Right
Thanks. I take it the factory lube, soluble in mineral spirits, should be removed, so the one use of that solvent is enough. I suppose I could save my spent wax and use it on the new chain as a cleaning method before disposing of it. Might be able to eliminate mineral spirits altogether. Making the hot wax routine as simple as possible is appealing.
03-20-26 | 12:02 PM
#56
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 136
Likes: 1
From: Brooklyn
Bikes: IF TiCJ
I realize this is an old thread but you seem to know the most about this..
I have been waxing for years and years..
I use to tie myself in knots, degreasing and using an ultra sound bath but now I have simplified.
When I get new chains (I usually have 3 in rotation) I simply heat the old used puck of wax up and let the chains sit and swirl them for 10 minutes or so each.
Then I remove drain and wipe. This seems to remove, melt off all the factory wax.
Discard the old wax, that I have used over the last year, heat up a new puck of MSW for the new chains.
And wax and drain as usual. And redo with that new wax about every 300 miles per chain.
My Chains last a long time. I always have one ready to go. I don't get grease all over my calves.
Also and this is just me but I have not noticed anyone in our group going any faster than me.
People make chain waxing way more difficult than it needs to be.
And no I am not screwing up my drivetrain by not spending money on Silca magic potion. I am running 10 year old Camp SR 11 and it works smooth as silk..
What am I doing wrong.
I have been waxing for years and years..
I use to tie myself in knots, degreasing and using an ultra sound bath but now I have simplified.
When I get new chains (I usually have 3 in rotation) I simply heat the old used puck of wax up and let the chains sit and swirl them for 10 minutes or so each.
Then I remove drain and wipe. This seems to remove, melt off all the factory wax.
Discard the old wax, that I have used over the last year, heat up a new puck of MSW for the new chains.
And wax and drain as usual. And redo with that new wax about every 300 miles per chain.
My Chains last a long time. I always have one ready to go. I don't get grease all over my calves.
Also and this is just me but I have not noticed anyone in our group going any faster than me.
People make chain waxing way more difficult than it needs to be.
And no I am not screwing up my drivetrain by not spending money on Silca magic potion. I am running 10 year old Camp SR 11 and it works smooth as silk..
What am I doing wrong.
03-20-26 | 12:26 PM
#57
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2023
Posts: 1,145
Likes: 1,024
Bikes: *'00 LS Vortex/Chorus 12/Campag Zondas*98 LS Classic - S&S couplers/Chorus 12/Rolf Vector Pros*'95 DeBernardi Cromor S/S, Mavic Open Pros on Phil Wood track hubs*
03-20-26 | 02:05 PM
#58
Newbie
Joined: Nov 2022
Posts: 35
Likes: 12
I realize this is an old thread but you seem to know the most about this..
I have been waxing for years and years..
I use to tie myself in knots, degreasing and using an ultra sound bath but now I have simplified.
When I get new chains (I usually have 3 in rotation) I simply heat the old used puck of wax up and let the chains sit and swirl them for 10 minutes or so each.
Then I remove drain and wipe. This seems to remove, melt off all the factory wax.
Discard the old wax, that I have used over the last year, heat up a new puck of MSW for the new chains.
And wax and drain as usual. And redo with that new wax about every 300 miles per chain.
My Chains last a long time. I always have one ready to go. I don't get grease all over my calves.
Also and this is just me but I have not noticed anyone in our group going any faster than me.
People make chain waxing way more difficult than it needs to be.
And no I am not screwing up my drivetrain by not spending money on Silca magic potion. I am running 10 year old Camp SR 11 and it works smooth as silk..
What am I doing wrong.
I have been waxing for years and years..
I use to tie myself in knots, degreasing and using an ultra sound bath but now I have simplified.
When I get new chains (I usually have 3 in rotation) I simply heat the old used puck of wax up and let the chains sit and swirl them for 10 minutes or so each.
Then I remove drain and wipe. This seems to remove, melt off all the factory wax.
Discard the old wax, that I have used over the last year, heat up a new puck of MSW for the new chains.
And wax and drain as usual. And redo with that new wax about every 300 miles per chain.
My Chains last a long time. I always have one ready to go. I don't get grease all over my calves.
Also and this is just me but I have not noticed anyone in our group going any faster than me.
People make chain waxing way more difficult than it needs to be.
And no I am not screwing up my drivetrain by not spending money on Silca magic potion. I am running 10 year old Camp SR 11 and it works smooth as silk..
What am I doing wrong.
