Xylene/xylol And Paint

[abrace]

Unless it had a lot of paint in it, you could have used it to thin your next batch of paint. Unless you're switching from a very dark color to a light color there isn't enough pigment in the thinner to be noticeable. I did it all the time without any problems. Sometimes I had to save some of the dirtier thinner until I was spraying the same color, but it all got used up. I'm curious....what does a gallon of xylene cost today. I was paying about 4.00 a gallon when I bought quantities of it 15 years ago. I'm guessing it's a bit more now.

It was about $18 for the gallon.

 

[Chuck K]

Wow!....that's more than I would have expected.

 

[uncle harry]

Ok, I have let the Xylene sit. One jar sat for about 1 week, and the other for about 2. Nothing is settling out. Zero. I don't know if it is the type of paint or what, but with paint thinner and standard rustoleum within 48-72 hours the thinner is crystal clear and everything has settled out. This paint (green rustoleum hammered paint) in the Xylene never settled
out.

I also tried using coffee filters, no go. It did nothing but ruin a few coffee filters. Bummer.

So, the used Xylene has now been disposed of.

Just thought I would followup.

Thanks; I wonder if a small 1 micron hydraulic or other filter would work. The spent xylol could be used for cleaning spraying or brushing items rather than needing to dispose of it.

 

[abrace]

I tend to think the problem was the type of paint and not the Xylene. I assume I could have let it sit for months and months and it may have settled out, but too much hassle.

 

[hman]

I tend to think the problem was the type of paint and not the Xylene. I assume I could have let it sit for months and months and it may have settled out, but too much hassle.

I'm definitely not an expert on paint, but having worked in HP's inkjet printer division for a number of years, I wonder if the following bit of info might apply ...

There are basically two types of ink. One is pigment based. Pigment is very finely divided particles that do not dissolve in the ink. They're just fine enough to be carried along. They can be removed by filtration (if you have a fine enough filter). The other is dye based. Dyes dissolve in the liquids of the ink, and can not be filtered out. It's like trying to filter coffee or tea - the coloring agents are dissolved molecules.

I'm just wondering if the paint you had in your xylene (or at least its color) contained a dye. It's also possible that there are dyes that dissolve in xylene, but not in mineral spirits (so the mineral spirits will clarify over time). Fun stuff!