On 3 Sep 2008 at 13:09, Alexandre Souza wrote: I think you're referring to benzine (*not* benzene) or petroleum ether (which isn't an ether), sometimes also called naphtha or mineral spirits (less exact names). Yes, that should work. If you can't obtain it easily, perhaps contact cement thinner might do the job. It appears to be a mixture of MEK, toluol and petroleum ether. Cheers, Chuck

On 03/09/2008 19:06, der Mouse wrote: Then it's not very precise, because there is a difference. "benzine" is a generic term used in some countries for roughly what I'd call petrol and you'd call gasoline. "benzene" is a specific chemical compound which may or may not be found in benzine, but as it's a known carcinogen it's now banned in many places. der Mouse's message only just appeared in my inbox, interestingly. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

On Mon, 8 Sep 2008, Chuck Guzis wrote: Lighter fluid may also be helpful. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

der> What's the difference? I thought this was just another spelling der> variant between UK English and North America English. (Indeed, der> when I ask dictionary.com for "benzene", one of the entries says der> "[a]lso called benzine".) Interesting, because that's wrong. "Benzine" (give or take a vowel or two) is the common word in many European languages for what Brits call "petrol" and USians call "gasoline". When people look for the solvent rather than the fuel it might be refined slightly differently -- or, quite likely, just taxed differently. For that application I'd probably grab a can of camping stove fuel (forgot what that's called). Benzene (in some countries more likely to be called by the obsolete name "benzol") is C6H6, a completely unrelated substance in spite of the similarity in names. I suspect benzene would dissolve old rubber messes, too. But you're likely to have a hard time finding it nowadays; it's not politically correct. My personal choice for "universal solvent" is lacquer thinner, which is a blend of toluene, acetone (or methyl ethyl ketone?) and some other stuff. It dissolves most plastics and many other things. Nasty stuff, but very effective at cleaning things if you're careful not to use it on vulnerable substrates. For example, it takes off old adhesive labels instantly. paul