Chain Waxing

Any idea where in London I could buy the generic paraffin wax GCN use?

Candlemakers Supplies
Behind 102, Shepherds Bush Rd
Entrance in Batoum Gardens
London. W6 7PD

https://www.candlemakers.co.uk/candle-making-shop/#!/Paraffin-Wax-per-bag/p/13521136/category=2776111

There's a HobbyCraft in Greenford that has paraffin wax. Might head there.
Also need to go to Robert Dyas for a crockpot.

The Friction Facts guy uses this stuff, Laquer Thinner, for cleaning:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Klean-Strip-Green-QKGL75009-Lacquer-Thinner/dp/B01N5O709E/

Any idea if it's the same as Totrosyl Standard Thinners?
https://www.wilcodirect.co.uk/product/thinners/standard-thinners-5-litre-ac-stt005/AC-STT005

Ah, fuck this. I'm just going to put normal lube back on it for now and order all this MSW stuff online next week. Love the clean chain but this process is time consuming/frustrating.

Five pages and then this

I am disappoint

I'm going to clean more chains now. The MSW lubing will have to wait unless you know a bike shop in west london that stocks it. Decided I'm not going to fuck about mixing my own paraffin on a first try - will see what the proper stuff works like and if it's good then I'll try DIY mixes. I want this to be a simple process once I've sussed it. Also, it's raining and I'm lazy.

Speaking for myself, the cleaning bit is more interesting than the waxing one (I'll stick to Squirt). Speaking of which, was the Ziplock bag to keep the cleaner er, clean? Isn't the dirt supposed to go at the bottom of the bath.

Sorry if I missed something etc...

I was going to use it but now I don't think I'll bother with Squirt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPANJb9OGNQ

I've literally now got a block of paraffin wax and cooker to try out so this is happening.

The ziplock was so that I can use less degreaser in a more concentrated form. 500ml bag vs. 3L cleaner or whatever. I could fill the whole cleaner up with pure degreaser and reuse it but most people seem to water it down a bit and add some detergent.

I swear metho in Australia wasn't purple. Do they add that so they can tell if winos have been drinking it?

I have at least 4 you could clean.

Something like that.

I've got maybe 10 of my own still to clean.

Wax is melting down in crockpot now. I'm just going to do the commuter chain using plain paraffin to see what happens. When I start to suss things out I'll get some MSW and do my good bike chains.

Chains weren't clean enough, so first batch of paraffin took on a grey sheen.
Tipped that paraffin, wiped crockpot and used second 250g block for a 3rd chain wax.
US cleaning an old 10spd cassette and chain while waiting for the wax to melt again.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-heavy-duty-degreaser-5ltr/88668
This is what I use. It's cheap, it works, it's not deadly (sometimes I forgot about gloves because lazy and stupid). Dilute for cleaning moderate dirt, pure stuff for gunky chains.

Yeah, that's the stuff @skinny tweeted. I've got to get through this tub of Halfords stuff first.

Also, most people suggest doing a methylated spirits rinse which I didn't do on the first two chains.

Monitoring this! Hm, I might jump on the waxing train. Getting methylated spirit is easy, now find a proper degreaser here.

Candlemakers Supplies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV1IP4N9ajg

More info as I fuck stuff up here: https://twitter.com/firsthippy

Has this been resolved yet? Seems that just an US cleaner isn’t enough?

I'm a bit further down the road with this than @hippy and am quite happy with the results. I guess it's early days, but given the weather we've had since I started at the end of the summer I kind of feel like my test period has been pretty thorough.

I followed the advice at https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au. As I'm really only interested in the wear advantages rather than pure wattz I didn't bother with the US cleaner. I cleaned using turps baths until it ran clear then final rinse in meths. I've done 6 chains ranging from brand new to about 500km use.

I used MSW melted in the little Breville 1.5L crock pot from Amazon. Seems to work pretty well for chains with room for swishing, although it takes a while to melt. I did 3 chains the first time and 3 in a later batch. I'm planning to swap them out every 250-300km.

Motorbikes have been using aerosol based chain wax lubes for years, anyone given them a go?

I swear metho in Australia wasn't purple. Do they add that so they can tell if winos have been drinking it?

No, they put other shit in it to stop people drinking it. I think the dye is just for convenience, so you can easily pick the meths from the white spirit without having to read the label. You can easily get undyed meths if the colour bothers you.

It is, just need to use better degreasing liquid. Turps is much better than citrus but stinks up the joint and is pretty toxic so I'm still looking around for options. @mdcc_tester suggested xylaphone or xylene or something, I need to look again and see where I can find that.

I didn't bother with the US cleaner

But it's so cool watching all the crap bloom away from the parts!