Need Advice: Melted Modeling Clay

[PurpleTowel]

So, here's one of those special times when the search feature on the forums is completely useless. I have something I haven't dealt with and I'm not sure where to start.


Client's kid snuck a ball of modeling clay into mom's car and didn't understand that leaving it in the car on a +90° day would melt and do bad things to the interior. Well, the pink modeling clay (not Play-Doh) melted into the door pocket, on the door card, on the seatbelt and some on the fabric seat. The owner just called me in a complete panic and wants to send the 8-year old to military school.

Where do I start with modeling clay, other than cooling it off as much as possible and scraping all of the excess off? What will break down the clay and not hurt the fabric of the door cards, seat and seatbelt?




I'm open to any and all ideas, because I'm stumped.




doug

[idriveblackcars]

I did a quick google search "how to remove melted molding clay out of carpet" a ton of solutions came up. You may be able to tweak a trick or two to wrk in this case. One method mentioned dabbing canola oil.

[PurpleTowel]

Yeah, a bunch of different options with a bunch of different solutions. I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this and have a sure fire fix. I'm going to start with nail polish remover on the fabric first, though. Canola oil sounds like a safe bet on the door pockets.

[weeman]

Just check acetone ( main ingredient of nail polish remover) can dissolve some plastic based materials.
Not sure if still available but carbon tetra chloride was used in the past for this type of job, but again materials have changed so may not be suitable.
Use at your on risk.

Sent from my LG-H870 using Tapatalk

[PurpleTowel]

Thanks, good tip. I have both non-acetone and acetone-based NPRs to test on the fabric. I won't go at any plastic with an acetone-based solvent, so I'll try multiple things on the plastic as I work my way up in harshness. Naptha is one of my secret go-tos for light "issue" removals, so that will be in my test buffet, too.

[WillSports3]

Spritz with cold water, like Ice cold water and pull the bulk off. As for the rest, I'd suggest the rough side of a dish washing sponge and a gentle cleaner.

[PurpleTowel]

So, here's the result of this evening's effort. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it still was everywhere—back of the seatbelt, base of the seat, door card, door handle pocket, floor carpet... it was stuck to everything.

So the removal process consisted of isopropyl alcohol (on the plastic), straight acetone (on the fabric), Folex and a stiff bristle brush. The most successful results came from just brushing the dried clay away with a stiff brush, but as this was a non-drying hobby clay, I didn't have time to wait for it all to dry up. The pocket and plastic all cleaned up really quickly with IPA. The belts took some dry brushing and then a final light brush with a brass wire brush to remove the last traces of clay. The carpet was pretty easy, but the base of the waffle fabric seats took about 80% of my time. The Folex at the end removed all of the final residue in the fabric, and once everything was dry, you couldn't tell where the clay stains were.









Like most dirty stains, a stiff veggie brush in a circular pattern was the most effective tool, but IPA was also working well when the brush wasn't enough.



Thanks for the tips, guys. Panic subsided, crisis avoided and day saved. And one child not sent to a boarding school.

[jsgntulok]

Looks like a great job to me. Don't forget to remind Mom to send the kid to military school.