Do you soak your mandrels to remove your beads & do you clean your beads in water?

[Jane P]

Originally Posted by Ravenesque

oooh good luck with that!!

I told mine that some DH's clean mandrels and beads..he had a good laugh..it'll never happen here

The only time he sees mine is if I literally hand them to him lol.

Same here, but the only time my DH is interested in the mandrels is when they are too bent and he gets them for welding!

[HarrachGlass]

I use Primo Primer on my mandrels so to remove my beads I just hold my mandrel with a pair of pliers and twist the bead and it comes off. I then clean the mandrels after soaking a few minutes in water, and when I rub them together in a bundle, all of the old "bead release" comes off easily.

[cinder]

I soak them for a couple minutes, hold the bead itself with a paper towel while I twist and pull. No pliers needed. They all get dropped into a bowl of water and cleaned when the bowl gets so full I can't stand it. My mandrels don't get any special treatment. I wipe old bead release off with a paper towel and re-dip.

[Mitosis Glass]

Originally Posted by loribeads

I have a little plastic tub I soak the beads/mandrels in.
I pull the beads off and the release flakes off into the water and settles to the bottom.
I wait for all the release to settle to the bottom and I pour off almost all the water into the sink.
I pour the remaining water and release into the garbage.
I pour clean water into the tub and clean my beads with a dremel/beadreamer in that water unless they are sculptural, then I clean them under running water.
All the beads get a final rinse and then set on a paper towel to dry.
I rinse the mandrels off and put them in a jar until they're dry.
Then I dip and place them in a large flower pot filled with sand.


I can only do this method when using Fusion bead release. Some of the other releases stay mixed in with the water for too long rather than settling to the bottom like Fusion.

I do this exact thing, with two minor differences:

- After I've pulled the beads off and put them in the bucket, I'll use a smaller bucket of water for cleaning them rather than dump and reuse one bucket.

- I also mix my Fusion with some Foster Fire; seems to make for stronger holding bead release.

[BarbaraD]

I put the whole mandrel with beads into the sink with water. Then pull them off one by one by hand. The beads go into a plastic container with water to the cleaning area. Mandrels are just rubbed together in the sink of water, dried and dipped with new release. I find that most of the release floats off and very little rubbing is required.

[GabiLoraine]

Originally Posted by Eileen

Yep! My model must be defective, he only checks them out once they're all cleaned & dry. I wonder where you can get the update to their software.

My BF helped clean out beads one time but he filed the edges of the bead too much and I was kind of upset so he hasn't done it since.

[GabiLoraine]

Originally Posted by Anne Londez

Reading this thread I realize that many of you don't seem to be very clear on how or why bead release dust may be harmful so I'll try and clarify it as much as I can.

What is harmful to the lungs is fine silica containing dust... you've all heard about people working for the jeans industry dying of silicosis by being exposed to sand dust used for etching (if that's the right word...) the jeans.

That's where it gets a little technical :

- The type of silica that is toxic for the lung is crystalline silica. For this kind of silica, we are talking the same kind of toxicity as asbestos. The silica that is used for making bead release (either silica gel or diatomaceous earth) is supposed to be non crystalline BUT:
1) most natural sources can contain a small percentage of crystalline silica and 2) Furthermore, high heat may turn amorphous silica into crystalline silica and in certain circumstances there is a risk that this can happen in the flame.

-"Fine" means particules that the eye can't see, larger grains will be stopped by the nose. That means that just like with asbestos, a simple paper face mask will not stop the harmful grains. You need a specific fine dust mask, which is very expensive. To avoid breathing the dust, the best way is not to produce any, i.e. to work under water when breaking off bead release and cleaning beads.

- Not all bead releases are made with silica, some use alumina instead. The problem is that manufacturers rarely provide this info.

All this is why bead release should be treated by default as a substance whose fine dust is potentially harmful. Hence the need to take the beas off the mandrels and clean them in a wet environment.
It is also good to clean your workspace using wet mops rather than a vacuum cleaner, which may release very fine dust back into the air.

Thanks so much Anne

[smpalmer85]

Just reposting this every time someone mentions getting beads off - since it is such an incredible time saver for me! All 1/8" or smaller mandrels take me 2-3 seconds and zero effort to remove now.

Buy a riveter with the 20% off coupon from harbor freight for like $12 and a grommet assortment for $5? They also make great marble stands.



First under water I green scratch scour the release around the bead, not necessary but reduces the dust. Add my grommet to mandrel and slide to base of bead. Insert mandrel into riveter tool and lever bead off. Finally I scour groups of mandrels a bit with a green scratcher under water and towel dry them before redipping.

I use a mixture of foster fire heavy duty, smooth and tough, dip-n-go sludge, and water mixed up in a large pickle jar to benadryl consistency.