[TenPercenter]

We seriously need a good chip cleaning machine. I currently have 3000 chips that need a serious cleaning. The methods people are coming up with here are fabulous, I mean we can take off gold hot stamps without damaging chips, that fantastic! But it takes 3-5 minutes per chip, I can't spare the time or the skin. What is that, like 200 hours or something isn't it?

I just took two chips to the kitchen and hit them with a Magic Eraser pad for about 4 minutes each. One chip was WAY miscolored from side spot colors rubbing onto body color. The Magic Eraser cleaned it right up. 4 minutes. The other was a WAY grimy white $1 St Jo's casno Paulson. Same result, looks fantastic after 3-4 minutes rubbing on the Magic Eraser.

So what we could do is, find some kind of way to mount multiple chips onto a rotating machine, rubbing on Magic Eraser(s). Instead of water on the eraser pad, maybe even use that chip cleaner solution as long as there's no adverse chemical reaction.

Here's something QaD I thought up. Maybe someone smarter than I am can expand on the idea, or maybe you already have a better solution?

[smoore]

those erasers are expensive, aren't they? There's gotta be some sustainable chemical that you can use to do this in conjunction with friction from a sponge or a rag. How do the casino chip cleaners work? going to go look on the 'net and see if I can find out

[smoore]

wow, I couldn't find any info. One dead link to a manufacturer of the casino cleaners.

I don't think your machine has to be so complicated to include a bike chain and wheel... find an old squirrel cage fan, strip the outer hull off of it and figure out a way to mount the chips onto the cage. Put a rheostat on the power cord to control speed and then it's a matter of getting the abrasive in contact with the chips. I would imagine the easiest way to do that would be to mount it below the cage. You could use a spring to provide a consistent pressure. Another advantage of having the abrasive below the cage is containment of chemical (even if it's just water).

A medium size squirrel cage would fit at least 20 chips on it's surface. I'm not sure how you'd attach them though... perhaps a friction fit holder. I don't know what those "airtights" are like you guys use for the collectable chips.

gl, in any case.

edit: BTW... this contraption I've thought up is pretty damn dangerous. Don't lose a finger trying to make it work!

edit again: a way to hold abrasion against the chips AND collect chemical constantly would be to use another motor with either a brush or terrycloth pad held at the 8-9 o'clock position on the cage. The bottom would be in a resivoir of chemical and the top would contact the chips on the cage. it would have to be a pretty big brush/pad in order to get all the way across the cage. If you did it like this pressure could be adjusted via the clamping system, no need for springs.

Honestly, the easiest way I can think to do this would be to create a "chip vice", It would be a perforated plate over a resivoir of chemical with fixed braces to the West and South and sliding braces on North and East. When you "rack" chips into it the sliding sides of the frame are pulled tight and then wingnutted, holding the chips against each other. Place the chips in there and use that dish brush from the other thread to hit all 30/50/100 of them at once on a side. Let soak for a minute or two and hit them again... After the flip side is done you have to do the edges by hand.

The loading/unloading of any automated machine WE could make will probably take longer than the actual cleaning cycle. Add that to the occasional damaged batch and simply finding a way to use a hand-held power tool on many chips at once probably comes out on top. You get the advantages of batch processing but still have to put the abrasive on the chips YOURSELF. You will see if you start to damage them. Having 30+ chips damaged by an automated process would SUCK.

[Poboy]

One thing you could do is line up a bunch of chips and build a little box around them, like a piece of plywood with rails around the edge. Then buy a solenoid (back and forth instead of around like a motor), attach an arm to it, then your magic eraser to the arm. Solenoid does the work, but you have to hold the tool.
Another option would be to put multiple magic erasers in the box. Duplicate it. Sandwich the chips between the 2 boxes of magic erasers. Then use solenoids (probably need ~4 each box) on the boxes, moving the erasers back and forth.

[smoore]

Originally Posted by Poboy

Another option would be to put multiple magic erasers in the box. Duplicate it. Sandwich the chips between the 2 boxes of magic erasers. Then use solenoids (probably need ~4 each box) on the boxes, moving the erasers back and forth.

this would work with a loose plate holding the chips and a random-orbit sander moving the top layer of erasers... erasers clean the top + move the "rack" and the bottom layer of erasers is immobile with the bottoms of the chips moving against them. If the weight of the sander wasn't enough to provide pressure some weight could be added to the top. good idea.

[Poboy]

Originally Posted by smoore

this would work with a loose plate holding the chips and a random-orbit sander moving the top layer of erasers... erasers clean the top + move the "rack" and the bottom layer of erasers is immobile with the bottoms of the chips moving against them. If the weight of the sander wasn't enough to provide pressure some weight could be added to the top. good idea.

If you try this, I'd suggest an adjustable speed random orbit sander. Who knows what too high a speed would do. Might be fun to try though...


... with someone else's chips of course.

[cynabear]

Ok...
So I too have about 2000 chips that need a VERY good cleaning.
I just cleaned 300 of them last night.
It took me 3 hours of time, 1 bottle of diamond chip cleaner, 1 roll of paper towels, and 3 band-aids (my fingers are raw from the solution and the cleaning).
The chips look great but there has to be a better way!!
My idea is to use an ultrasonic jewelry / eyeglass cleaner. Has anyone tried this? If you can clean a $10k diamond ring in one safely why not poker chips? Use the damond chip cleaner in place of the jewelry solution?? You could do 20 - 30 chips at a time and only have to dry them off. Please post your thoughts.
Thanks!

[smoore]

Yeah man... screw building something, that sounds like a GREAT idea. I don't have one, I wouldn't suggest anyone use thier woman's unless you're going to replace it immediately

prices from $14 to $125 on nextag.

edit: for f---'s sake! wear gloves with chemicals! It's been pounded into my head by OSHA over the years, I imagine non-construction types don't get the same lectures... I wouldn't recommend latex but nitrile (the blue and green ones) should work just fine. To find out if the glove will degrade and leave residue just fill a finger of one with the chemical and tie it. Leave overnight. If the chemical is still in there in the morning you're probably alright. A white paper towel dragged across the exposed surface will tell for sure.

[muttleyone]

This is just a wild a$$ guess but could you use a rock tumbler? I know thats what my brother-law uses to clean bullet cases before he reloads them. I'm not sure what kind of media to use with but at least it would keep the chips dry. Just not sure if it would work.

Mutt

[bunnyslots]

Let me try again http://www.tcsjohnhuxley.com/product.../ChipWasher/en