Hot wax machine - alt to Silca

[Dracoro]

Am considering immersive waxing new chain (rather than 2/3 applications drip wax).

Silca machine (£90) seems excessive esp as it’s a repurposed hair wax machine anyway (waxkiss as I recall - us brand I think) - which is why it’s a little tight on space trying to get chain in.

Any alternatives with digital/controlled temp? Slightly larger etc.
Have seen a few (hair wax pots) on Amazon but anyone any recommendations/reasons/etc.?

Thanks!

[thisnameistaken]

I just use a slow cooker. Less than £15 new. Why do you want temperature control?

[Dracoro]

thisnameistaken said:

I just use a slow cooker. Less than £15 new. Why do you want temperature control?

So can set to temp and not have to manually control up/down with thermometer. Plus I read some heaters get hot spots depending on design….
Also if I go the strip chip route, you need to set to 120 then down to 75. I’d rather just turn a dial etc…

[thisnameistaken]

Ah ok, my method won’t help then. I just have wax mix in a slow cooker, turn it on and by the time I’ve taken a chain off and got it in the sonicator and cleaned, the wax is melted. Your method sounds fancy.

[CambsBill]

thisnameistaken said:

Ah ok, my method won’t help then. I just have wax mix in a slow cooker, turn it on and by the time I’ve taken a chain off and got it in the sonicator and cleaned, the wax is melted. Your method sounds fancy.

Mine's just in an old aluminium takeaway tin which I put in a baking tray of water & heat that on the hob. Melts the wax just as well.

[frisbee]

I strip the grease off chains by sticking them in a jar filled with white spirit and then one with methylated spirits. Cheap and easy.

I've got a £15 slow cooker. I've accidently boiled the wax once but if you keep an eye on it and switch it to low once it's melted it works fine.

[Baroque attacks]

Singletrackworld has thousands of posts on the topic, if you haven’t seen it.

Deep fat fryer with a thermostat seems to be the suggestion.

[JEA1K]

I'm using the Silca device as it was on sale so think I paid about £70 for it ... problem is, it won't go lower than 75 deg cel and my wax needs to get to 65 ish so its a guessing game.

Slightly off topic but I'm interested to hear what wax other people are using?

I started off with Enigma black edition which worked absolutely fine. Because I got the Silca system, I thought i'd use the Silca wax ... but its been terrible. What I mean by terrible is that the wax seems to have dissapeared after about 3 hours of riding ... resulting in a dry and noisy chain. I've topped up between with their ss coating but even after 4 or 5 applications of this, I'm bearing getting any mileage without noise or a dry chain.

I've gone back to the Enigma which has consistantly lasted 4-500 miles even with ss coatings in between.

[frisbee]

I blended it myself:
lb paraffin wax
5g PTFE
1g molybdenum disulfide

From here:

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/friction-facts-publ...

[thisnameistaken]

frisbee said:

I blended it myself:
lb paraffin wax
5g PTFE
1g molybdenum disulfide

From here:

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/friction-facts-publ...

Me too, exactly the same recipe and method. It's great.

[Johno]

Bought a cheap wax pot, one of the cosmetic ones with a temp dial off Amazon. Then 3d printed a set up for similar to the Silca unit principle that it drips dry back into the pot.

Cheap and cheerful.

Use the Silca super secret blend and have had no issues with longevity. After a wash or a wet ride I top up with SS from the bottle option.

[JEA1K]

frisbee said:

I blended it myself:
lb paraffin wax
5g PTFE
1g molybdenum disulfide

From here:

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/friction-facts-publ...

Thanks for that, will give this concoction a try