Xcelite tool smell - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: The Admiral
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 22, 2024, 04:30:11 pm
content: I have heard all the cures for Xcelite smelly tools. I have taken the bull by the horns. I have removed the plastic handles and replaced them with wooden handles that I turned on my lath that I use for making pens.........Can't beat this with an answer that works excellent. My offspring's will forever wonder where the hell I got these tools from!!!!!!!!! Mums the word....

author: Veteran68
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2024, 08:54:44 pm
content: I have an Xcelite tool kit in the big silver/gray hardside case (TC-100? Not sure) that my company bought for me about 25 years ago.I guess mainly because it's always been closed until a tool was needed, it will still make your eyes water when you open it.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2024, 10:00:13 pm
content: Think its been mentioned a few times here. Surprised you went to that much effort. Is it a uniformly round handle now?I rarely use them so its a novelty to get that exact same smell 10+ years later... and it doesn't really transfer to your hands.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/what-is-that-smell/25/https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/xcelite-ps-120-what-is-with-the-smell.302132/

author: Arts
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2024, 10:33:14 pm
content: I got a whole pile of screwdriver and nutdriver sets from my buddy a few years back. His company does integration and they got tired of them stinking up the stockroom.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2024, 04:25:40 pm
content: The stink is caused by a chemical reaction between humidity and the particular plastic that Xcelite used and it creates Butyric Acid and the white fuzzy deposits that you commonly see on the old Xcelite tools. I grew up using the Xcelite tools and I like their tools and I still use them for general purpose work. I like them so well that when I find inexpensive used ones at hamfests and garage sales I buy them and add them to my collection. I soak the stinky ones in full strength ammonia (the diluted stuff sold in grocery stores) and I use a soft brass bristle brush to clean off the white deposits on them and that gets rid of the smell. It usually takes two sessions to get completely rid of the white deposits but so far (10+ years) none of the deposits have come back.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2024, 01:23:56 am
content: Cellulose acetate butyrate is the plastic that gives off that smell.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 26, 2024, 01:34:20 am
content: I have owned Xcelite tools for over 20 years and have never seen these deposits. Mine don't sit in tool cases but in open tool bags in my company van and on shelves at my workbench so thankfully they don't smell any more. You just have to own them long enough.I have a few dozen drivers and a bunch of handles including 3 of the old style ratcheting handles. I wouldn't trade them for anything. I have never seen them at either hamfests or yard sales or I would surely have bought them also.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2024, 08:29:57 pm
content: Old PB Swiss screwdrivers suffer the same thing. (PB Swiss actually infuses the plastic with vanilla scent to make it less obvious when it starts to happen!) You can always tell when a tool drawer hasn’t been used much because of the big waft of… aroma when you open it!

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2024, 09:34:07 pm
content: That's a thought! I think I will try dipping some of my Xcelite tools in vanilla extract and see how long they remained scented. But I don't have any stinky ones at the moment to try it on.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2024, 02:06:44 pm
content: I doubt you can add it after the fact. They mix the scent with the plastic when molding it, as I understand it.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2024, 04:00:28 pm
content: Interesting.... have a pair of precision electronic cutters which are 25 years old, never smelled. Still remain my favorite cutters.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2024, 04:07:31 am
content: I don't think that I've ever had any other tools that smelled like the Xcelite tools. They're "unique"

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2024, 11:18:07 am
content: Quote from: Bud on January 27, 2024, 04:00:28 pmThis has nothing to do with cutters. It has to do with CAB plastic handles on screwdrivers and similar tools that need extremely tough handles (that won’t separate from the driver shaft). Generally speaking, if a decent quality screwdriver has a handle that is crystal clear (aside from any tint added), it’s CAB (or CAP, another acetate plastic that doesn’t contain the butyric acid responsible for the pukey smell.)

author: EE-digger
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2024, 12:40:13 am
content: Late response but thought I would throw in my simple cure for this. A closed cabinet will hit you like goat vomit when you open it if you don't treat them.Still in the case and for electronics only, they were already clean but I gave them a hot water and dawn wash and rinse.Fully dry, I hung each one and dipped it into a clear coating. I think it was a water clear urethane but it MAY HAVE BEEN a gloss lacquer. Just be careful as the wrong stuff may melt them. Test the coating on a handle before taking the plunge.The end result was like new handles, gloss, full color as it was and ZERO odor. It's been a few years and it has not leaked through.