So there i was, 6am in the morning, no sleep, working on 2 projects simultaneously in addition to my day job (that i mostly do at night), night before a plane flight, when suddenly…
The Black cartridge i insert refuses to dispense resin. So i go looking and it turns out the nipple on the bottom hasn’t been cut at all (not even slightly perforated like it seems to be on newer cartridges - this was an almost 1 year old supply, mind you). I grab a scalpel and think to myself:
“It’s 6am, you’re tired, you’ll do damage. Put that scalpel down.”
So i did. Unfortunately, this smarter, logical inner voice neglected to also remind me that the vent on top is still open. Remember this detail for reasons that will become apparent in a bit.
I look around and find a spent Gray cartridge, and start fiddling with it to see how big of a deal is to remove the nipple. Turns out - it’s not a big deal at all, it pops out with frightening ease. So i pull it out, wipe it and clean it thoroughly, get the Black cartridge, and pull the nipple out of it. I do it with the cartridge turned upside down, of course, to see what i’m doing. Guess what happens next…
I’m so tired at this point, mind you, that i don’t even realize what’s happening until i feel resin on my leg and foot. When i look down, i see black - both literal and figurative. There’s a pool of resin on the carpet. I stare at it dumbfoundedly for seconds that feel like ages, WHILE THE RESIN IS STILL FLOWING OUT OF THE VENT. And then i do possibly the dumbest decision of the day (night) and tilt the cartridge the other way, which does precisely NOTHING as there is no nipple in there yet. And more resin comes raining down.
It was around this moment that i suddenly fully woke up, quickly plugged the nipple in and closed the vent, then went to find A LOT of paper towels. There was resin on my slippers, resin on my legs, resin on the floor, resin on the cabinet, resin in the drawer i keep the supplies in. RESIN EVERYWHERE. Black, to top it off. The carpet is very light gray, almost off-white, did i mention that?
I spent the next hour and a half cleaning and scrubbing.
If you came here to find out how to clean resin out of carpets, the only things i can tell you is:
- Lots of scrubbing
- Lots of alcohol - but don’t add all at once, it will just dissolve the resin too quickly and the pigment will end up deeper in the carpet
- Chlorine based drain gel - don’t use liquid, gel is a the way to go, it sticks to the surface longer and works its stuff better
- More scrubbing
Use paper towels initially. Chunks of them will keep ripping as you scrub, and ball up into a mess. THIS IS A GOOD THING. They’ll soak up more resin and pigment, and you can simply vacuum the mess after it all dries. Switch to using a hard cleaning brush when you switch from alcohol to drano. Scrub the hell out of it - the goal is to: a) get all the pigment out, and b) get as much gel into the pores as possible. Use more alcohol and more paper towels afterwards.
Results are pretty good. The stains are only visible if you know where they are, and they look like an oil (cooking, not motor) spill more than anything. There’s no resin smell, but you can expose the carpet to sun to eliminate any remains of the activator in the carpet. I can take a photo if anyone would like, but there really is nothing to see.
Final note: if you have a deep, fluffy rug, you’re out of luck, sorry.
