Chain Wax Discussion thread

Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST said:
It does. I've been told 40 minutes start to finish
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Pump the temp up to 125° to start when you plug it in and let it warm that way, it gets to temp about twice as fast....if you keep it at 75° it takes about 40 minutes.

JDurk said:
hmmm? Do I need the Silca crock pot? I have a $9 thrift store Crock Pot that I've been using. It does take some time to melt. Not sure about the temp when I dip it. When it starts to skin over, I pull the chain and let it drip dry.
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It really eliminates so much of the headache of waxing, I highly recommend it.
 
Jeremy said:
Just get the mineral spirits to clean the chain. Use the spirits first, then denatured alcohol. Both are available at Walmart/Home Depot/ lowes.

Use a brand new chain at first. And do 2 washes with the spirits. When the chain is run through a rag and leaves no marks, it’s clean. Then do a quick wash in the alcohol and let dry. After that it’s ready for wax.


I did this with my MTB first and it was great. I use the silca wax. And they also now sell a drip wax which I use to supplement the wax immersion (dropping it in the crock pot). So I do the crock pot wax first, and then when it needs a little more, I use the drip wax. I do this because technically you’re only supposed to use a SRAM quick link 1 time. I think you can get away with 3-4 times though.

After you run it through a few minutes of pedaling and shifting, the excess wax comes off. And what remains is in the pins and rollers which is the only place it needs to be.

The end result is hard to argue with. It’s never dirty, attracts no grit, dust, etc, and is completely silent.

And if the chain wear testing is accurate, the chain (and ca$$ette) will last much much longer.
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This is exactly how I do it for about three years now. I hate the term “game changer” but here we are…..
I use an $11 crock pot from Amazon to heat the wax. I also like to leave the chain in the wax for a good half an hour or so. I feel like the metal being the same temp as the wax helps adhesion.
Just follow the silca directions. You have to clean the chain completely before beginning.
 
I bought this to use with my crock pot. One plug is set to regulate max temp, so I turn it on high and wait for it to hit temp. The other plug regulates min temp, so I drop the chain in and swap the plug and wait until it hits 75c. This allows me to set it up and walk away without screwing it up.

It maxes out lower than the suggested temp from Silca, but it is effective for keeping the wax from overheating and then overcooling.

Pymeter Thermostat Plug for Fan https://a.co/d/74lE1JV

IMG_3894.png
 
I bought in the Silca bandwagon, Silca pot, Secret Chain Blend and StripChip (was on sale but of course they slashed the price even further a week after I got it)...tried my first new chain and it was pretty straight forward. The only doubt I have is the correct amount of wax to use, as the Silca Q&A says to add 1 StripChip to 300b of Secret Chain Blend for each new chain, while the StripChip page says to add 1 StripChip to 500g of wax...probably not much of a difference or is it? How is everybody else rolling?

The temperature control embedded in the Silca pot does actually help a lot and make things even simpler, waiting for the version with the embedded scale...
 
I've now done both new and used chains with the Silca kit.

The kit is great, I just would not recommend using the super expensive degreaser for a used chain.

I tried it on a used semi-clean chain and all I did was contaminating the cleaner. TBH they say that depending on the condition of the used chain it may take multiple attempt. The coffe filter trick to recycle the degreaser did not work wonders either, the filter clogs halfway and trying to change it made a mess.

So now my process is StripChip+Secret Chain Mix for new chains and Ultrasonic cleaner + Secret Chain Mix for used.

I can't stress enough how good the ultrasonic cleaner is on chains, cassettes and chainrings now that I upgraded to one that fits them all (I was previously using the HF jewelry one with meh results mainly due to the size). Using diluted simple green metal save (the purple one) works for me, just make sure of the proper ratio. Once done I empty the tank in a container and let the dirt deposit, which allows me to recycle also the cleaning simple green/water mix.

I did not have issue sizing the new waxed chains, after waxing I arrange the chain in a flat spiral shape which helps breaking the stiffness.
 
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