David Kirk Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 Also, is there a preferred way to remove old paint? Is ordinary stripper OK to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.I. Gosses Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 What's old paint? As on the Mona Lisa, the front porch or litho ink?Or as on Mikes?(got them) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kirk Posted January 4, 2005 Author Share Posted January 4, 2005 As on old robots, or on tin cans or whatever that have litho or crappy paint jobs on them and want better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.I. Gosses Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 As on heads from tremendous robots? The other post has dealt with that problem to some extend.I throw everything I want to clean in "Liquid Hell" = 1 kilo of caustic sodato 8 liters of boiling water. This removes everything!(It also removes your eyes, fingernails and lungs + aluminium and brass) It is very effective but very dangerous. Only to be used in a fumes-cabinet. I hate wire wheels, for their tendency to scrapnelise me and also they thin the metal. Paint-thinner also comes straight from hell. It is very, very dangerous to breath, but also your skin and most types of rubber gloves are permeable to it. It causes all sorts of misery, generally known as "House-painter-malaise". If you do not want to use caustic S, which is very safe if used properly, indeed go for the paint-thinner, but stand in a gale on a mountaintop, and keep it away from your skin. (neopreen gloves ) And if you even smell it there is trouble.If you sand with waterproof (and water!) you can remove lead, cadmium, arsenic etc. ( wear gloves). You will not have any problem, the river will. I very irregularly checked my email. I did get yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neatstuff Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 One easy way to remove old paint is use a propane torch. Just be sure to do it outside and don't allow the tin to get to hot, just hot enough to scorch the paint off. You can strip an item clean in about 1 minute this way. Then just use some fine steel wool to buff off the leftover crud! It will be very clean and ready to repaint... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikola Tesla Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 One thing I've heard of (but never tried) is a "soda blaster"---like a sandblaster in miniature, or an airbrush on steroids, and uses baking soda instead of sand. Supposed to be good for delicate detail and finishing work, cutting paint, grease, etc. Unfortunately, they're pretty expensive. Here's a link to one place that has them, and there are others: Ace Soda Blasters ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike van Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 I use the chemical paint strippers, either Bix or Zip Strip - They work the fastest & the best. I tried one of the "SafeStrip" waterbase ones, it didn't smell, but didn't work very well either. You can apply it with a small brush if need be, for a small area, or just pour enough on to cover what you want to strip. It all gets removed with paper towels, they tell you to rinse it off with water, but I don't, wipe all you can get off, then use lacquer thinner to be sure it's all gone. Here again, I find the most volitile thinner works the best. All the waterbase may be the safest, but it just doesn't work as well. As far as paint, I've found the Duplicolor best, Plasticote 2nd, and way down on the scale is Tru Test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.I. Gosses Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Paintstrippers are mainly caustic too. Very dangerous to eyes!They work as well as my "Liquid Hell" but you do not know where they go. You have to brush them on, so you will brush yourself too. "LH" is a large stainless-steel vessel on a heater with fume extraction. I fish out the stuff with a magnet on a stainless steel rod. Leave it to drip out for a moment and then rinse it in hot water. The soda also "pickles" the steel so no further preparation necessary. 10 repro Sparky's in 1/2 hour!Pasted paintstripper maybe OK, but removing it with paint-thinner is fatal (in the end)As I daily work with solvents, thinners and laquers, I have an array ofgasmasks, barrier creams, protective gloves, extractorfans etc. So when I help someone with a DIY job, I nearly keel over with all the stink and pollution they happily put up with.Conditions that would land an employer in jail, are tolerated and trivialised in the home. All hydro-carbons have a cummulative effect. First you clean your motorbike with petrol,then you glue the kitchen laminates, then you laquer foresaid motorbike, then you wipe grease from your hands with solvent, then you clean your brakes,then you die. Or worse get leukemia or some neurological complaint*. *The most volatile thinner works best..I agree with mike van that Duplicolor is very good.Blow-torching is OK in many cases. But it anneals the steel/tin (=makes it soft)In many cases the stamping or punching of the steel workhardens it. This adds strenght. Especially in the case of gears, annealing would seriously weaken them. Secondly the uneven distrubution of heat can distort the tin. Where pieces butt-close, they will no longer fit so well.On the other hand, what are we talking about if you only paint one little robot.....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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