Preferred Paint Stripper?

Posted: Sat May 07, 2022 1:56 pm

Hey all! Getting ready to strip some clear coat off some parts, and wondering what everyone's preferred stripper is currently? I used to use the Klean-strip aircraft remover but I've heard they changed the formula to remove all the nasty stuff (you know, the stuff that works) and the reviews on it are pretty bad now. What's good?

And parallel question, what do you use to remove paint from plastic parts (i.e. side panels and cowls)? I think there was an aircraft remover aerosol that used to be good for plastics but I can't find it anymore.
Thanks!
JS

Posted: Sat May 07, 2022 3:18 pm

Glass bead blast..especially for plastic. Aircraft stripper doesnt remove primer very good. A rubber wheel for decals can work

Posted: Sat May 07, 2022 4:48 pm

Methyl chloride has been removed from all consumer-available strippers and what's out there now is very slow acting. Fortunately, I can get the real deal through my business for stripping old powder coatings, but I wouldn't use it on plastic. You can probably use the stuff available at the big box stores or your local hardware store. I would test a little on the backside of anything plastic, just to make sure it doesn't eat into it. The stuff is so weak now that I doubt it will attack it.

Posted: Sat May 07, 2022 6:42 pm

+1 on glass bead. Here's a tail cowl completely stripped of paint. It will not damage the plastic and leaves a suede like finish that is perfect for paint adhesion.

Posted: Sat May 07, 2022 7:09 pm

I always had my plastic blasted with aluminum oxide but at lower pressure and feathered in with the gun. It is rougher than a cob when done but can be sanded and painted to perfection. I stole the glass bead from Headless and that is much much better. I tried different strippers on the side covers and they melted in seconds.That was years ago..maybe different now?

Posted: Sat May 07, 2022 10:39 pm

I agree that glass blasting is the best option, I used to work somewhere that had a sand blasting box and glass bead that we used to finish some raw aluminum parts, and I was able to use it whenever I wanted. Unfortunately that's a long time ago and I don't have access to it anymore.
I did use some variation of aircraft stripper on plastic side panels for a CB400T in the past and it actually worked well, just had to be careful how long I left it on. It left the surface a bit tacky but was easily sanded smooth.
I found a can of the non-MEK aircraft stripper today... I'll give it a shot and report back.
JS

Posted: Tue May 10, 2022 10:06 pm

Baking soda blasters are quite something. But, expensive. Ice blasting is fairly new, but don't know how it works on plastic parts. I've used it on boats and it removes zero metal.

Posted: Tue May 10, 2022 11:48 pm

dannewman wrote:

Baking soda blasters are quite something. But, expensive. Ice blasting is fairly new, but don't know how it works on plastic parts. I've used it on boats and it removes zero metal.

Dry Ice blasting has been around awhile, is/was used in the aircraft industry. I never thought of blasting plastics, wonder how vapor blasting works on them

CB1100F Joined: Feb 17, 2009 Posts: 2110 Location: Oz

We never had dry ice blasting at work but we did have a plastic bead blaster specifically for removing paint from composite and plastic aircraft parts. I imagine such machines would be thin on the ground outside of aircraft maintenance facilities.

Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 5:27 pm

Well I'll say this, the aircraft stripper still does a pretty good job removing clear coat off the aluminum. It does an absolute shit job removing the black enamel/catalyzed paint on the aluminum side covers however. I resorted to slowly and carefully removing the remainder with sanding. I have not tested it yet on the plastic.

I did try some old "nasty" paint remover with lots of chemicals in it on the black enamel and that didn't work very well either, so I think that that paint just sucks to remove without a glass/vapor blasting.

I have also concluded that the reason Honda used the black enamel on the side covers was to cover up the shit casting jobs they did on some of those parts and eliminate the need for excessive post work to make them for looking enough to just clear coat.

JS