How to remove paint from bodies?

[bender]

I'm sure this has probably been asked a million times before [] but how do you remove paint from polycarbonate shells without damaging the body?

I just picked up a car where the previous owner has painted the car on the outside of the body. I want to remove the paint without destroying the polycarbonate.

[DJTheo]

You said it, since its asked million times before you'd better of reading many past posts about it, just use the search function []

[jakob kuhlstroem]

Hi...

In general, the use of NaOh is good if no aluminium is involved.

Haven't tried this myself on plastics, but it should work.

Desolve NaOh in water, quite hot water, and then, with a brush or similar, paint small parts of the body with this.

Wipe it of with a good deal of water.

Can't quarantee it works, never tried it before, so be careful both with the carbody, and Yourself, since it has a very low pH.

Use rubbergloves or something similar. NaOh is very dangerous, it will melt nails, hair etc.

Don't know the commercial name for the product in the UK or the USA, but in Sweden it's, among other things, used for cleaning toilets, showers etc.

Try it on something worthless first, and be really careful...

Hope it will remove the paint for You...

Best regards,

Jakob Kuhlstroem

[DJTheo]

quote:Desolve NaOh in water, quite hot water, and then, with a brush or similar, paint small parts of the body with this.

id="quote">id="quote">

Better use cold water as the water gets very hot when adding acid or base in it and always poor slowy acid or base into the water, not the opposite, which can be very dangerous!

Cheers

[TWINSET]

Hey Jakob

it sounds like you're describing caustic soda - very small amount, add water, and it gets warm/hot and strips chrome?

As with any 'chemicals', great care must be taken, and if anyone is thinking of using this stuff, and has never used it before, be VERYid="red">id="size4"> careful with it - it's dangerous.

There is already a post here on the dangers of caustic, and I used it once to clear the outflow at work;

Got an old coffee jar, poured a fair bit of the soda granules into it, and poured cold water on top. Couple of seconds later (once all granules were wet) the contents exploded out of the jar all over the draining board, permanently marking the stainlees steel and the worktop next to it. The jar got way too hot to pickup, even with rubber gloves on and a tea towel wrapped round it.

If you can find a better solution, USE IT!

There are 'ready mix' versions available, which are safer to use, but most of them, if not all, will still affect skin, eyes, ability to live etc.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/xforum/topic.asp...rchTerms=costic

http://www.ipcl.co.in/cportal/VirtualPageV...jsp?page_id=140

http://www.fact-index.com/s/so/sodium_hydroxide.html

For help on searching for stripping, try deltaid="blue"> brake fluidid="red"> bucketid="green"> and stripid="blue">

[DJTheo]

quote:it sounds like you're describing caustic soda - very small amount, add water, and it gets warm/hot and strips chrome?

id="quote">id="quote">

Yes, thats NaOH.

quote:

Got an old coffee jar, poured a fair bit of the soda granules into it, and poured cold water on top. Couple of seconds later (once all granules were wet) the contents exploded out of the jar all over the draining board, permanently marking the stainlees steel and the worktop next to it. The jar got way too hot to pickup, even with rubber gloves on and a tea towel wrapped round it.

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id="quote">id="quote">

**** it [8)], wish I had written my above post before, sorry for you Andy![V]

[netsmithUK]

And don't forget old Nitro Fuel. its a lot less volatile - but still use gloves though.

Chris

[mr_pushrod]

I use Delta Activator and can see it works very well on lexan shells. Trouble i that it's pretty expensive at about £17 a litre! Much of this is postage though so if you get more than one bottle it's a lot cheaper. They do have a website but I've long forgotten it[:I]

[TWINSET]

http://www.delta-ag.co.uk/

[]

[mr_pushrod]

Cheers Andy!

[jakob kuhlstroem]

Hi all,

yes, it's caustic soda, wasn't shore of what it's called in english, hence the chemical name, NaOh...

And yes, it's very dangerous, I hope You all understood this from my reply...

NaOh will melt nails, hair etc. Don't use it, if You, in any way, are not used to deal with this kind of chemicals.

Even then, be very careful, as it's very harmful.

Not to biological life, though. It will dissolve, in nature, within some three days, or so.

Water always neutralizes acid and base, chemically.

But no-one of us want's to harm nature, this is basic, so using NaOh must be done with moderation in mind.

But, if used in a intelligent manner, it also will remove paint.

Once again, NaOh, caustic soda, is dangerous and must be treated with respect and causion.

Don't get me wrong here, I was only trying to help out with the paint-removal...

If there's something less dangerous, use it instead...

All ther best,

Jakob Kuhlstroem

[jakob kuhlstroem]

Hi again,

forgot something:

When pouring acid, or, base, in water;

always pour the acid/base into water, not water on acid/base.

The reaction with water will cause a powerful reaction.

I am sorry I took up the subject with caustic soda, maybe there are some other products that will remove paint.

Brakefluid can be one, but this is, actually, not something we would want in the nature.

Anyhow, if You use NaOh, be very careful, maybe check it out with some teacher in chemistry before using it.

The stuff is dangerous...

Jakob Kuhlstroem

[Shodog]

Keep in mind that Caustic soda which is a main ingredient of Oven cleaner will destroy Lexan shells. It does however work well on polystyrene bodies.

For lexan I use nitro fuel. I have heard delta activator is good but I have never used it

Jim

[bender]

Thanks guys.

I am trying Nitro fuel at the moment - it seems to be working well except once it removes the paint it leaves a milky-white film on the lexan, sort off looks like its taken the shine off the lexan.

I can scratch it off with a screwdriver but can't seem to rub it off gently with anything.

Any ideas?

[jonny_bravo]

I successfully used Mr Muscle oven cleaner on my Wild One's lexan body,. i only left it on for 1 hour though,. then rinsed under a running tap whilst using a sponge to wipe away the old paint,.as far as i can tell the shell hasnt been damaged in any way []

[TWINSET]

quote:

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Originally posted by jakob kuhlstroem

Don't get me wrong here, I was only trying to help out with the paint-removal...

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id="quote">id="quote">

Hey Jakob

Sorry if it came across wrong chap, wasn't meant to []

After nearly destroying the kitchen at work, thought it would be a good idea for a 'how not to' lol

[jakob kuhlstroem]

quote:

After nearly destroying the kitchen at work, thought it would be a good idea for a 'how not to' lol

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id="quote">id="quote">

Quite right!

I'm so used to the stuff, I kinda forgot [:I] the dangers involved with it...

I also have nearly destroyed the kitchen, but that's when I am cooking...[]

Jakob

[Virus]

i have worked with caustic soda and will just say DONT USE IT i have seen the damage caused by this stuff my self included [:I] try other things first and leave this stuff alone its not worth loosing your sight or a bad burn (chemical)over a car body trust me. i used this stuff in a safe enviroment with the right equiptment stripping wooden doors Ect 2 mins in a bath of caustic soda wipe of with wire wool and u have a new unpainted door.

Paul

[Drewboyaus]

G'Day all,

What about removing paint from the clear windscreeen parts of lexan bodies? I have used the smoke paint on what was going to be a shelf queen '99 WRX and I have a dirty great paint run in the middle of the screen.... I have read many of the posts on this topic and most seem to relate to removing all the paint from entire bodies. The front screen is the only bit that's rooted, so I really only need to remove the paint from a small area, not the whole shell. Any ideas anyone? This is the second shell that has been stuffed up, the first is a looong story and I'm starting to go a little bit crazy... and broke!!

Cheers,

Drew.

[Drewboyaus]

Ha,

I'll reply to my own post (is this a sign of madness?), had a look at other postings on this topic and decided neither brake fluid nor caustic was going to get a run in my garage. So I tried someone elses advice and chose to use ELO (not the really crappy 70's band)but Easy Lift Off. This stuff is excellent. Painted a goodly portion on the affected area, waited a couple of hours and wiped off carefully the area I needed to. The windscreen came up perfectly clear. Don't know how it would go on entire bodies, but my results were very incouraging.

Cheers,

Drew.