How to use aircraft stripper!?

tbrooks

Active Member
Sep 24, 2013
1,367
233
114
NC mtns
Alright guys working on my last piece now but wanted to share how it went and worked well and not so well. I stripped everything with paint on it and man it was a lot more work than I thought it would be. I did lots of reading on here first and most people said the paint just melts off, which a lot of it does, but it didn't happen all at once for me so heres what I did.

1. sprayed parts with a degreaser
2. sprayed with little 1600 psi pressure washer
3. wiped down with brake cleaner, let dry
4. applied stripper very liberally,
5. enclosed parts, either metal trash can or aluminum foil let sit for 1-2 hours
6. pressure wash and let dry
7. repeat 4-6
8. repeat 4-6
9. clean up remainder with wire brushes, sandpaper, etc.

What I did for 9 most the time was a cup brush in my drill press that worked extremely well. The frame I used a power drill but the cup brush is really hard to control, you have to tread very lightly, a wheel brush is easier or just sandpaper.

I think I learned a big lesson the past few nights and that is when the metal is cold it doesn't seem to do crap. Also tried the scraper like the can suggests and that was kinda a pain except where the paint was just falling off. Since it has been cold I haven't got the press washer back out so my last few parts I've been rinsing in the bathtub. Not the greatest place, didn't strip any tub paint yet lol. I use one of the really rough scotch brite pads for stripping, it works fairly well.

I started out using some chemical resistant gloves, but I hate gloves n I couldn't get through the first day with em. The stuff does burn on sensitive areas, pretty much everywhere but the insides of my hands, and use cold water to rinse it off your skin, hot makes it burn worse.

sometimes the first pass didn't seem to do much of anything. Most of my stuff I did 3 "coats" on, another coat or two prob would've finished it off but I wanted brush it because of lots of rust anyway. It seemed to be one of those things where it takes about half of the paint with every pass. Sometimes I let it sit for 3-4 hours, sometimes overnight, didn't seem to make much difference. I'm not sure what I could've done better but hopefully some more input will help some others out.

Btw took me two of the smaller quart(maybe) size cans to do pretty much everything. Ran down n got a can of the aerosol tonight to finish my swingarm. I kinda like it cause its easier to put on thicker, than it is with a brush, but that didn't seem to make much difference in the stripping.

vwtjt3.jpg

2q1rn6w.jpg

the frame is almost done in that one. I'll post some pics of some of my other stripped parts later.
 
Indeed I should have mentioned that thx. When I use the metal trash can, I think its like a 20 gallon, I pack as many parts as I can in there. If you just put one or two things it doesn't work as well.
 
oh and the trash can does have a lid. Sometimes I also squeezed the can of stripper with the lid off down in there too, to get as many fumes as possible. I think some of the stripability depends on the age n condition of the paint of course. Some of the paint just seems to take a lot more work to get off, like my swingarm. I got it used but it was in excellent condition and the paint just doesn't wanna come off. Just finished my 3rd pass and only about half the paint is gone, but I think that's cause I had it in the can by itself so I wrapped it in foil this time.