Stripping aluminium: advice welcome

Ian ( snipped-for-privacy@btinternet.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Not surprised - it'll ruin the soft thin ally.

Coarse wire wool?

You shouldn't need a wire brush if using the correct paint stripper. It should just hose off. A nylon brush might help, though. But Nitromors won't work well on every type of paint and undercoat. I used it on the sunroof of my SD1 which was painted with cellulose. Took off the top paint perfectly but barely touched the primer/filler.

The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

For instance, it's crap on water-based varnish. I splattered a few drops on some rough-textured floor tiles and it's a bastard to get off.

=================================== Is a *nylon* brush OK with Nitromors? It damages most plastics.

Cic.

It's a guess. I have three brushes bought in a DIY shed - plastic bodies with steel, brass and plastic bristles. The plastic one seems ok with Nitromors. Not certain what type of plastic it is. However, Nitromors in some sizes comes with a plastic cap which you can use as a container for it.

The cap is polyethylene (PE) which is safe with most solvents. Although petrol will soften PE fairly quickly.

The message from %steve%@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) contains these words:

Really? How come my petrol can's marked HD PE then?

Ian,

I worked as a volunteer at Duxford IWM for many years and when we stripped pain off of aircraft we used Nitromors and plastic wool which cleaned it a treat, don't use a wire brush.

Martin P

Because it's not marked LDPE, which will soften, sorry I didn't realise I had to give an encyclopaedic reference to cover every possible case.

In the bad old days people used to faul foul of this by using LDPE engine oil bottles to store petrol. Over about 12 months or so they would soften enough to begin weeping petrol. I've just encountered it again when I asked by local ferramenta (hardware store) for a bottle to store 2L of petrol for a brushcutter. They gave me a container, I didn't pay much attention, filled it with 2T and after a week the bottle was noticeably softer. Bought another one from a different store, marked HDPE and it's fine.

Although in laboratory use it's generally regarded as stupid to store liquids such as xylene and other organic liquids in any form of plastic container.

That was what I found on the steel panels I have done: the Nitromors remove the paint pretty effectively, but only softened the filled slightly, so mechanical removal was necessary. It's the filler that's the problem, by the way, so I can't just sand it down, alas.

Ian

Yes. Do NOT use a wire brush on an angle grinder. On aluminium it's horrendous. Even on steel the marks have a tendancy to show up under certain lighting once the car is finished.

If you still can't get all the paint off with chemical stripping, and most paint factors like Autopaint will sell a heavy duty gel-based paint stripper, then use a DA sander with a coarse grit pad - about

Alex

Thanks (and thanks all). Sounds as if Nitromors + plastic/steel wool is the stuff to use. I just hope I don't have to deal with too much filler...

Ian

Why didn't you just write hardware store, why use ferramenta?

What's it to do with you f*ck face?

Even a D/A sander will remove metal very easily when dealing with aluminium. Best thing I've found (when dealing with landrover ally bodywork) is scotchbrite pads, and stripper, of course. Badger.

I'm surprised.

In 1962 as a schoolboy experimenter I used to use it to denature /soften epoxy potting compound to get the transistors out of logic modules (a single R-S flip flop or similar in a box like a small jewellery box).

DG

Lol! hit a nerve? you dumb sack of s*it.

Is that some type of anti-frothing/smelling vaginal medication? I only ask as indeed firth has a vagina!