Removing Powder Coating
I have been working on the Sunbeam Tigers front suspension and the spindles were powder coated but the masking on the seal surface was not so good. So need to remove some baked on plastic as it be. Looked around and didn’t find much except the ‘Commercial’ solutions.
I found this on the web, cut and pasted the text but can’t remember the dang site for credit. It was a motorcycle site and I thank them (would post a link if I could find it again)
The easiest and cheapest way to remove paint and powder coating is with gasket remover. The product we use in our shop is Permatex Gasket Remover (item #80646). It comes in a 12 ounce aerosol can which is more than enough to do even large projects like engine cases. It is available from most auto parts stores. Other products, such as Zip Strip paint remover, may also work, but the Permatex product is what we have had the most success with.
Simply spray on a liberal coating to the part you are trying to strip, and wait 10-15 minutes. Be sure not to get any on areas that you do not want stripped. Make sure to wear eye and skin protection as it can irritate both.
After 10-15 minutes, the powder coating will bubble and peel. Wipe off the gasket remover and loosened powder coating with a disposable rag. You may need to reapply as some areas will be missed the first time. That’s it! Your part should be stripped down to the bare metal. Make sure to wash with wax and grease remover before you try to repaint.
Well seems problem might be solved. I’ll give it a try and report back. I’m not a huge fan Powder coating, it does look nice and is durable, but sometimes a pain…
I am a slug, I just had to use the browser history to find it, here is the credit for the site that had the info on the Permatex Gasket stripper
Chopper Surplus
Well for the lack of a better excuse I have not done a thing with this stuff yet. I keep forgetting when I’m in the garage to whip it out and do some cleaning. Stay tuned…
Well while out in the garage for 5 minutes I had a brainstorm, try the Gasket remover. I took the cap of the spray can and sprayed a bunch in it and took a paint brush and proceeded to paint it on the affected area where the bearing seal rolls on. Almost immediately the coating started to bubble and came right off. I painted the entire area where the seal area was covered with powder coating and a couple of paper towels wiped it clean.
So here is an ANTI-FLOG, something that actually work. And with a dangerous chemical solution as well so I’m happy.
Unless the next time I get to the garage and the entire metal area is melted, I think this is an excellent trick to add to the tool box.
Well it may really be a FLOG entry, as the spindles might have been painted and not power coated. That is a FLOG on me, and I’ll will have to verify that but from what it sounded like when I was talking to Mike (who did the work) he was asking if I had powered coated them… OOPS. So might just be paint. So the Permatex does a great job on paint!
FYI, Chopper Surplus has discontinued sales over the internet, per their own website information.
Anyway, my interest in this blog-article, describing the use of Gasket Remover for removing powder coating caught my interest recently. Due to my own career, which has been formulating eco-friendly paint and powder coating removers for over 30-years now.
Buyer Be Ware when handling and applying Gasket Removers for any application, including powder coating removal. What most people do not know without actually having a chemistry backround or reviewing the Material Safety Data Sheets, as I did, is that this Gasket Remover is made up primarily from a chlorinated solvent called DICHLOROMETHANE, which is suspected to cause cancer in animals. I believe these type of products also contains Hazardous Air Pollutants, which is not friendly to the atmosphere that we all breathe and share.
Old paint stripping technologies were based on chlorinated solvents, mainly methylene chloride, which again is in the same category, a suspected carcinogen in animals. This is another chemical that I would stay away from using to remove paint and powder coating.
There is good news, we at MILES Chemical Solutions, LLC, provide a variety of eco-friendly: Green type stripping solutions for stripping paint, varnish removers and to remove powder coating.
For further information on paint and varnish remover and powder coating removal products, visit us on the web at: MilesChemicalSolutions.com and leave me an e-mail with any questions that you may have about your stripping project.
Thanks Sam, I’ll take a look at the site and safer chemicals. I posted your comment here as you found my new blog that I’m reworking and have not yet moved it over to this site which is my main site. Do you have and free samples
Sam, thanks for the heads up on the Dichloromethane. I work with powder coatings all the time and I am familiar with many hazardous material surrounding the application of industrial coatings. I would have filed the gasket remover tip away for future use without ever looking at its contents.