What is the preferred method of paint removal from steel?

dirttorpedo

Senior Retro Guru
I think I'm going to remove the paint from my MB2 frame and get it powdercoated or do a rattle can job. Just wondering what people typically do. Wet/Dry sandpaper? Heat gun? Chemicals? Sand blast/glass bead?

There are a couple of small dings I want to fill before it gets repainted. My preference is DIY approaches.
 
I've used chemical stripper a few times and it's not a fun experience. I would get it bead blasted. Then just DIY everything else...prep/prime/paint...
 
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dirttorpedo":3orvf37k said:
Have you had good luck with rattle can finishes in the past?
They usually look fine, they're just not as durable as a powder coat or the expensive paints. That may have just been the paint I used though. I don't know if there's a more durable paint available in spray cans than what I used. You can see where this one is chipped by the binder bolt and at the tip of the seat post lug...and that's just from light bike path use...

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grnschwnn10.jpg
 
I did an old frame years ago. Being steel, it's fairly indestructible so I used "soft" (brass) wire rotary brush wheel in an electric drill and gentle buzzed it back to bare metal. Great for most of the frame, the intricate areas I used paint stripper (in very heavy coats).

A quick rub down with some fine (400g) wet n dry, a decent couple of coats of etch primer, 3-4 decent coats of standard primer (you can also use filler primer if there are and light scratches you wanna get rid of, just means a bit more intermediate prep between coats with wet n dry) followed by plenty of coats of colour. Finish with clear laquer for a better shine, deeper colour and better paint protection......and jobs a good'un!

Spraying with rattle cans is a fairly expensive way to do it, but perfectly adequate. Biggest thing is preparation. If the area to be painted is prep'd correctly, sprayed in a dust free environment and the job is not rushed then the results can be fantastic.

Hope this helps

p.s. Just as an aside note, if you want to have a two-tone frame colour (i.e. fading, blocks etc such as BLUE and BLUE this can easily be done by changing base/primer coat colours rather than using to different top coat colours. Use a darker base/primer for the deeper coloured areas (such as grey primer, matt black paint) and a white primer for the other areas. That way, you only need one top coat colour but when sprayed over the different base coats will give a slightly different shade in those areas (if that makes sense?). That way, there's no need to mess about trying to mask areas up for a top coat paint which can be a pain in the ass, and the top coat then doesn't have any "seams" or "joins" reducing delicate areas prone to chipping.
 
Chemical stripper left on for plenty of time to allow it to actually work,. Some start trying to get the paint off when its still working, you need to wait till its well 'bubbled'
Heavy grade steelwool and a big pair of gloves. For stubborn sections i use a brass wire brush wheel on the end of an electric drill with the speed dropped right down. for hard to get places the same brass wire brush but a pencil type to dab in to cross sections of joints and other tricky to get to spots.

If youre using the drill please be aware of 2 things
1. The little bits of wire do break off and fly everywhere so unless you want to find one by foot in the morning then do it somewhere like the shed or outside. Small bits of crimped wire 20mm long and razor sharp at both ends AND coated in chemical stripper and oil is not fun when you stand on them
2.As above but for your eyes so wear goggles please*

* I Mean this, i sh*t you not.
 
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legrandefromage":gvp8z9gv said:
What is the preferred method of paint removal from steel?

A stiff letter to the Times?

Sadly, I don't get this. :oops:

Another question for you guys. Is there any specific products that I should use for filling dings and or prepping the frame prior to powdercoating? I assume that automobile body filler should be fine because its designed to handle the heat from the baking process used for automobile finishes, but I just want to be sure. Also I've read some stuff online that suggests I might want to prime the frame before powdercoating. I always thought the bare frame was powdercoated. Am I wrong? If so what kind of primer should I use?
 
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