hey all,
I have a model 500 as ive mentioned in another post that is really pink but someone, possibly WE painted it black and now the paint is coming off a bit and it has scratches. If i sanded it and then buffed it could i have a shiny finish just like the earlier post on the blue one? he only had a few scratches. Is there any other way to remove the black paint????? it would be nice to have it be less of a frankenphone LOL......
Are all of the parts pink? I believe that some people here have been able to remove paint with over cleaner. If it was painted with Polane, that is another story. Be very careful with any sort of paint stripper. Most will dissolve the plastic.
Larry
Soak the plastic in Brake Fluid. I can't recall if it is okay to soak ABS plastic in brake fluid but NOT soft plastic. Someone will chime in with that answer.
Terry
Hey all it does feel to me like soft plastic. though im not totally sure.
Quote from: rtp129495 on November 16, 2011, 02:12:43 PM
Hey all it does feel to me like soft plastic. though im not totally sure.
Is the inside of the shell painted? If not, is there a date printed on the inside near the front bottom edge?
Larry
Hey all heres all thats printed on the inside of the shell, and no the shell inside isnt painted (much) LOL. The third picture is the scratches and deterioration of the paint.
That should be a soft plastic (tenite) shell. Be very careful with it. Many chemicals will dissolve it. How tough is the paint? Does it flake off with your fingernail? I have a soft plastic North 541 which was spray painted (black paint on black plastic!), and I managed to remove the paint using Brasso, which was just abrasive enough to scrape off the paint, but wouldn't destroy the plastic. If the paint is too tough for that, you may need to sand it with Micro-mesh sanding pads.
Larry
If the paint is NOT Polane, it will come off with Easy-Off oven cleaner. They have two can colors, Blue & Yellow. Yellow is more caustic than the blue. It requires some precaution but just spray on the oven cleaner and the paint will wipe away. If it's Polane, sanding will be about the only way to remove the paint. It's a big job and removing it from the logo is next to impossible w/o damaging the lettering.
I have been able to remove paint from soft plastic (Tenite) using Easy-Off after they had been painted in a refurb shop.
The black looks like solvent based spray paint, from the look of it you should be able to "pull" off most of the paint with just duck tape. Just apply the duck tape on the area where the black paint has come off and then with a swift motion pull the duck tape to lift more of the black paint. Do this as much as you can and then the areas that don't come off try oven cleaner are other suggested and then as a last resort sand and polish.
It may be spray paint, but the oven cleaner trick didn't do anything. Tried few drip of acetone, this basically tried to melt the surface of the plastic but did thin the paint. Wiped that off quick. had to sand the area to get the slight deformation out. I guess this will turn into a polishing and sanding thread LOL. So what grit should be the start? and the end Sanding grit? the polishing?
Ok, don't just go do this, but here's an idea. This could mutilate the plastic for all I know, so if you have a junk soft plastic shell to try it on, or just try a very small amount on the inside of the shell. I was cleaning a very greasy painted aluminum plate the other day, I figured I'd clean it with automotive carb & choke cleaner, which ended up removing 100% of the paint with absolutely zero effort. Like I said, no idea what it'll do to the plastic, but maybe it's worth looking into? ---Eric
I'll try the carb cleaner, im suprised I didn't think of that myself. I work on cars and I never remeber carb cleaner melting plastic. not even the soft plastic cap that is on the top of the can. But yes it takes paint off of things that im sure of. As for the sanded side where I tried acetone (if the carb cleaner works) is it possible to polish the sanded area enough that it will match the unsanded rest of it. i would like somewhat of a shine!
Be careful with soft plastic. It is much different than most other plastics and quite sensitive. Test anything you want to use first on the inside of the shell first.
Soft plastic can be sanded and polished. The best thing I have found for sanding is Micro-Mesh "regular" pads. They are sold at some woodworking supply stores. For polishing, many people use Novus polish. I have had good results with Meguiars plastic polish from O'Reilly Auto Parts.
Larry
GRRRR I hate this type of plastic. Apparently automotive uses HARD PLASTIC. Even carb cleaner tried to melt the plastic in the small test spot I used. I have a dry towel ready to dry it off quick so damage was minimal to none. Just enough to see if it softened it. What an unusual plastic. it feels hard but it is really soft. Looks like sanding is the ONLY option now. Why couldn't they have been bakelite LOL!!!
Without re-reading the whole thread, did you test (or did someone give any additional advise) oven cleaner (as Dennis suggested) and/or brake fluid? Brake fluid isn't petroleum based and I don'y know about using it on soft plastic but I think it does a pretty good job of removing paint from hard plastic.
Terry
I've never tried this on plastic but it removes paint on metal quite well and seems quite gentle:
http://dawn-dish.com/en_US/dawn-power-dissolver.do
It's made to remove baked-on food from pots & pans but is a dandy paint remover. May be worth a try on a hidden area. My gut feeling is that it won't attack plastic....
If you try it, please let me know if it works!
Re. any paint removers: When washing/rinsing off the paint remover and old paint, use lots and lots and lots of freely-flowing cold water (I'm hardcore for water conservation but this is one of those instances where you really do need to use a lot of water!). This to prevent the muck congealing in the pipes and getting a clog started, from the sink or whatever, through to your sewer line, and out to the street sewer.
If you have a septic tank, ask someone at the company that maintains & pumps out your septic tank, what is the safe way to handle this material.
Also do not do this in the kitchen sink if you have a disposall (the chemicals may corrode the working parts) or use the sink for any food preparation process (such as washing veggies: you don't want toxic nasty stuff near your food prep areas).
A laundry room sink is probably the best place for doing this, and if you want to save water, do a load of laundry and time it so the water discharge from the washer is what you use for washing/rinsing off the paint remover & loosened paint. That'll be a nice gusher of water to send all that stuff all the way down the drain and out to the street.