stripping thermoplastic

[Babybearjs]

as I stated in another thread, I bought a WE 464 GC that had been spray painted light Blue. in an effort to restore the phone I'm having to strip off the paint. what is a good stripper to use on plastic? I remember 3 years ago I has won a WE 315 subset and used oven cleaner to srip the paint off of the gongs.... (i did it at work, it turned out great) so, I thought it might work on this project..... no good, has to be "warm"- 150F+ to work... (on plastic???ya, right!) so I am thinking to use Jasco brand paint remover. would that harm the plactic at all?if it does, should I try "goof-off" ? or another gaffitti remover.  what experience do you guys have for this problem? the handset bame out OK, still have to remove the paint in the grooving.... tedious at best! the buttons are done and I had to scrap the handset cord... too brittle...(original condition and cracking bad!    John

[DavePEI]

Hi John:

I always use easy-off without heating the plastic. Latex paint will come off the easiest, but even alkyd paints will come off with multiple applications.. If you scrape, use a relatively soft plastic implement so you don't get scrathes. Don't forget to wear rubber  gloves! I have never had it damage the plastic, other than to dull it a bit, which light buffing will cure.

Dave

[ESalter]

I use 91% isopropyl rubbing alcohol to get paint off of ABS housings, works really well.  DO NOT use that on your 464 as it will dissolve the plastic.  Whatever you want to try, put a little on your finger and rub it back and forth on the inside of the housing and then rinse it off.  If you can see rub marks or black on your finger, it's a solvent for the plastic.  The early plastics can be a real pain to get clean sometimes.  It's possible the solvent in the paint "melted" into the plastic also.  Bakelite is near impossible to harm.  If I were you I'd fill an aluminum cooking pan with alcohol until the handset was submerged, leave it to soak for a couple hours and I bet the paint will come right off with a toothbrush or something similar.  Hope this helps!

---Eric

[bushman]

I read somewhere Dawn Powerdissolver works. I tried it and it removes the paint but doesn't hurt the plastic at all. I removed pink paint from a factory pink 500.

Bushman

[Babybearjs]

thanks guys! well, what do you think?? I started to use Goof-Off and it took the paint off really good. after I got the phone all stripped, I took some krylon "Short Cuts" enamel craft paint and proceeded to replaint the body.... Interesting experiment... just like Painting a model..... the handset cleaned up the best, though there are traces of the old color.... as I said in my other thread... I wanted a darker color....."Forever Blue" (Krylon SCB-061) well, I got the color I wanted... though the paint job came out "questionable" I'm happy with it.... while I was painting the phone I was thinking about the Boise State colors, Blue abd Orange.... Hmmmm Na, I'll keep it simple! so, what you see is what you get! comments anyone???    John

P.S. oh ya, I also have a 464 with brass accents shown.... anyone looking for a "Executive Series" phone??  John