Another paint stripper

[Modderrhu]

Tried Acetone, with poor results.
Tried Dettol, turns the paint into a gooey mess.
Tried brakefluid, but how to dispose of it?

Tried caustic soda. Yep, caustic soda, that drain cleaner that soap is made from. Within a couple of hours, the paint virtually comes off in a sheet from metal minis. But, it does bugger-all on plastics, the paint remains immovable. The plastics remained undamaged too. I used a 1+5 solution of NaOH and water for this.

But the best bit? It\'s environment friendly. No oils or harmful organics to toss down the drain. Sure, it\'s vicious stuff, but only when concentrated. Otherwise, its components occur naturally in large quantities. Sodium and chlorine ions make salt. The hydroxide ion and a hydrogen ion make water. Strip \'n\' flush.

Anyone here care to give it a try? I wouldn\'t mind knowing if it was just my plastics that refuse to be stripped.

 

[Einion]

Acetone should easily dissolve any acrylic or vinyl paints, although you might have to leave it to work for a while and you have to use a fair bit to flush the paint from the surface and rinse/wash the residue away afterwards. It will soften or dissolve many plastics and resins too.

Caustic soda (sodium hydroxide, lye) is the active ingredient in many oven cleaners that people already use to strip paint, in case you didn\'t know.

If you\'re adventurous you could also use it to make your own soap

Einion

 

[Modderrhu]

Originally posted by Einion
Caustic soda (sodium hydroxide, lye) is the active ingredient in many oven cleaners that people already use to strip paint, in case you didn\'t know.

No, I didn\'t. And here I thought I\'d stumbled across something new. lol Still, I think I\'ll be using caustic soda on metals from now on.

 

[Fizl]

Have you seen fight club! I don\'t think I\'ll go that near lye myself lol

Shaz

 

[Ogrebane]

I\'ve been using oven cleaner for years on both plastics and metals. I usually leave it over night outside somewhere cause it stinks. It does soften the plastic but once washed of and left for a few hours the plastic is as good as new.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Modderrhu
Still, I think I\'ll be using caustic soda on metals from now on.

And why not? Cheaper than buying it inside a can of oven cleaner!

Little safety tip in case it doesn\'t mention it on the container, if you\'re ever mixing up a large amount use cold water, even iced water, to counteract the heat of the reaction - which can become amazingly high, hot enough to ignite paper and fabrics.

Originally posted by Fizl
Have you seen fight club! I don\'t think I\'ll go that near lye myself lol

Er, that scene in Fight Club does not present things accurately. Running under a tap won\'t make the burn worse which I think is what Tyler says - as far as I know vinegar won\'t do any harm but flushing the skin with copious amounts of water is standard safety practice with caustic soda.

You do have to treat sodium hydroxide with appropriate caution - it can cause severe burns and permanent eye injury if you\'re careless or don\'t handle it correctly.

Einion