[ed_lincoln]

I have a couple 48 decks about half the powder coat is off and the rest is rusty, What would be the best way to get all of the powder coat off?

 

[Mike48321]

Sandpaper, unless you have a sandblaster. Or do a chemical dip

 

[5540jd]

You can use a torch to burn it, then wire wheel or sandblast afterwards. What the guy that does my Powdercoating does.

 

[TomManson]

In my experience powdercoat is so hard that it resists normal sandblast, sanding/grinding with flapper wheel cuts through it.

 

[Stefan]

In 2019 I restored a cart.
Grinding the coated frame was not quite effective. Then I covered it with paint stripper. After 2 days it was way easier to remove the powder coat. But it was not as easy to remove than normal paint.

 

[drew]

Aircraft stripper works pretty well. Nothing short of dipping works very well. Keep in mind it's more plastic than paint. It tends to be not very cost effective to hire it sandblasted. Sandblasters hate powder coatings. If you blast yourself, it will take extra time and extra sand, it will come off. If you blast it yourself, I'd try to use a flapwheel first. At least get the layer of coating a little thinner to help with the blasting.

 

[mike]

I used to take mine to a place that sandblasted dump, concrete trucks etc… They would charge me $100 to do all the sheetmetal. They never ask if it was powder coating or not, everything came back bare metal.

 

[ed_lincoln]

The sandblaster that I have will not take off powder coating. I might try the black slag, it is pretty coarse. Garnet is no better than silica sand

 

[army]

I've never powder coated anything. There were times that was the best option but I always think about it peeling off later. I'd rather re-finish something again than deal with that. It's just a personal preference though. Also I don't have a powder coating setup and I do my own refinishing. No jobbing anything out.

 

[army]

My personal experience is.. if the nozzle is held on an angle relative to the surface being blasted the sand will will bounce off powder coated parts like they're covered with rubber. And if you hit it straight on it will heat up and if the metal is thin enough it will warp and deform.

 

[army]

Where do you get aircraft stripper Mike? Is there a brand name to look for?

Aircraft stripper works pretty well. Nothing short of dipping works very well. Keep in mind it's more plastic than paint. It tends to be not very cost effective to hire it sandblasted. Sandblasters hate powder coatings. If you blast yourself, it will take extra time and extra sand, it will come off. If you blast it yourself, I'd try to use a flapwheel first. At least get the layer of coating a little thinner to help with the blasting.

 

[drew]

Where do you get aircraft stripper Mike? Is there a brand name to look for?

Klean-Strip makes a product call Aircraft stripper, that's the best. There are a few similar products. You can find them at an auto parts store normally.

 

[drew]

I've never powder coated anything. There were times that was the best option but I always think about it peeling off later. I'd rather re-finish something again than deal with that. It's just a personal preference though. Also I don't have a powder coating setup and I do my own refinishing. No jobbing anything out.

Powder coating requires good clean prep and off gassing of some metals. Like painting, good prep is the key.

Screwing up the new coating is a giant pain. We are pretty careful with the prep work. Somethings can be fixed. I always try to fix the problem before I try to take the coating off.

 

[stevev]

Not a big fan of powder coat anymore. Nice when it's new, but as others have mentioned, hard to repair. Plus, most of it doesn't seem to last any longer than paint.

 

[army]

I'll look for it. I used to buy a particular furniture stripper that worked great. Some coarse steel wool and pretty much everything came off and quickly too. I bought enough of it over the years that it should immediately spring to mind, but I don't recall the name. One of the criteria I judge paint strippers by is how much it stings if I get some on me. I probably hold the world record for removing a sneaker when I somehow got a blob of it in my shoe. Those fancy dancers in Footloose wouldn't have been able to keep up.

Klean-Strip makes a product call Aircraft stripper, that's the best. There are a few similar products. You can find them at an auto parts store normally.

 

[TempletonJDguy]

That aircraft stripper is nasty stuff. Don’t get it on you!! I use super heavy long rubber gloves. If you go thin it evaporates and the paint or powder resets a little so I go pretty heavy with that jelly. I stripped lots of saw cases with it but it helped a lot if I sanded, blasted and scraped before the stripper to weaken the coat.

 

[smalljob]

I use these pads. I did my 88 332 which was powder coated. They work great. They have a coarse and regular. I have also included a couple of pictures of the job they do. As always I wear a respirator.

 

[TomManson]

I just learned that you cannot buy those just anywhere. They are an online direct order company so you order direct from them or from Amazon if you feel like contributing more to Amazon's bottom line. If you sign up on their website they do give a first order discount, not sure how much the discount is.

 

[smalljob]

I buy directly from the company. You can get similar products at places like Home Depot and Lowes, but I have found these are less expensive and have longer life.

 

[TomManson]

Good point, I prefer to go with what works as opposed to experimenting. I have had other brands of 'flap wheel sanders' that work so-so.