DarrelK wrote:Yep, fairly normal. How long did you let it sit on there? 2/3rds of a gallon to cover what you did is a little on the low side. For me that would have been a full gallon. If it is this tough getting off, it would have been tough sanding as well, going through a lot of paper, getting heated up, smeary, loading the paper.

I didn't realize the process was like this. I thought one coating would have been all i needed. I don't think I even got through the primer yet.

Is there a better product to use?

Also once I'm down to metal since this seems to be a process done a panel at a time can I use an aerosol primer to prevent flash rusting that I can spray epoxy over once the time to actually prime comes?

You might try and make your stripper a little "hotter" by adding about 10% acetone to it. I wouldn't exceed that amount as you'll make it loose both its' cling and also make it much more flammable. I own a company that does professional wood and metal stripping so we also occasionally run into polyester/polyurethane hybrids on some furniture which will require this. Since all of our methylene chloride based strippers are non-flammable that 10% is about as much as we are willing to go. Acetone (yes, even just in gallons) is best stored away from other buildings.
You know, it's kind of strange that you are having this much trouble with lacquer. I mean, yeah, it can be tougher to get off than some coatings but it's usually not this hard. Again, how long are you leaving it on before you scrape???
Yes, you can do that with the rattle can primer however I prefer to epoxy as I go, doing multiple panels, epoxy and loose tape off with poly sheeting again.

DarrelK wrote:You might try and make your stripper a little "hotter" by adding about 10% acetone to it. I wouldn't exceed that amount as you'll make it loose both its' cling and also make it much more flammable. I own a company that does professional wood and metal stripping so we also occasionally run into polyester/polyurethane hybrids on some furniture which will require this. Since all of our methylene chloride based strippers are non-flammable that 10% is about as much as we are willing to go. Acetone (yes, even just in gallons) is best stored away from other buildings.
You know, it's kind of strange that you are having this much trouble with lacquer. I mean, yeah, it can be tougher to get off than some coatings but it's usually not this hard. Again, how long are you leaving it on before you scrape???
Yes, you can do that with the rattle can primer however I prefer to epoxy as I go, doing multiple panels, epoxy and loose tape off with poly sheeting again.

I didn't use he poly sheet method because I was worried about getting the stripper on places I didn't want it on.

I painted it on and let it sit for like 15minutes, any longer it seems to almost dry up and make it harder to scrape off. I bought a plastic scraper to try to scrape it off with but it wasn't stiff enough so I grabbed my metal paint/plaster scraper thing. It worked better but only certain spots the stripper seemed to work good.

It was like 44-50 degrees that day, was it too cold out?

Okay, chemistry lesson here.... First the poly sheeting is absolutely needed so you can leave it for HOURS at a time. That's what stripper DWELL TIME is all about. Second for every 18 F degree drop of temp. below 72 F degrees room temp. cuts the effectiveness of any MC stripper by 1/2. You had lost something like 70% of your cutting power! Third, air temps. don't mean a lot when metal temps. themselves are even colder so make that more like an 80 to 85% loss of cutting power. Most MC strippers won't even develop their lifting gasses much below 55 or so. We actually warm our woods and metals for 48 hours at 72 degrees before we strip. Does it make a difference? Four of us stripped 42 pieces of wooden lawn furniture, dressers, tables, and chests with everything from lacquers, to polyurethanes, to penetrating resins in about 4 hours last Monday. YES, temperature makes a difference.

DarrelK wrote:Okay, chemistry lesson here.... First the poly sheeting is absolutely needed so you can leave it for HOURS at a time. That's what stripper DWELL TIME is all about. Second for every 18 F degree drop of temp. below 72 F degrees room temp. cuts the effectiveness of any MC stripper by 1/2. You had lost something like 70% of your cutting power! Third, air temps. don't mean a lot when metal temps. themselves are even colder so make that more like an 80 to 85% loss of cutting power. Most MC strippers won't even develop their lifting gasses much below 55 or so. We actually warm our woods and metals for 48 hours at 72 degrees before we strip. Does it make a difference? Four of us stripped 42 pieces of wooden lawn furniture, dressers, tables, and chests with everything from lacquers, to polyurethanes, to penetrating resins in about 4 hours last Monday. YES, temperature makes a difference.

Well that is really good to know! Now I won't be wasting the stuff trying it when it's cold.

DarrelK wrote:Okay, chemistry lesson here.... First the poly sheeting is absolutely needed so you can leave it for HOURS at a time. That's what stripper DWELL TIME is all about. Second for every 18 F degree drop of temp. below 72 F degrees room temp. cuts the effectiveness of any MC stripper by 1/2. You had lost something like 70% of your cutting power! Third, air temps. don't mean a lot when metal temps. themselves are even colder so make that more like an 80 to 85% loss of cutting power. Most MC strippers won't even develop their lifting gasses much below 55 or so. We actually warm our woods and metals for 48 hours at 72 degrees before we strip. Does it make a difference? Four of us stripped 42 pieces of wooden lawn furniture, dressers, tables, and chests with everything from lacquers, to polyurethanes, to penetrating resins in about 4 hours last Monday. YES, temperature makes a difference.

Hopefully this weekend I will have time and warmer weather to try at it again! Now for the areas I applied tape to prevent the stripper from going in between panels, whats the best mechanical method of stripping it down to bare metal? Are there other products besides sand paper I should consider? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

If you are trimming in those hard to get to places what I use is an air inline drill set up with one of those paint stripper wheels. They are disc shaped (ones I use are either maroon or black) and kind of look like a tougher version of a scotch brite pad. They even make smaller ones you can use on mini-die grinders, etc. Of course, any of them will chuck up in a regular drill. They usually have their own 1/4 inch spindle for mounting. Almost any auto supply store should carry them.

DarrelK wrote:If you are trimming in those hard to get to places what I use is an air inline drill set up with one of those paint stripper wheels. They are disc shaped (ones I use are either maroon or black) and kind of look like a tougher version of a scotch brite pad. They even make smaller ones you can use on mini-die grinders, etc. Of course, any of them will chuck up in a regular drill. They usually have their own 1/4 inch spindle for mounting. Almost any auto supply store should carry them.

So its still too cold out to use the chemicals, but once I do, and like I plan, one panel at a time, I then need to sand the surface first before priming even if its down to bare metal? Or Do I just wipe it down and then spray a primer.. Also is there an aerosol primer I can use instead of having to set the gun up for every single panel?

Thanks

If you have a choicek, take the more expensive brands, they are not all equal.
Also try rubbing it down with a thinners soaked rag to help break down the paint.

Some of the strippers works best when you simply wipe off as much paint and stripper with a rag, while it is wet. You need to test every few minutes to see when it hits the stage it will come off.

Check the can for cleaning instructions. some even call for sugarsoap to wash it off.

Personaly I prefer mechanical stripping as it doesn't start rusting so soon. Try a blue nylon stripper disk.

Hyperspace wrote:If you have a choicek, take the more expensive brands, they are not all equal.
Also try rubbing it down with a thinners soaked rag to help break down the paint.

Some of the strippers works best when you simply wipe off as much paint and stripper with a rag, while it is wet. You need to test every few minutes to see when it hits the stage it will come off.

Check the can for cleaning instructions. some even call for sugarsoap to wash it off.

Personaly I prefer mechanical stripping as it doesn't start rusting so soon. Try a blue nylon stripper disk.

Thanks for the recommendation, can you provide a link to the stripping disc you're recommending, where can I get it? Do they last or will I need to buy a bunch of them?

Any thought on these discs http://www.eastwood.com/poly-x-paint-an ... n-cup.html