nlerner

I’m intending to strip paint off of a C&V frame, but am wondering what’s the most effective chemical in this post-methylene chloride era. What I picked up at my local hardware store has been pretty useless. Recommendations?

krakhaus 

Leave this on for like 15 min, and start scraping.

Charliekeet

Well, what'd you pick up?? I recently got a big thing of Citristrip gel and will be trying it in a few weeks when it's too cold too much of the time to ride, so I'll report back. In the past when I've stripped a frame it was a spray type, and that was not as effective as I'd hoped it would be; took a fair amount of time afterward to really get things off, so I'm hoping the gel sitting on there will be better.

droppedandlost 

I'm using Citristrip right now. I rough sanded the frame (60 grit) to get through the clear coat. Then coat, let sit overnight, scrape, 2nd coat, sit overnight, scrape again. Not the most effective but it does work.

Lemond1985

The citrus stuff can be frustrating. If you don't wait long enough, it doesn't penetrate the paint and it wipes right off. Leave it on too long and it dries on.

Some good tools to use for the job are a few wire brushes of different sizes, steel wool, scouring pads, heavy gloves, and one of those drill powered wire brushes. It's a messy job, I have found that if you get a good strong batch of regular aircraft stripper, and optimal conditions, that's the fastest time-wise. That citrus stuff can take days and many repeated applications, just making a nasty job even worse.

merziac

Heat is your friend, obviously tough to do inside with not enough ventilation especially if you have to heat the area.

Rough sanding promotes penetration and speeds up the process a lot too.

I did one this summer, out in the sun, once I got a couple of coats on it and it got hot, the next coat would bubble and wrinkle then the paint came right off with a big wire brush. if I missed that window, it would dry out and need another coat to saturate and soften so it would come off.

In the end lots of little bits that had to come off inch by inch but overall much less work than fighting with all of it.

I got a pack of stainless and brass tube brushes from Harbor Freight that helped very much with the detailing at the end.

It was a lot of work but far less than if the heat hadn't cooked much of it.

oneclick 

Drywall sanding screens - though they wear out quickly. Warp around the tubes and pull each end, bare tube in 5 minutes (and probably more than one screen). Use the still-good bits of those screens for detail - a spot under your thumb, rub six times hard and it's bare. Available in various grits, pick your finish.

Dental pick for tricky bits.

SJX426 

I stripped a 1984 Trek 610 using multiple strippers. The one that worked the best with multiple applications was Aircraft Stripper. Imron is a tough paint to take off! It was a mess. Almost as bad as the Burley Tandem which I used Aircraft Stripper on as well.
P1000848 on Flickr
P1000850 on Flickr
P1000852 on Flickr

Since it was down to bare metal, I cleaned up using a file. In this case, the parting line on the BB shell was attacked. The crown was cleaned up as well.
P1000882 on Flickr

Charliekeet

Sounds like pre-sanding the clear coat ahead of application of the gel is recommended. I'll try that.

gugie 

My favorite paint stripper is my local powder coater. He'll media blast a frame for $40.

BFisher

Citristrip works great on most rattle can paints, but can be nearly useless on tough factory finishes.

I'm with gugie. Blasting is the way to go.

droppedandlost 

Speaking of blasting, has anybody tried doing it at home? I'm thinking for the nooks and crannies. Is such a thing even possible? Probably requires a lot of airflow.

merziac

It does take a lot of CFM, big tank or HO motor ok to run continuous.

Harbor freight sells a set up you use outside with big plastic sheet to collect the media or just sand the ground.

nlerner

I'm thinking of a setup in a bathroom, taking advantage of the fumes created after a family member drops a deuce.

Steel Charlie

I recall encountering some of those that I'm sure would strip paint.

BTW the bead blasted surface is about the best there is for that primer coat - mega bond! ! !

Mista Sparkle

I used some Citristrip last time I used a non Methylene Chloride stripper, it worked OK. It didn't take the filler/primer layer very well, but honestly worked better than I expected.

I have though about going the harbor freight blasting route, are you talking about the little handheld gun or something else?

Germany_chris

Sand blasting is the only way I’ll strip a bike

rickrob 

I just stripped a frame with Rustoleum Aircraft Stripper. It worked, but it took three applications and I had to break out the wire brushes.
The old Methylene Chloride strippers would have done it in one shot.

I'll get them blasted from now on.

nlerner

I had some citrus-based stripper on hand, so that’s what I’m using so far. The good thing is that it doesn’t dry out quickly, so it continues to work for quite a long time. The bad thing is that the job will still require a lot of scraping and sanding.

leftthread

I had the frame I'm working on now blasted by a local powder coating company after attempts using a stripper were going slowly. I used some marine stripper on the chrome fork.

OLDYELLR

Here is a good comparison of modern paint strippers.

SJX426 

BITD I stripped a frame with sand. BAD idea! it will strip both the paint and the metal. Bead blast is best. Sand blasting is really risky when the target is double butted or triple butted, chew right through it.
Check with the service provider for the type of medium they use for blasting

-holiday76

i stripped an old 14' boat this past summer. I started with Citrstrip and it was ok, but not nearly as good as what i ended with which was this stuff:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Jasco-1-Qua...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

That's what i'd recommend.

gugie 

A lot of people use the term sand blasting as generic without regard to media used. I use the term media blasting to avoid discussion. I've used 5 different powder coater, all of them used different media. They all have their own preference (at last one actually used sand). I've inspected all of their post-blast work with no issues, but all of them had experience with thin wall steel tubed bicycle frames. I believe effectiveness and safety to the frame is as much, or more tied into skill of the person doing the work than the media. Damage by using more agressive media can be mitigated with lower air supply pressure, I believe.

smontanaro 

Looking at the MSDS, it seems to be mostly methylene choride:

(Sorry about the crummy formatting. Dang BBCODE...