[R-390] Front panel paint removal

[Tisha Hayes]

"I had to go to a full face welding mask with a breathable air feed when
cutting and welding galvanized steel!  We knew it left a "funny" taste.  The
blood work came back for heavy metals!  Duh!

Of course then there was the BIG PCB thing.  And here I'd been into
transformers with an arm up to my arm pits changing voltage taps.  My tissue
sample is in the Military data bank for Agent Orange.

So when I bake the finish, releasing the volatiles, I VENT very heavily!"
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Oh, I know the feelings. Back when I was a "lab rat" at college there were a
few times it was "up to the elbows" in PCB oil on the load banks. Nice
toasty, 140 degree transformer oil. I tried to find the big black rubber
gloves but more times than not, they had more oil in them than the load bank
had in the tank. I would always scrub down with soap and water after dealing
with the load banks but some of the other "rat-ettes" were perfectly happy
to just wipe their arms down with scrap cloth towels.

In the 90's I had a super-acute exposure to benzine (industrial accident)
that overwhelmed my full face respirator in a matter of seconds. I was the
"industrial hygiene lab rat" that time and was doing a Draeger glass tube
pump sample to determine the benzine levels. It was supposed to be 10 pumps
through the tube and then read where the brown line was on the side of the
tube. I was still halfway through the first draw on the pump when the tube
turned totally brown (saturated) and I could taste the benzine in the air as
the organic solvent breathing canister filter was swamped. Just taking the
20 steps or so out of that area were nearly impossible. I almost passed out
from the benzine fumes. I figure that one incident probably took a year off
of my liver. At least I do not drink alcohol or do other obnoxious, ilicit
things to my chemistry with drugs.

I bake the paint on my radio panels in my kitchen convection oven (Jennair)
that has convection air circulation inside and an external exhaust fan that
goes by duct to outside of the house. Fortunately it does not take long to
bake a radio panel and I only do that work when it is cool enough for me to
have all of the windows open. After baking I shut down the convection mode
and leave the exhaust fan on the oven running for a few hours. The panel
comes right out of the oven and I put it on top of the porch railing outside
for another day.

I would never try that with a gas fired oven (only have electricity up here,
no gas) nor would I do that with something that did not have an external
ventilation system.

Baking the enamel paint really makes a difference in how the panel turns
out.. I am in the process of making every radio panel the exact same color
as I have a case of the same color paint.

I have not had to do anything really aggressive to remove old paint. I use
Strip-Ez and let it sit for a few hours before going after it with a plastic
scraper. I have also used lacquer thinner and some automotive paint remover/
thinners. Usually I can clean out the lettering with a small brass brush or
even a hard toothbrush.

-- 
Ms. Tisha Hayes/ AA4HA
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*"Learning is not virtue but the means to bring us an acquaintance with it.
Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without
integrity is dangerous and dreadful. Let these be your motives to action
through life, the relief of the distressed, the detection of frauds, the
defeat of oppression, and diffusion of happiness."  -- Nathanael Greene*