[R-390] FW: stripping paint

[KA9EGW]

Methylene chloride will eat most plastics.  However Bakelite is not a
plastic, it's a phenolic.

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Merz [mailto:mdmerz at frontier.com] 
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2012 1:14 PM
To: 'KA9EGW'
Subject: RE: [R-390] stripping paint

 Brian,  I've done what you're about to do,  strip and paint.  The stripping
is the easy part though you may have to scrape a little here and there.  I
used the methyl chloride paint remover that most hardware stores have.
Bakelite or phenolic is very resistant to almost any solvent so you're safe
there.  If it's some other kind of plastic, maybe not a good idea to use
this remover but I think most painted radios were bakelite.  Painting is
another challenge,  mostly to avoid runs and get the paint on evenly which
is difficult on bakelite because the paint just lays on the surface and it's
a curved surface with usually a lot of detail.  I was never happy with what
I achieved,  even after taking my paint job off a couple of times.  Consider
not painting for that reason but you may have better spray equipment than I
used.  I used the aerosol cans,  which I've used a lot on various projects
but this one was difficult.  But bakelite radios,  though not my priority,
are pretty cool.  I had a friend give me one that was at the street curb for
disposal from a house that was condemned by the city.  It was a 1948 Airline
with a big chip out of the back corner which I repaired using ground up
bakelite to color epoxy and casting against a silicone sheet taped to the
side of the radio.  It turned out pretty good.  Good luck on your project,
Dan 

-----Original Message-----
From: r-390-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:r-390-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of KA9EGW
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2012 8:45 AM
To: 'barry williams'
Cc: r-390 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [R-390] stripping paint

Stripping paint from a plastic case.  The model-train guys have 2 ways they
go about it.  One is a product called "Unpaint".  It is ethylene glycol
monoethyl ether, and strips the paint without harming the polystyrene
plastic underneath.  The other is old fashioned DOT3 brake fluid.  I've used
both in the past, but I think the Unpaint was a little less embrittling to
the plastic. 

Whether a particular radio is made from the same polystyrene plastic as a
model railroad car, I cannot comment but to say "YMMV"...

73, Brian KA9EGW

Barry said:

>The problem is how to strip the thick while paint from the plastic 
>case. I
think I can spray paint it back like the original. It's worth a few bucks if
I have to pay someone to do it.<

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