Hi all, looking to spray my bike but it has so many chips, it needs to be taken back to bare metal. It is a very fiddly frame so I want to use paint stripper to get the old paint off.
Any metalergists on here that can advise as to wether paint stripper will damage the aluminium in any way?
Cheers all. have stripped the bike and am due to ride tomorrow night so need to get it done tonight!!!
Bike Forum
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Need Quick reply. Paint stripper on an alli frame? Damage?
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Posted 2 years ago #
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Not a metallurgist, but I've used paint stripper on my alu frame with no problems, however it was so that it could be welded back together again, which may have affected it a little more
Posted 2 years ago # -
Not a metalurgist but a paint chemist. Should be fine if it's nitromors your using.
Worth bearing in mind how toxic it is. Make sure you read the bottle. I heard a rumor it was going to be withdrawn in Europe because it's so dangerous.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Jonb, Is nitromors available from most DIY stores? and is that a trade name or an on the shelf name?
How long is it likely to take to strip the paint, I know it will be a gooey toxic mess but will it come off fairly easily?Cheers
Posted 2 years ago # -
Nitromors is the bastard. But cover your face/skin, and ffs please please please wear eye-protection. That stuff is really nasty. Have a large bowl of water handy to wash off any accidental slashes.
And do it outside, or you'll feel sick.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Should be available from B and Q or similar. Normally a sludge that you can paint on with a paint brush, you might need to encourage the paint with a wire brush and you may want to have something metal to scrape it off with when it starts to come away. Suppose you could then wipe it down with a damp cloth.
Not sure what you do with the waste, it'll dissolve you bin if it's plastic.
Posted 2 years ago # -
If you think Nitromors is lethal you should have seen the stuff i used to strip my frame last week!
Aircraft grade stripper that my wife uses to strip the finish from antique furniture. Painted it on, leave for 5mins and the powdercoat came of in ribbons!!!!!!
The great thing is that it completely evapourates so leaves no residue to react with other finishes.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I will bag it up and take it to the tip. I'm supposed to be riding it tomorrow evening and the person I am riding with is coming down from Leeds to see me so I can't cancel. Anyone got any idea if I will be able to get it done in a few hours or so??? I know it's a bit of a silly question but I don't want to get half way through the job and not be able to ride. On the other hand, I have started sanding and it looks like a bag of S*** at the moment, at least if I get the paint off, I can strip it after the ride and re paint it.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Nitromors is teh evil. But very good with most painted finishes (for some reason it barely touched whatever my old frame was painted with, but it eats most finishes). But yes, you need to protect yourself, if you apply it with a brush you'll flick it on your hands and forearms very easily, and it's not hard to get it on your face either. Have water to hand, the nice thing about nitromors burns is that they announce themselves immediately, and if you act as soon as you feel them you'll not take any more serious damage.
As for availabity, my local Morrisons and Tescos both sell it.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Right, tonight I will do battle with a very complicated (GT Dhi, the monocoque one) frame. The front triangle is easy, it's just a block of ali. The rear swingarm is a pig, the suspension tower is a tangle of struts and braces. Wish me luck!!!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Nothing like giving yourself a tight deadline eh?
Posted 2 years ago # -
if you try and do it for tomorrow it will look gash. Sorry.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Cync-al, why so cynical.
No you are right it is going to look gash. At the end of the day, I will have to ride it as it is. I have started on the front triangle already.
I bought nitromors as it said "paint remover" on the tin. It should say "paint teaser" on the tin, it's crap!! I don't know what GT used to paint the frame but it is obviusly baked on, I have done more scraping than anything.
Anyway, one of those wish I had never started jobs and a lesson learned for the future.
Thanks for all the help.Posted 2 years ago # -
Nah, Nitromors is one of the most effective paintstrippers on the public market, there's industrial products that are better but mostly also a lot harder to handle. Some finishes are just very resistant to chemical attack (bit late now but I've had some success in the past with alloy wheel cleaners, the sort that are basically just acid in a spray bottle... They'll take out several finishes that conventional strippers can't, much better with powdercoat.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Nitromors is gentle. Try caustic soda - I used it to strip Hone cranks from paint, it washed anodising as if it was just some mud.
Posted 2 years ago # -
On an old steel frame i had it didn't touch it, had to use a blow torch and a wire brush. As Nitromors is a chemical reaction (nitric acid?) it'll only work on paint that susseptable to acid i guess - unfortunalty all eyes are subject to acid, so when you give it a go USE EYE PROTECTION, i got a bit flicked in the corner of my eye once, it was hideous!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Caustic soda- sodium hydroxide doesn't strike me as a good idea, it's used as an etching agent on aluminium. Hairychested says that it removed anodising, and that's exactly right- anodising isn't paint, it's effectively dyed metal, if the anodising is taken off it's because the surface of the metal's been taken off! And this also leaves an unprotected surface that's more vulnerable to damage or corrosion unless refinished. It'd be OK on steel though if memory serves.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Nitromors is an organic solvent (can't remember which one, 1,1,1-trichlormethane rings bells but that could be disc brake or chewing gum cleaner) and as such has no easily discernable chemical interaction with any metal.
Caustic (sodium hydroxide) is a base (opposite of an acid) and will eat into aluminium pretty quick (it's the basis of anodising) and will slowly eat into steel. It's pretty impossible to leave aluminium with an unprotected surface and it's so reactive it oxidises (rusts) pretty much instantly upon contacty with air, it'll look shit though.
Posted 2 years ago # -
As per saccades except it has methanol too.
There are a multitude of Nitromorses out there. You need the green one with the afore mentioned methanol and dichloromethane. The others (mostly red coloured) won't be half as effective because they lack these ingredients.
Posted 2 years ago #
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