Finally getting my bag o bits bike finished and fancy respraying it.

Just a question for the assembled masses…

whats the best way to get old paint off (nitromors etc)

The frames chromloy

cheers

nitromors, rubber gloves , paintbrush, bottomless cup of tea, trying not to wish 5 minutes in that you’d never started, oh and make sure none of the discarded paint/nitromors combo isn’t stuck to yer shoes before you walk through your house.

it works but be patient and give each dose time to work.

THICK rubber gloves (ate through mine and started burning my hand) and eye protection

Nitromors worked for me. Put newspaper down all around where you’re working and make sure as much skin as possible is covered – that stuff burns.

Nitromors is basically the devil’s spunk. Don’t get it on your face or in your eyes. Short rubber gloves are no use, you want something that’ll cover as much arm as possible. A wire brush can be very handy, some bike finishes are phenomenally tough- nitromors will take car paint down to the metal without difficulty but it took me ages to clean the paint off my old carrera, despite it having largely rusted off already.

Medium grade wirewool to remove nitromors/paint. Finest grade wirewool to remove the last bits of nitromors & give smooth finish. White spirit to wipe off last remains of stripper.

Or just get your local powder coaters to bead blast it!

Nitromors does the job really well. I don’t get what people are on abotu it stinging hands though, stings like a bit*h on your face, but my hands were fine, I didn’t bother with gloves after a while.

+1 for getting some one else to do it, stripping paint is messy and expensive in time and money. if you look around you can get it powder coated for about £30. and it’ll probably be better than anything you could do (no offence)

You don’t need rubber gloves! If you get some on your hands (which you shouldn’t except very ocassionally), just rinse off with COLD water. Paint stripper these days is watered down for health and safety reasons. If your existing finish is powdercoat or stove enamel, you might find that Nitromors will only soften the paint.

This is how I did my frame recently:
Apply nitromors, allow a few minutes. Stickers and some paints bubble up really quickly. Scrape this loose stuff off and then immediately re-apply the stripper all over.

15-20 mins later, use a spokeshave or a stanley knike with a rounded off tip (use a wetstone to grind away the tip etc). Slice off layers of paint as much as you can get off.

Re-apply paintstripper, wait 15 mins and scrape off any stubborn bits then use a coarse scotchbrite pad to get right down to the metal. Wirewool clogs quickly, sheds steel fibres and isn’t so effective at getting paint off.

Awkward nooks an crannies can be dealt with using a brass sparkplug brush (£2 from halfords). Really awkward bits require a Dremmel with a wire brush bit or a carborundum tip – be careful and wear glasses when using a Dremmel. The idea is to not remove metal, but those carborundum tips are pretty soft. Go very gently and you will be fine.

Wash down and then lightly go over the frame with 120 grade wet and dry. Finally wash and then dry off with a clean rag.

One gleaming bare metal frame! 😀

You could try finding someone to blast clean the frame, but these firms often empoly “numpty” who will blast away bearing surfaces and threads at the same time. (I had an antique bedstead blasted once, they wrecked it because they couldn’t be bothered to remove all the brass components – even though the boss promised they would)

Powder coating after this is best as it is very durable and fills any small imperfections as it bakes on. Expect to pay £25 for a typical bike frame.

Use the Nitromors in the yellow tin rather than the green. It’s the liquid one rather than the gel and I’ve always found it better. And as others have said wire wool.

DID MY KLEIN HARDTAIL LAST WEEK,
NITROMORZ, THEN BLAST IT WITH PRESSURE WASHER, DRY WITH OLD TOWEL THEN REAPPLY NITRO, FRAME TOTALLY BARE IN AN HOUR, JUST A SLIGHT RUB WITH WET N DRY,

Expect to pay £25 for a typical bike frame.

Blimey, I want to live where you do. £50+ in London. 😥

Right powder coating seems a better idea to be honest

Spoken to one firm on Sheepbridge (I’m based in Dronfield, work on sheepbridge) £40 but I’ll have to still nitromors the frame/forks.

Can anybody recomend/used any powder-coaters in the sheffield area

seeing as there’s a few more bods about i’ll ask my question again

powder coating seems a better idea to be honest

Spoken to one firm on Sheepbridge (I’m based in Dronfield, work on sheepbridge) £40 but I’ll have to still nitromors the frame/forks.

Can anybody recommend/used any powder-coaters in the sheffield area