Epoxy Safe Spray Paint Thinner

[pugachu]

Hi,

I have a fiberglass nosecone that I need to strip the spray paint and primer off to refinish, without compromising the integrity of the epoxy. it's a homemade nosecone, made with S-glass and Aeropoxy. it's a 54mm nosecone, so not so big that I can't submerge it in a gentle solvent. I dinged the tip, and want to build it back up with high temp epoxy, but want to bring it down to bare 'glass, instead of bonding to the paint.

Thanks!

 

[rharshberger]

test an obscure area of the nosecone with the chosen paint remover, most times you can apply chemical remover, allow the paint to bubble, scrape, remove the chemical, wash and repeat without doing appreciable harm to the epoxy. Once epoxy is cured its pretty tough stuff, and heat is pretty much the only thing that really does nasty stuff too it or leaving chemicals on it too long.

 

[David Schwantz]

Above. But if you are really worried about the glass, sandpaper is the best then.

 

[manixFan]

Above. But if you are really worried about the glass, sandpaper is the best then.

I second this – I’ve gone down to the bare fiberglass by wet sanding many times. It seems to take forever at first, but once you break through the finish it starts going fairly quickly. If you’re going to re-coat it with epoxy, you could start with 80 grit to get through the finish in a hurry then work your way up to 220. I’ve done that many times with good results. For curved surfaces, I also use sanding ’sponges’ for wet sanding.

Good luck,


Tony

PS: with the 80 grit I only use it to break the top coat, I’m careful not to sand into the underlying structure. As long as the primer is a different color than the top coat, it’s easy to know when to stop