Paint Stripper

[IDP]

Folks

I recently had the need to remove some paint from a part of a loco and as luck would have it no paint stripper to hand. Now then needs must when the devil drives and casting about the workshop laid my eyes on some brake fluid ~~~well known for its ability to remove paint.

I was amazed at how efficient it was at removing paint and thought I'd share the experience. Not sure but I think brake fluid is cheaper than your average tin of paint stripper and well worth considering!

Regards IDP

 

[Kermit]

It will strip off a baked on finish as well, but takes a few days to soften it up.

AND will remove a cars paint job in about one week exactly. DAMHIKT

;D

 

[IDP]

Have seen brake fluid completely wreck a car paint job overnight !

 

[krv3000]

HI brake fluid is also good penetrating oil

 

[HS93]

in the UK you can get a pan cleaner called Fairy power spray, I used it to remove some car paint and some enamel, not as harmful as brake cleaner and can be washed off.
I was very sceptical when someone told me about it but it took it all off after a half hour .

Peter

 

[Ed T]

I've also had good luck using brake FLUID (not cleaner) to remove paint from plastic parts like models where I screwed up the paint job. As always, test in an area you don't care about.

 

[kcmillin]

Is there a specific brake fluid that works best? DOT 3, DOT 4, DOT 5, or any other DOT or no DOT, whatever you think is best.

Kel


Oh, and a side thought. You may not want to use brake fluid as a paint thinner, if your substraight is made of certain types of plastic. (I'm not sure which ones) You should always do a test, and let it sit for a day or so. It can be extremely corrosive to plastic.

 

[johnthomp]

heres another one to consider my grandmother made me clean the limescale out of her kettle a few years ago when i was looking after her she told me to fill it to the brim with cocacola i thought she was either loseing her marbles or haveing me on but 2 hours later when i was asked to rinse it out i was astonished to find the kettle was like brand new inside so later i experimented with the stuff i threw 2 litres down the toilet and that too came up like new and it also found out given enough time it can not only remove paint but annodize and powdercote god only knows what its doing to my guts !!!!

 

[Ed T]

Belated reply regarding what kind of brake fluid. DOT 3 or 4 should be the ticket. DOT5 is silicone fluid and won't work at all and you'll never get paint to stick to the part again. WRT Coke as a cleaner, it is a fairly strong acid and will work well on any base material (lime build up for instance), but, while it may affect some paints eventually, it's not first on my list since there are many other choices that work better.