Paint remoal by wet sanding

PostPost by: rdssdi » Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:07 pm

I came accross these old photos of my +2 in the process of stripping the old paint. I chose to wet sand the paint off. One layer at a time. I considered it the best way to preserve the original gel coat. Was I wrong. Besides the extensive effort and time, it was mind numbing. The up side was my Scottish Terrier Abigail would sit and watch me. No doubt wbdering why I was using that method. Unfortunately prior to completion I was scheduled for heart surgery. Once I was home and somewhat back to normal the winter was closing in. I hired a plastic media blaster who came to my home with a fabric tent which was inflated by a fan. Once the car was in the tent the blaster entered with breathing suit and blasted the remaining paint off. No difference when compared to the laborious hand sanding.
The body was placed upon the completed Spyder chassis which I covered in plastic for protection.
Some photos.
Attachments
pa200054.jpg and
p5290039.jpg and
pa200060.jpg and
pa200055.jpg and
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PostPost by: Donels » Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:10 pm

Wow. That sounds like a really neat method. I've not heard of that before. I wish I had though, I am still in the mind numbing removal phase by sanding. The easy areas are all done but the door frames are...challenging!
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PostPost by: Thornts » Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:38 am

Great system, great results IMHO. If you don't mind me asking, how much did the guy off Dr Who charge?

Cheers

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PostPost by: rdssdi » Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:55 am

It has been years I do not recall the cost. The convenience of having him come to my house was worth more than I paid.
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PostPost by: prezoom » Fri Jun 21, 2019 3:36 pm

Has anyone had a car stripped with the dry ice method? While visiting my mother-in-law one day, I noticed some blasting going on their driveway down the street. Thinking about all the mess that was occurring, I walked down to see what was going on. Patio furniture was being stripped and the only mess from the dry ice method was the removed paint. Not sure of cost, but cleanup would have been quite easy compared to using sand or another media.
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PostPost by: Emma-Knight » Fri Jun 21, 2019 6:04 pm

Dry ice is unsuitable for fibre glass.
Elans are polyester resin - quite similar to paint komposition. Dry ice cracks paint - and so does it crack gelcoat. Had my windscreenframe tested with that method - millions of fine cracks - like frozen magherita afterwards. Had the 80% rest done with soda blast - fine dull surface. No damage.
I can post pictures of that ice horror in about two weeks.
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PostPost by: prezoom » Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:09 pm

Well, that answered that! Thank you.
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1964 Elva Mk4T Coupe (awaiting restoration)
1965 Ford Falcon Ranchero, 302,AOD,9",rack and pinion,disc,etc,etc,etc
1954 Nash Healey LeMans Coupe

Owning a Lotus will get you off the couch
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PostPost by: Robbie693 » Tue Jun 25, 2019 11:11 pm

Emma-Knight wrote:Dry ice is unsuitable for fibre glass.
Elans are polyester resin - quite similar to paint komposition. Dry ice cracks paint - and so does it crack gelcoat. Had my windscreenframe tested with that method - millions of fine cracks - like frozen magherita afterwards. Had the 80% rest done with soda blast - fine dull surface. No damage.
I can post pictures of that ice horror in about two weeks.
Anna


Indeed, Fender use it in their custom shop when artificially ageing guitars (cracks, crazing, laquer checking etc) they use dry ice on the newly painted bodies to create the effect!

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