[VAL] Stripper for aluminum paint? - progress report

[John Sellers <sellersj@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Gang,

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions.  Unfortunately, right now we are
going through a spell of phone line problems so my internet access is
very chancy.

I will try to get some RemovAll stripper and see if that will do it.  I
haven't found a source yet on account of my internet connection not
being good enough for web browsing--I'm doing good to send and receive
email. I will also try Jasco paint stripper and Klean Strip Aircraft
Stripper if I can find them--so far I have seen Jasco tile adhesive
stripper in the stores, but not paint stripper.

I also tried 3M Safe Stripper--a non-methyl-chloride formula--but it
didn't work well enough to repeat.  After a 3 hour soak the paint was
soft enough to scour off with steel wool, but not as soft as after 30
minutes with one of the methylene chloride strippers. (3M recommends
their own paint remover pad made of coarse Scotchbrite coated with some
kind of abrasive, but I shudder to think the scratches it would put in
the aluminum.)  

In the mean time, I had planned to get the trailer done during
September, and I'm going to get as far as I can.  After trying four
different brands of stripper with roughly equivalent results I decided
that the only sure course of action was to fall back on Grim
Determination, which, experience has shown, succeeds when all else
fails.

I have evolved a fairly effective technique with methylene chloride
paint stripper (Bix, Martin Senour 6802, Parks Pro-Strip, etc.) and
steel wool.

I am keenly aware of the objection to steel wool that it can leave
particles of steel wool in the finish which will eventually rust.  But
ya gotta realize that I'm between a rock and a hard place here--steel
wool is the only thing I have found that will cut the paint.  (And
Nuvite F7 will polish out the scratches from the fine (000) steel wool
I'm using.)  I'm hoping that using the steel wool wet with paint
stripper and lacquer thinner, and washing off the debris, will get rid
of most of the steel wool particles.  Also that compounding with Nuvite
F7 will polish out any microscopic fragments embedded in the aluminum. 
Only time will tell. 

What I do is cover about a 4 or 5 square foot area with stripper and let
it soak for a half an hour or so.  (This seems to be about
optimum--longer soaking and multiple applications of stripper haven't
seemed to make much difference.)

Then I have at it with steel wool dampened with lacquer thinner.  The
lacquer thinner seems to help.  I use the term "dampened" advisedly. 
Too much lacquer thinner seems to act as a lubricant and makes a lot of
fumes. Just a little is the ticket.

I started out with a circular scrubbing motion but quickly learned that
up-and-down and side-to-side work better.  Two factors are the direction
of the brush strokes (the paint was brushed on) and the direction of the
mill finish of the aluminum.  (The aluminum seems to have a little bit
of a "grain" to it, horizontal on most panels but vertical on the door.)
The keys to effectiveness are lots of pressure on the steel wool, and
frequent turning and shredding the steel wool pad to continually expose
fresh fibers.

Every square foot or so I stop and wipe off the accumulated sculch with
a paper towel dampened (same caution as above) with lacquer thinner.

After getting down the learning curve a bit I have found that I can
strip about 5 square feet in an hour.

Like Uwe said (aside from Oy Vey!, with which I wholeheartedly concur!),
it's a good thing we have a small trailer.  I roughly calculated the
surface area to be about 330 square feet.  At 5 square feet per hour it
will take 66 hours of stripping.

A lot of work, but possible with Grim Determination.  So far we have
stripped about 60 square feet. I won't get the trailer polished in
September, but if I hit it a good lick every day that weather permits I
will have it stripped, and maybe one pass over the whole trailer with F7
to make it look "sorta" polished.  Heck, we have already had
passers-by comment on how nice the *stripped* panels looked!

Crazy?  Of course.  You don't have to be crazy to own a vintage
Airstream, but it helps.  I still remember a comment by a non-vintage
WBCCI member at last year's Region 7 rally in Bemidji.  I remarked that
we were probably crazy to take Little Bubble on the road with none of
the plumbing working.  She smiled and said, "Not crazy--just a Vintage
Airstreamer."

Quite so.

Best,
John & Barb Sellers
WBCCI/VAC #1587
1960 Pacer (currently with two-tone finish)
Dayton, Ohio