Am attempting to clean up interior of my plane, so I can eventually paint.
Advice on removing old dried adhesive that held insulation panels.
What is safe to use?? Goo Gone, Acetone??



Rod Hilton
Kincardine, Ontario, Canada
C-FKJJ

Tapatalk Pro

MEK and a GOOD respirator.

What he said... When I did mine I put it in a plastic water bottle and poked a small hole in the cap to spray the mek on the glue. Keeping it wet seemed to be the trick and I had a fan blowing through from the side to try and keep the air moving out. Theres probably a reason my instructors in school called it Methyl Ethyl Death

3M adhesive remover. More effective than MEK if used properly and considerably less deadly.

Trick is to lay it on in such a way that it stays wet looking for a few minutes until it starts to wrinkle then scrub off with red scotchbrite.


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I went thru a few gallons of MEK mixed 50/50 with mineral spirits (slows evaporation) in a paint gun cleaner bottle but came across a new trick using a very light coat of paint stripper.

Be sure to keep it out of seams. With a brush, apply it thinly to the black goop. It turns it into a soft goop pretty quickly that can be scooped off with a squeegee. Get as much as you can and clean up the rest with MEK.

Micro fiber rags do a much better job at holding on to the crud and makes it easier to clean to a bright finish.

I had a bunch of adhesive to remove the other day on the large panels of the Caravan before I re-covered them. I found the Goo Be Gone Citrus based solvent worked like a charm and didn't require the use of a respirator. If you spray it on and then cover the area with plastic wrap and let it sit for a bit, 10-15 minutes, you can scrape it off with a plastic putty knife. It would even soften the really hard adamantine grade glue.

MEK is really, really, really bad for you if you get it on your skin or inhale it. While it is an excellent solvent and cleaner you really need a quality respirator & gloves to work with it. While replacing the headliner, I was using a special glue, made for headliners. It had in big letters; specially formulated for aviation. Then in slightly smaller letters, it warned, "Do not use in confined spaces." Wait, aviation glue, you do not use in confined spaces! Well, I would have to do a part, tack it down, retreat, let the aircraft air out. Repeat the process. Stuff smelled like burning alien mummies.

Have any of you had experience with CO2 blasting? It seems like the perfect application for it. No solvents, relatively rapid removal, easy cleanup. We have a few mobile services in our area that will come clean industrial equipment. It isn't free, but how does it weigh against a couple of days of taking a bath in MEK?

Depends whether it's old & crusty or just gummy residue. You can get soft (plastic/lexan/etc.) chisels at a Harbor Freight store, or ATS, or Aircraft Spruce for physical removal of most of old & crusty adhesives, then clean up whatever remains with a solvent (MEK). That cuts down on the exposure to MEK. They make plastic chisels for use by hand and ones that you can install in an air hammer or rivet gun. For light gummy stuff WD-40 works well. If you need to paint the surface afterwards you can clean the residual WD-40 off with mineral spirits or acetone. This system always worked well for cleaning the crap out of the bottom of Cessna's that was left from insulation or sound proofing materials. It also worked well for cleaning off the leading edges of the stabilizers on 180's and 185's when the rubber FOD boots needed work, just don't use the MEK there. Enamel thinner is the solvent of choice for painted surfaces when used judiciously on the exterior. -- All bets are off if you're talking about removing adhesive residue from plastics; that's mostly a manual undertaking.

3M General Purpose Adhesive Remover works best on the black stuff and MEK on the yellow. Just my experience.


One upside of the 3M stuff is that it is gentle on paint, even on the old ALCOA stampings on the skins.

Right on ... thanks for all of the good advice.
Went out and got the 3M, MEK, and Citrus Goo Gone.
If is doesn't take care of removing the black, I can make atleast make b-52 Shooters.