Whats up guys. We are in the process of doing a rebuild on one of my 182's. My mechanic has left me with the task of stripping the wings (already removed). I've assisted in stripping an aircraft years ago so I have an idea of the does and don'ts. Just wondering if any one other there and any tips?? What stripper do you use? What types of tools for removal? Just trying to get any tips that might make it less "painless"?

Lance

The best new strippers are peroxide based. It may be a challenge finding them in smaller quantities. Set your wings on wooden sawhorses (plastic ones will be attacked by the stripper). put plastic, thick sheeting under the wings to catch the paint you scrape off. Mask off any plastic with aluminum duct tape, or remove it. Close any holes to the interior of the wing with the aluminum duct tape. You put the new strippers on and wait 24 hours and scrape it off. Make scrapers out of scrap plexiglass, cut to about 1-1.5" wide and grind a chisel end to it (you keep re-grinding the end to keep it pointed).

After you strip the main areas. Wash the wings with the sealing aluminum tape left in place, you do not want stripper drooling into the interior. Remove the tape and do the paint left under the tape with either a rotating tool with a plastic abrasive wire wheel or use a small quantity of stripper, very carefully.

Wear Eye Protection and get stripper quality gloves (the thick green ones from home depot). Wear clothes you want to throw away and shoes that can be sacrificed. When your done, roll up the plastic with the chips and throw it away. You will now know why paint shops charge so much to strip your plane.

Stripped my 170 earlier this spring using Stewart Systems EkoStrip E3000. HIGHLY recommend it. Not toxic, no nasty fumes and eco friendly. I second the plastic catch but buy plastic paint scrapers from Lowes for .99 each they work well and don't mar the aluminum. Put on a heavy coat of stripper, go find something to do for an hour, and scrape off everything you can. Then repeat. After the second scraping there will be very little if anything left. Now use the biggest pressure washer you can find, mine is 4000 psi @ 4.0 gpm and blow away all remaining residue being sure to contain all waste, of course. You will be left with beautiful clean aluminum. I did both wings after work in two nights.

Have fun,

Brent

I build up table to support wings out of saw horses with 3/4 inch full sheet plywood on top - with some old carpet on top of that . Do one wing at a time flipping over and using "aircraft paint stripper " and 1/8 inch plywood scrapper--- plastic drop cloth all around . Rubber fishing waders and very long rubber gloves -- old clothes that will be thrown out and old shoes . This is a messy process at best --old paint rollers to apply (paint roller pan) gooey coat . Do leading edge back about half way in approx 2 foot wide strips .Then do the trailing edge (remove all the flight controls yes) Scrape off paint and stripper into old Coffey can and set aside. I have done lots of Cessna wings / tails and flight controls like this . Set of wings shouldn't take over gallon or 2 . Scotch brute and alumprep all over . Finnish with alodine on bare metal . After that it's ready for prime and paint.

Many strippers contain volatile components such as methylene Chloride and methanol. These can fume off quickly in warm climates reducing the strippers performance. Placing polyethylene film plastic over the applied area help seal them in allowing good contact time and improve effectiveness, especially with tough polyurethane coatings. Talstrip aircraft stripper works well but it has some really nasty ingredients in it. ie Ethylene oxide. A known carcinogen.

exodus wrote: Placing polyethylene film plastic over the applied area help seal them in allowing good contact time and improve effectiveness, especially with tough polyurethane coatings. .

Yep, no matter what stripper you use, a sheet of plastic over the stripper will help it work and therefore you'll get a better job and use less stripper and even a bit less elbow grease.
John

Obsessively make sure you clean all the stripper off. I know of a Cherokee that was junked because the paint shop let stripper residue get into the wing where over time it corroded the trailing edge spar...

If at all possible, avoid using any stripper containing Methyl Chloride. It is a really bad chemical, both for disposal and your health. It will cause chemical burns on your skin and various organs are affected by the fumes. There are really good reasons it has been banned in the industry.

The peroxide based strippers on the other hand are Ph neutral, so it will not harm the metal. If you get it on your skin, it just bleaches it. It smells funky, but doesn't cause organ failure. You do not need to cover it with plastic to keep the volatiles in (the stuff that harms you anyway). It is kind of a slime and stays on without evaporating. We leave it on for 24 hours and it usually pops the paint off. Old enamels that are very oxidized turn into a goo. By far they are the best strippers we have used in a long line. They get multiple coats off at once and require less labor to clean up. Best of all, our disposal fees are way down.

If you alodine, use plastic under it as well. It is also considered toxic and hazardous. Prep the metal well if you use it, let the runoff dry on the plastic and wrap that up and dispose of it in a plastic bag. The metal should be warm when you apply it, or it really will not react well with the surface.