Paint, that is.
What do people use and what are folks happy with?
I have two wings to strip down and I'm looking for an effective but not noxious solution.
Any experience with WebberTech Sunset Strip?

The best I have found is SPC-909. Stays wet, will lift urethanes and filler. I buy it from http://www.aerocolorspaint.com/ in 5 gal jugs but they will sell by the gallon.

Stewart Systems EkoStrip E3000.

Brent

Thanks for the two replies.
How are these when it comes to using in confined areas like an attached garage?
How bad is cleanup?

Fanny Fox.

I helped my son strip an Arrow with SoyGel. It worked VERY easily, no odor, cleans up with water. Brush it on, cover with plastic, wait overnight, push off with a plastic putty knife, re-treat as necessary. This was factory paint; I don’t know how it performs on today’s paints.

Here is another good thread on the topic:
https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/stri ... ings-11232

Stewart Systems gifted me a small bottle of EkoStrip at Airventure this year. I'm going to try it on a small part or two and see how I like it before buying gallons more. If it doesn't work, I will pay someone to use the industrial stuff because I like the brain cells I have left. The non eco-friendly strippers contain Methylene Chloride -- a compound usually requiring ventilation, respirators, and body suits to handle safely. You can google it and read up on why it's not something you want to handle without precautions.

Non-MC based strippers are more limited in manufacture, and effectiveness seems to vary depending on what paint you're cleaning off. The MC based strippers will remove just about anything but are so hazardous that many countries outright ban their use. As the historical problem children of the world however, the USA still lets you cook your brains if you like. For me, if it comes to that I am going to cough up the money to have a professional handle that task.

Bagarre wrote:Any experience with WebberTech Sunset Strip?

Using some right now. I'm maybe limiting my success with it a bit by not buying a sprayer for it, but I'm having mixed results. The stuff definitely likes the sun and heat. My friend that suggested it to me says humidity, also. On Monday, I spread some on the bottom side of a pair of flaps with a scrub brush, making sure to get about 1/8" of coverage, then I started on the topside of a wing. Within 30 minutes (scrubbing with the brush after most of the paint had bubbled), 90+% of the wing was ready to wash. 100% an hour after application. It didn't have the same effect on the flaps.

On the flaps, the paint got softer, and the brush would scrape through it to the primer with some effort, but after 2-3 hours with some scrubbing and cleaning with a pressure washer, there's still some primer residue left over. The wings seemed to have been primed with zinc chromate, but the flaps had a red/burgundy primer. I'm not sure if the type of primer would have an effect on how well the stripper attacks the paint.... I'm sure a second application will clean the flaps up 100%

It's smelly stuff, but not really a toxic kind of smell. I'd definitely use it outside, given the option.

EkoStrip has its own smell, but it’s not the harmful burning of chemical stripper. I don’t find it bad at all and had no complaints from my hanger neighbors. Brush it on, wait a couple of hours, scrape off with plastic scraper onto LOTS of plastic sheeting, repeat and rinse with water. Be sure to cover windows with aluminum foil and tape. Nitrile gloves and rubber boots.

Brent

Been lurking on this thread. -I’ve been on the fence for awhile on ordering some of this “friendlier” stripper. Was afraid that it wouldn’t work. So it looks like they have it sorted out. I see PPG offers amine/benzoyl alcohol neutral stripper called “Elderado”. Supposedly this is the only product Boeing will use. About $180 bucks for a five gal jug. Anyone tried this product? I’m done using Meth Chloride.

Decided to try the EcoStrip for the wings.
I'll report back on how well it goes.
Thanks everyone!

For stripping paint from metal.....Aircraft paint stripper from Car Quest... smells and behaves like the old Jasco paint stripper.... burns like a bee-otch when you get it on your skin. Don’t care for the friendly stripper... we’ll there was this one time at the the Bush...

m_moyle wrote:For stripping paint from metal.....Aircraft paint stripper from Car Quest... smells and behaves like the old Jasco paint stripper.... burns like a bee-otch when you get it on your skin. Don’t care for the friendly stripper... we’ll there was this one time at the the Bush...

Strippers don't need to be entirely friendly but if you feel a burning sensation while using one, you need to put on more protection

That’s where the sniff test comes into play. If it stinks you know it’s a hard working stripper...and you know you’ll need protection...

m_moyle wrote:For stripping paint from metal.....Aircraft paint stripper from Car Quest...

Is that this stuff? http://www.kleanstrip.com/product/aircraft-paint-remover It says on the label something about "don't use on aluminum" or "corrosive to aluminum" or some such verbiage that made me feel that they should choose a different name for it

1:1 Scale wrote:

m_moyle wrote:For stripping paint from metal.....Aircraft paint stripper from Car Quest...

Is that this stuff? http://www.kleanstrip.com/product/aircraft-paint-remover It says on the label something about "don't use on aluminum" or "corrosive to aluminum" or some such verbiage that made me feel that they should choose a different name for it

That’s the stuff... does say “not for aircraft use” on the technical specifications sheet. Maybe due to the inability to remove from lap joints... which will lead to corrosion over time. I used it on separated parts. No joints or areas I couldn’t rinse with copious amounts of water. Suppose if I were to strip an entire aircraft it wouldn’t be used over joints...only surfaces a person could insure the compound was entirely removed.

Is there a secret trick to using the Stewart Systems EkoStrip 3000?
We tried it on the fuel tank covers with not much success.

Brushed on a thick layer
Covered it with plastic sheet
Left it overnight in the garage

Today, it is barely attacking the paint enough to consider it soft. We used hard plastic scraper and a lot of elbow grease and we still have primer left. That approach cant work on the wing or I'll cave the skins in.

It didn't get terribly cold overnight. The shop probably cooled down to the low 70s.
What are we doing wrong?

I’m actually stripping a set of wings right now as well, with Meth Cloride and I’m having a hell of a time getting the paint off the fuel tank covers too.
Maybe there’s something different about them.

Hmm. Not sure you’re doing any thing wrong, but it worked amazing for me. I could take the majority of my paint off in under three hours without covering it in plastic. Different type of paint? Imron, urethane, other? I have no idea in the differences. I have video of mine literally dripping off of the bottom of my wings. Try adding a heater. When I did mine it was in the low to mid 90’s. Not sure if that would help. Also, contact Stewart Systems and ask for pointers if you haven’t already. Wish I could be more help. That’ll teach me for making a recommendation.[emoji849]

Brent