I am sure when you saw the title of this post you thought I was posting some different kind of material. Sorry to disappoint

 I have spent the last few years reading the questions, advice, adventure and misadventure of people stripping their aluminum tanks down. I thought it was finally time to give it a try.

 Most of the forum folks recommend Zip Strip or Klene Strip. I couldn’t find either of these products locally. I spent a bit of time looking for a suitable “aircraft stripper” with no results. My next step was to look at the MSDS for Zip Strip. I found that the listed ingredients matched “Dads Easy Spray Paint Stain and Varnish Remover” pretty well.

 When I got it home, I read the directions which seemed pretty straight forward. The only thing I didn’t like was that they recommend 60-80 degrees for optimal results. It’s still kinda cold here and I had a fancy blue aluminum 80 that was due for hydro. So I headed for the garage to give it a try anyways. I am not really known for following directions.

 I sprayed down the tank with the stripper and waited. But I am not the patient type, so as soon as I saw bubbles I started scrapping with my plastic paint scrapper.  Most of the paint just slothed off like melting butter. Nice! There were a few spots like the shoulder of the tank that the paint seemed thicker and was a bit stubbourn.

 In hindsight I should have waited a bit longer and maybe waited until we had a warm day. But after reapplying a few times and scrapping down onto a garbage bag, then buffing with a towel, I had a pretty clean looking tank. I also had a messy garbage bag, two ruined gloves and a towell that would never be the same. I took the tank inside to the laundry sink and washed with soap and water.

 There has been some debate as to weather or not the tanks have a brushed finish underneath the paint. The 1994 Luxfer that I stripped tonight was indeed brushed underneath and looks very much like the aluminum 40 that I bought that way.

 I am very happy with the result and I think that even if the finish had been that dull grey / molted look that others have gotten, it still would have been ok. In hindsight again I need to do this when it is warmer outside and let the stripper work longer. That would probably cut down on the time it took.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 9:55 pm and is filed under Skills and Equipment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.