Best way to strip Alu frame of paint ?

[Scarecrow]

can i sandblast or do i use a certain paint remover ? there's a bit of oxidisation in places ....not much but i'm not sure if the frame is now useless or not ?

i thought i'd make this my last project before i go to Kuala Lumpur for an unspecified time with work ...

 

[The Bear]

Media blasting would be preferable (plastic pellets) as sand blasting is a bit harsh. If you can change to a finer sand or at the very least turn the power down it may be ok just don't focus on any one area for too long.

A bit of oxidisation shouldn't cause any problems and if sand blasting this should get removed easily. Have a good look for cracks once it's bare and smooth out any areas that may have got damaged during the process.

Any paint stripper should be ok as it shouldn't be left on long enough to do anything to most metals. If you rough the paint up with a coarse sand paper first it will greatly speed up the process.

I had my Attitude frame media blasted and then finished off some tricky areas with paint stripper and it came out beautiful!!

 

[chriscl]

Whatever you don't, *DON'T* sand-blast aluminium.

You will damage the frame.

Soft media blasting (plastic beads or similar) should be OK, or you can have it chemically-stripped (I had an alu frame chem-stripped for £30) and then polish it up afterwards.

If you have the time/effort/elbow grease, you could go the Nitromors route, although the newer Nitromors isn't as good, and takes a lot of effort. Some have reported good results with Gasket Remover also.