"Purple pond" question

[mecklm]

For you folks that remove paint in the purple pond, does the paint merely lose its adhesion to the base surface and come off in sheets and pieces or does it actually dissolve/disintegrate or does it depend on what type of paint was used? 

Thanks in advance for your info! 

Mike 

[Jhedir6]

15 minutes ago, mecklm said:

For you folks that remove paint in the purple pond, does the paint merely lose its adhesion to the base surface and come off in sheets and pieces or does it actually dissolve/disintegrate or does it depend on what type of paint was used? 

Thanks in advance for your info! 

Mike 

Depends on the paint and primer. Sometimes it "sheets" off the primer, sometimes it just dissolves. Depends on the age of the paint too. I find the older the paint, the more it comes off in sheets. Just have an old toothbrush around to scrub it if it doesnt look like it's working.

 

[Bainford]

For what it's worth, from my experience I found the purple pond is effective on enamel but not lacquer. I haven't tried it on acrylic.

[Model Carnage]

Agree with Jehdir6 - it can work both ways.

Free hint: warming it up to 100°-120° makes it work better and faster. And using non-abrasive powdered cleanser on the toothbrush for traction helps on stubborn flat blacks.

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

Enamel will usually just disintegrate.

Lacquer will come off in sheets.

 

1 hour ago, Bainford said:

For what it's worth, from my experience I found the purple pond is effective on enamel but not lacquer. I haven't tried it on acrylic.

It will work for lacquer paint.

I've used it to remove paints as stubborn as Duplicolor & other automotive lacquers.

Being as the Super Clean will dissolve the primer & not the paint, you need to give it an avenue to reach the primer.

This can be achieved by scratching the paint in a few areas down to the primer.

That will allow the Super Clean to work it's way under the paint to begin to lift it.

It can take a while, but I've found that if you just let it soak for a week or more, (the plastic will not be harmed by letting it soak for weeks at a time) the paint will lift & peel completely off.

I've had entire body panels of paint peel off in one large piece.

I will add that while the paint will come off, the primer can be another matter.

Super Clean doesn't seem to work very well on the clean removal of primer.

It will however remove multiple coats of lacquer cleanly with patience.

 

And please, use Super Clean!

Purple Power does not work nearly as well.

 

Steve

Edited November 30, 2017 by StevenGuthmiller

[mecklm]

Thanks for all of your replies! I'm especially fond of the extra credit tips like "super clean" and heating the solution. I'm assuming the heating only applies to short term soaks as opposed to weeks long durations. 

Follow up question; I do have a small, heated ultrasonic cleaner with a 30 minute timer. Has anyone used the cleaners in combination with ultrasonic? Any pitfalls to be wary of?

Thanks again for all the thorough replies! 

Mike 

[restoman]

For what it's worth, I've had good luck using Super Clean to remove automotive urethanes as well... it just takes a long time, but as noted above soaking for a good bit didn't seem to hurt the styrene at all.

[smhardesty]

Try using a denture brush as opposed to a regular, old toothbrush. The angle of the handle and head, along with the second, smaller head, make a denture brush a better choice. The bristles are normally a little more durable as well.

[StevenGuthmiller]

7 hours ago, restoman said:

 but as noted above soaking for a good bit didn't seem to hurt the styrene at all.

True.

I've soaked parts for as much as a month with no adverse affects to the plastic whatsoever.

 

 

Steve

[martinfan5]

On 11/30/2017 at 2:28 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

Enamel will usually just disintegrate.

Lacquer will come off in sheets.

 

It will work for lacquer paint.

I've used it to remove paints as stubborn as Duplicolor & other automotive lacquers.

Being as the Super Clean will dissolve the primer & not the paint, you need to give it an avenue to reach the primer.

This can be achieved by scratching the paint in a few areas down to the primer.

That will allow the Super Clean to work it's way under the paint to begin to lift it.

It can take a while, but I've found that if you just let it soak for a week or more, (the plastic will not be harmed by letting it soak for weeks at a time) the paint will lift & peel completely off.

I've had entire body panels of paint peel off in one large piece.

I will add that while the paint will come off, the primer can be another matter.

Super Clean doesn't seem to work very well on the clean removal of primer.

It will however remove multiple coats of lacquer cleanly with patience.

 

And please, use Super Clean!

Purple Power does not work nearly as well.

 

Steve

The conclusion I have come to over the years using the Super Clean( not the knock off white bottle junk),  is that there are so many varibles when it comes to what it will strip and how long it will take and how well it does.   Ive noticed that it will strip the same paint differently each time, so a lot depends on the prep work too.   I am talking about lacquers.

The one thing for certain is that heat helps a ton.

[1930fordpickup]

On 11/30/2017 at 4:44 PM, mecklm said:

Thanks for all of your replies! I'm especially fond of the extra credit tips like "super clean" and heating the solution. I'm assuming the heating only applies to short term soaks as opposed to weeks long durations. 

Follow up question; I do have a small, heated ultrasonic cleaner with a 30 minute timer. Has anyone used the cleaners in combination with ultrasonic? Any pitfalls to be wary of?

Thanks again for all the thorough replies! 

Mike 

I wonder if it would bubble up with the ultrasonic cleaner. If it does not, it should help being warmed up. DO NOT FORGET YOUR GLOVES while handling this stuff. I try not to strip paint while container is sitting in basement. I will bring it up by a vent to get it warmer than cold as the basement. That stuff works great in July and August when it is hot as I do not have Air. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, 1930fordpickup said:

I wonder if it would bubble up with the ultrasonic cleaner. If it does not, it should help being warmed up. DO NOT FORGET YOUR GLOVES while handling this stuff. I try not to strip paint while container is sitting in basement. I will bring it up by a vent to get it warmer than cold as the basement. That stuff works great in July and August when it is hot as I do not have Air. 

I've been blessed with buying a house with radiant heat in the basement, so the basement floor has become the perfect place to keep my Super Clean receptacle!

 

 

Steve

[Pete J.]

Don't know why, but Super Clean doesn't work well on Tamiya lacquer.  For that I use break fluid.  I have been spraying automotive lacquers for years(maybe 20+) and Super Clean really works well on those.  As to damage to the plastic, well, yes it will damage it over time.  I have a body I use for demos and practicing and after about the 20th trip to the pond, it got brittle.  Kind of like the Super Clean was taking the flex out of it, but if you are striping a part for the 20th time you need to get a different hobby.

[martinfan5]

12 hours ago, Pete J. said:

Don't know why, but Super Clean doesn't work well on Tamiya lacquer.

It's one of things that I mentioned has a ton of variables, and if the stars are aliened in the sky just right, it will strip it just fine.

 

[Pete J.]

1 minute ago, martinfan5 said:

It's one of things that I mentioned has a ton of variables, and if the stars are aliened in the sky just right, it will strip it just fine.

 

Interestingly it works on their primer.  If you scratch up a top coat of lacquer and leave it in a while, the primer will dissolve and you will get sheets of the top coat.  Kind of weird!

[martinfan5]

1 minute ago, Pete J. said:

Interestingly it works on their primer.  If you scratch up a top coat of lacquer and leave it in a while, the primer will dissolve and you will get sheets of the top coat.  Kind of weird!

That is what I have noticed, if you use Tamiya primer, for whatever reason, that helps the Purple stuff on stripping the TS paints,  but then then the primer can be a real to pain to strip off.

It is very weird in deed.

[StevenGuthmiller]

47 minutes ago, martinfan5 said:

That is what I have noticed, if you use Tamiya primer, for whatever reason, that helps the Purple stuff on stripping the TS paints,  but then then the primer can be a real to pain to strip off.

It is very weird in deed.

Exact same thing with Duplicolor & MCW paints & primer.

 

 

Steve

[Longbox55]

On ‎12‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 12:19 AM, 1930fordpickup said:

I wonder if it would bubble up with the ultrasonic cleaner. If it does not, it should help being warmed up. DO NOT FORGET YOUR GLOVES while handling this stuff. I try not to strip paint while container is sitting in basement. I will bring it up by a vent to get it warmer than cold as the basement. That stuff works great in July and August when it is hot as I do not have Air. 

To answer the question, no, it does not bubble up in an ultrasonic cleaner. In fact, it actually works very well in one for stripping paint. The combination of the heat plus the ultrasonic action makes it work faster. However, you do want to use some caution doing this. One, don't leave the heat on once it's up to temp, as it will start to make vapors that you definitely do not want to breathe. Warm is fine, hot isn't. Also, if you use it with resin, either avoid using heat, or keep it very low. I almost toasted a Flintstone A 100 van body by leaving in with too much heat. Fortunately, I caught it and straightened it out. And finally, when you're done, empty the Superclean/Purple Power/Zep out of the cleaner and rinse it out good. While the tubs in the cleaners are generally stainless, and the ye base cleaners will not hurt them, it could potentially cause problems with other components of the cleaner if left in it. 

[peteski]

The topmost sticky in this section of the forum has hundreds of posts about stripping model paints and lots of hints as to what works with what and other special things that can be done to successfully strip paint. While it will take a while to read through it than just posting a new question about the same old paint strippers, that lengthy thread is very educational.   Just sayin' . . .

[1930fordpickup]

8 hours ago, Longbox55 said:

To answer the question, no, it does not bubble up in an ultrasonic cleaner. In fact, it actually works very well in one for stripping paint. The combination of the heat plus the ultrasonic action makes it work faster. However, you do want to use some caution doing this. One, don't leave the heat on once it's up to temp, as it will start to make vapors that you definitely do not want to breathe. Warm is fine, hot isn't. Also, if you use it with resin, either avoid using heat, or keep it very low. I almost toasted a Flintstone A 100 van body by leaving in with too much heat. Fortunately, I caught it and straightened it out. And finally, when you're done, empty the Superclean/Purple Power/Zep out of the cleaner and rinse it out good. While the tubs in the cleaners are generally stainless, and the ye base cleaners will not hurt them, it could potentially cause problems with other components of the cleaner if left in it. 

Thank you for the info Bill.