We supply refurbished headlamp reflectors on an exchange basis. The plating company we use will either take reflectors already stripped or will, at substantial cost, strip them themselves. Metal ones are probably easy - bead-blast and sand. We've been trying to find a good method of stripping plastic reflectors.
A dishwasher will get most of the silver off and some of the base, which looks like a lacquer or varnish. However, the lacquer can be stubborn and we have tried different methods without great success. The plating company suggests they use boiling water but we haven't had great results from that. A bodywork chap who has prepared them successfully for us says he uses paint stripper but we have tried a couple of these - one (a cheapie from B&Q) didn't do anything useful and the other (Nitromors) attacked the plastic when we tested it on the back of a reflector. When asked, he seemed very vague on which product he used but he has said he doesn't have time to do them any more so I don't think he's trying to put us off in order to get the work.
Going on the boiling water suggestion, my other half (who will probably end up doing the stripping) has suggested making a steamer.
Any other suggestions? The plastic parts need to be stripped so that, once keyed, they will make a stable base to take a high-temperature primer (I don't know what kind of primer that is but I believe it is a 2K product). Obviously, they also need to be smooth.
Examining a couple of reflectors I have here, there are no markings to indicate the type of plastic used.
A dishwasher will get most of the silver off and some of the base, which looks like a lacquer or varnish. However, the lacquer can be stubborn and we have tried different methods without great success. The plating company suggests they use boiling water but we haven't had great results from that. A bodywork chap who has prepared them successfully for us says he uses paint stripper but we have tried a couple of these - one (a cheapie from B&Q) didn't do anything useful and the other (Nitromors) attacked the plastic when we tested it on the back of a reflector. When asked, he seemed very vague on which product he used but he has said he doesn't have time to do them any more so I don't think he's trying to put us off in order to get the work.
Going on the boiling water suggestion, my other half (who will probably end up doing the stripping) has suggested making a steamer.
Any other suggestions? The plastic parts need to be stripped so that, once keyed, they will make a stable base to take a high-temperature primer (I don't know what kind of primer that is but I believe it is a 2K product). Obviously, they also need to be smooth.
Examining a couple of reflectors I have here, there are no markings to indicate the type of plastic used.