Paint/Powder coat removal

[m_c]

I've got an ongoing job that involves stripping the original coating from some bits of metal, however I've yet to find an easy to remove said coating.

I can't decide if it's a thick textured paint, or powder coat, but whatever it is, it's very well stuck on.
Wire wheel just smears it, grinding disc just gets clogged. and it's too well attached to scrape off.

The best solution I've found so far, are flap discs, but I only get 2-3 parts from each disc, and it's hard on my hands/fingers, as you need to put a good bit weight behind the grinder, so I'm limited with how many I can do at a time before my hands start aching too much.

This a photo of the surface -

Has anybody got any suggestions that might make removing this easier?

 

[striker]

Have you tried an electric heat gun for paint stripping and and a scraper?

 

[Ross365]

That textured surface reminds me of the sort of wear-resistant surface coatings I used to work with. Not paints or polymers but things like metal carbides; very hard indeed.

 

[m_c]

Have you tried an electric heat gun for paint stripping and and a scraper?

Yes.
It's a curved surface, so although heat did help with scraping some of the coating off, there was still enough left that it didn't really save much time with a flap disc.


It wouldn't be so bad, but the original parts only came with a thin coat of paint, but the supplier changed the spec so they now come with this coating :/

 

[julianf]

Are they small enough to fit in a drum with some DCM stripper?

 

[bourbon]

give us a clue then. What are the parts and how many have you got to strip?

 

[500e]

Nylon? Boat helm wheels nightmare!! a firm in Southampton did a few for us, never found how they did them.
Can't remember who they were though

 

[Turbo]

What about one of the paint stripping discs in a grinder? They are currently in Lidl if you want to try one.

 

[Melvyn Best]

A decent paint stripper ,if you can find one ,works on powder coating . Think I used Starchem when I stripped my kitcar chassis? My local shot blaster reckoned blasting powder coat just bounced off of it without removing

 

[striker]

When I used to work on a plastics plant, the only way to clean the extruder heads, once the plastic had gone hard was with heat/fire. Could you not chuck them onto a bonfire?

 

[500e]

They did not burn the nylon coating off 1.5 mtr alloy boat wheelsa

 

[bletchmonster]

Could you cook them in an oven? That's how a paint stripping firm in Brum did a load of balustrades that my customer wanted powder coated and then didn't like the plasticity look.
They power washed the residue off after cooking.
The powder coaters referred me to them as the only way to remove the hideous stuff.

 

[GRW]

Propane torch?

 

[stuvy]

My mate has a blasting company and sometimes the only way is fire and a wire brush and a scrapper

 

[Al Strachan]

ive just cleaned up some alloy wheels using these:

two does a complete wheel and doesn't take that long.

Also using screwfix paint stripper, it doesnt work as effectively as on more domestic paints, but an overnight steep and it softens up the paint enoung for the stripping discs to blitz the coating in a 1/4 of the time - zero clogging. (powerwash the stripper off and you are left with a greatly softened paint/powder - right down to the bare wheel)