Oven cleaner to remove paint?

Southern hunter

Active Hunter
Hi there fellow Fett-heads and Mandos. I've searched the threads and found a few that mentioned using Easy Off oven cleaner to remove layers of old paint. I've been sanding off the old paint on a recently acquired helmet to get it ready to paint. I think the old paint is some kind of enamel spray paint.

Has anyone used Easy Off? Did it work well or did it melt your helmet? Will any oven cleaner work or is there a particular kind.

Should I just suck it up and keep sanding?

As always, thanks for the input and insight. (y)
 
i use Easy Off to restore my rifle stocks. the stuff is like acid so it will probobly eat the paint. the question is what it will do to the helmet. i suppose it would depend on what the helmet is made of and the quality of materials used. if you do use it than i recommend that you leave it on for no more than 7-12 minutes your first try to see how it dose. also you need to make shure you get it all off and that means heavily rinsing in the shower
 
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also you may want to look into a product called Goof Off that will remove the paint and should not dammage the helmet if its fiberglass. i cant say what it will do to resin but it worked like a charm on my fiberglass armor. but when they say keep off skin, they mean it. i love the stuff but iif you come into contact with it, it will make every nerve where it is burn like hell. dont wear latex gloves or use it on plastic cause it will eat it. also avoid the plastic safe goof off because it is significantly weaker.
hope that helps
 
Southern Hunter,
In all my years of painting I can honestly say I have never heard of nor used "Easy Off" to strip paint.But that doesnt meanit wont work.It should since it is a powerful acid base material.It contians Sodium Hydroixide....scary stuff!!!! Not only do you not want this on your skin you dont want to breathe this in,as well the other active ingrediates.You could burn the inside of your lungs,eyes,nose cavity etc.
Another first thought is that not only will it remove your paint but it could cause bigger problems for the item you are removing paint from.I would think it can disfigure or blister the plastic,be absorbered in fiberglass and who knows what damage it would do to a rubber part.
I could be wrong since I have never used it but I feel the extra work that might be needed to correct the additional damage caused might out way a few extra minutes sanded.
A saying I always tell painters and repairs I train in the profession I am in is"Speed Kills".Yeah you might safe time doing a short cut but is it worht it when you have to back track to correct that short cut.
Just some first thoughts....I think I will try it out on a "test" just to see if I am being a "worry wart"
 
Southern Hunter, I agree with Mike P. I just recently sanded off at least two layers of paint from Sgt. Fang MH coz the Rustoleum aluminum base I used cannot be layered since the paint on top of it would not adhere and just peel off. So, I had to start over by sanding the Rustoleum aluminum off down to the primer. I would stick with just sanding off the old paint to be safe.
 
Goof Off gets rid of paint. I don't know what it does to the surface of the object though, it's not recommended for plastics though. I just put it on a paper towel and rub it on the surface of the paint until it's all of the way off, then I lightly sand it.
 
It would work, but there are better ways to do it - that won't poison you or melt your bucket. Try methyl hydrate.

::I mistakenly said "metheline chloride" when I first posted this. Don't use that! Not good. Meant to say methyl hydrate, which is an alcohol base solvent. Sorry for the mix up::
 
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I was reluctant to use oven cleaner or any kind of chemical on this helmet. I think it's fiberglass. It's definitely not the same kind of slush cast resin as my first helmet. Here's a pic of my new helmet modeled by my daughter. :) A current Mando bobble-head model and a future Mando warrior. :lol:

I know to steer clear of Methylene chloride and Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). MEK melts plastics and some scale modelers use it as glue instead of model glue.

Where would I be able to buy Methyl Hydrate?

Mando-Elise.jpg
 
You should be able to get methyl hydrate anywhere you would buy acetone... most hardware stores would carry it. It is probably to be found in the section that has paints and home repair compounds and stuff like that.

By the way, your mando girl looks really cute. My little girl likes to wear my helmets too. I call her "Bobble Fett". LOL
 
the oven cleaner is and old trick and works on some materials BUT it can ruin alot of plastic based materials. i used it a few years ago and found that it can ruin vinyl kits and sintra type plastics. not sure about fglass.
natural mineral spirits should work and not harm the lid at all., reduardless if its fglass or plastics.
 
A suggestion for when you search out methyl hydrate ..becareful when choosing you wording or ammount you wish to purchase.Speaking only about the community I live in and business I purchase paint products with,littlel "red flags" go off due the "methhead" population purchasing any thing with "meth" in it to make their "crack" with.Infact in our communities when buying some over the counter sinus meds you have to present a card repersenting the product and your DL# is written down before the pharmacist sells the med to you.
I am proably being a "worry wart" on your behalf but still I feel I should share that with you
 
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Thanks for the advice everyone. BTW, Lopero, we have to go to the Pharmacy, show a D.L. and sign for anything with Pseudoephedrine in it, in S.C. My mom works for a pharmaceutical and OTC wholesaler and they are not even allowed to buy ANYTHING with pseudophed in it, not even the Sudafed P.E. or the Mucinex D.

What surprised me was that they have pharmaceutical grade cocaine in the warehouse. Actually, it's in a vault, an honest to goodness walk-in bank style vault, complete with a gate and a person who stocks and maintains the area. I wondered, what do hospitals and surgeons use pharmaceutical grade cocaine for? Maxial/facial surgery and opthamalic surgery. It's diluted and used as an anesthetic for the face and eyes. More than you wanted to know right? :lol:

Anyway, back to the topic. I'll see if Ican find the methyl hydrate. It would make removing the paint from the keyslots and ears easier than sanding it.

I'll post some pix soon. (y)
 
If and when you use it, what ever you do DONT get the stuff in your system!

I found out the hard way about a month ago by accident. Just moved into a new apartment and I guess the oven at my place was not completely clean of the stuff. It was coming out both ends and I was layed up for a few days, felt like **** for about a week. Should of gone to the hospital.

I almost had to intruduced myself to Mattastic13 toilet when I was at his place :lol:.

Bad stuff.
 
I tried Easy Off once when cleaning old paint off some Games Workshop miniatures. I had trouble getting the paint out of the details even with the Easy Off and the fumes are nasty.

I wondered, what do hospitals and surgeons use pharmaceutical grade cocaine for? Maxial/facial surgery and opthamalic surgery.

I had sinus surgery a few years back and on my post-surgery check up I was reporting a specific symptom I had after the surgery to the doctor and he said 'That's probably from the cocaine.' Apparently I had a very odd look on my face and he finally elaborated and told me they use it as a topical anesthetic. Heck of a time to let me know about it, lol.
 
WOW! Sorry to hear about the nasty side effects ShortTimer. :eek: I think I'll pass on the oven cleaner.

I checked at Home Depot today for the methyl hydrate, no luck. Even asked the guy working there. He'd never even heard of it. I'll check out a paint store next.

Anyone used Castrol Super Clean for this purpose before?
 
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WOW! Sorry to hear about the nasty side effects ShortTimer. :eek: I think I'll pass on the oven cleaner.

I checked at Home Depot today for the methyl hydrate, no luck. Even asked the guy working there. He'd never even heard of it. I'll check out a paint store next.

Anyone used Castrol Super Clean for this purpose before?

becareful no matter what you end up using!. where the proper gloves and resperators if need be. all those years that fx gurus like tom savini, dick smith, rick baker etc. used acetone in there projects w/o gloves and such found out years later that there liver was slowly shutting dwn from the chems seeping into there skin. simple mineral sprits or similar paint cleaners/removers should do the trick found at HD or hardware stores. just read the labels for warnings of use on cetain materials, and test it out in an inconcpicious area of the helmet.

:cheers
 
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