Paint Stripping with a DA

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gerahead

gerahead

Glutton for Punishment
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I had intended to strip the paint on my project with a pneumatic DA sander. I started last night on the deck lid. Using 80-grit, I spent about 2-1/2 hours working on it and didn't even get half of the top surface done. There are two coats of paint and an over layer of primer (origin unknown). Is this normal for how long the process takes? Do I dare go to 30 or 60 grit to get closer to bare metal and then go to a finer grit? I really thought that I would be able to buzz through this quicker than what I found last night! :munky2: Thanks. L8r

Jim
 
What kind of da are you using? Some are finish sanders and run much slower than a regular da. Also what kind of compressor are you using? Body tools use a lot of air and if your compressor can't keep up it will keep the da at a slow speed. Also look just above the pad on the da. There is a lock you can slide into the shaft of the da locking it into a grind mode. You can also upgrade to an 8 inch sander commonly called a mud hog. This will increase your ability to stripe. You can also go up to a 36 grit for stripping but be sure to finish with 80 sometimes 36 grit is a bit hard to get the scratches out of metal. Another option would be to chemically stripe the area. Can be messy but will take care of a larger area in less time.
 
67Dart440GT said:
What kind of da are you using? Some are finish sanders and run much slower than a regular da. Also what kind of compressor are you using? Body tools use a lot of air and if your compressor can't keep up it will keep the da at a slow speed. Also look just above the pad on the da. There is a lock you can slide into the shaft of the da locking it into a grind mode. You can also upgrade to an 8 inch sander commonly called a mud hog. This will increase your ability to stripe. You can also go up to a 36 grit for stripping but be sure to finish with 80 sometimes 36 grit is a bit hard to get the scratches out of metal. Another option would be to chemically stripe the area. Can be messy but will take care of a larger area in less time.
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yea best to use a 8" mud hog till u just see metal and then air file with 40, then finish with 80 da
 
How large an air compressor were you using. Would take a bit with 80 grit if there is alot of paint on it and it is soft it will load the paper pretty quickly. I would think in 2 1/2 hours you would get more removed unless your not changing your paper often enough. You could try some coarser paper I used to use 36 for that sometimes.
 
I agree with the above posts......I would look at the air compressor, DA, changing paper more often. No way a deck lid should take that long with 80grit. Even if its painted with tractor industrial paint stuff.

Hitting the top layers with 36grit will go faster. When you get a hint of the primer or metal, stop and switch to the 80grit to get to the bare metal. 36grit leaves aggressive scratches in the metal.
 
The compressor is plenty big enough to handle the DA. I also have an speed control on the DA itself, which I am not running wide open. I did notice that the pad for the DA is kind of concave in the center, so I am only getting work done with the outer edge of each disc. I am changing the disc when I notice that I am not getting much cutting action. The disc is not loading up and I am using good quality discs (Norton). I also have a sander that I could try to at least break through to the lower layers of paint. I am also going to give a coarser grit a try. L8r

Jim
 
If you don't want to deal with using up all your sand paper, dust, the mess of chemical strippers you can always get a box of razorblades and a flat scraper handle and goto town. Thats how we used to do it in the rod shop I worked at. We would take it down to primer with the razorblades then DA it with 80 grit to bare metal if needed.

Heres a video of a guy doing it.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR9faQRZEqg"]YouTube - Stripping Paint Off A Car[/ame]
 
I vote for the discs that Tincup referenced. A relatively flat surface like the trunk lid could have been stripped in 15-20 minutes (faster and less mess than chemical) and gone over with 80 grit in another 15 minutes or so. Half hour, job done.
C
 
360scamp said:
If you don't want to deal with using up all your sand paper, dust, the mess of chemical strippers you can always get a box of razorblades and a flat scraper handle and goto town. Thats how we used to do it in the rod shop I worked at. We would take it down to primer with the razorblades then DA it with 80 grit to bare metal if needed.

Heres a video of a guy doing it.

YouTube - Stripping Paint Off A Car
Click to expand...

Ive done a few cars like this myself.
 
I guess its off to the store to find a spun fiber disc. Thanks for the help guys! L8r

Jim
 
A DA isn't made for striping paint you can use some 80 on it to roughen it up and then use stripper then be sure to wash the metal with water and baking soda mix then metal prep before spraying epoxy. Stripper will leave a residual layer if not washed properly and will come back to haunt you!!!!
 
gerahead said:
The compressor is plenty big enough to handle the DA. I also have an speed control on the DA itself, which I am not running wide open. I did notice that the pad for the DA is kind of concave in the center, so I am only getting work done with the outer edge of each disc. I am changing the disc when I notice that I am not getting much cutting action. The disc is not loading up and I am using good quality discs (Norton). I also have a sander that I could try to at least break through to the lower layers of paint. I am also going to give a coarser grit a try. L8r

Jim
Click to expand...

Norton paper kinda sucks... klingspore works and lasts longer
 
I vote the disc also, I used larger ones that I got from Eastwood Co. for an 8" grinder to strip an old F250 it took three layers of paint and primer right off to bare metal. Even striped off the old Bondo.
 
Just be careful with the more aggressive paper or fiber discs that you don't get the metal too hot and warp it.....
 
man, on that flat surface i would use a chemical. it will save you a lot of work. its not hard to do. with the 80 you are going to end up giving it a entire layer of bondo to hide the marks. if not, then get one of those cheap media blasters at H/F and it will be smooth also. just what i did on a 1/4 panel that had too many layers to count. :)
 
I stripped a 1970 Challenger to bare metal using a Harbor Freight grinder/polisher and 6 packages of their velcro sand paper. Time was 8 hours.

The Dual Action portion of a DA is working against you here. It is great for more even sanding and surface prep, but what you are trying to do is grind the finish off to the base metal.
 
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