Using IPA as a paint stripper or good alternatives ?

[NFWEM57]

I used neat Dettol recently to strip an old badly painted Hornby Class 37 body shell. Left it for 8 hours and it works a treat.  Simply filter the Dettol and reuse.  Cheap as chips.

 

Patrick

[5 C]

Just a word of warning on Dettol. 

 

A couple of years ago I used (original brown) Dettol to strip the paint from one of the latest version Hornby Stanier coaches.

 

While it stripped the paint, it also softened the plastic and created a sticky mess which made a thorough clean up impossible. The plastic eventually hardened again but I was left with deep scratches where I'd tried removing the mess with a toothbrush. Reading around, I'm not the only person to have experienced this effect.

 

Two of the ingredients in Dettol (aka Chloroxylenol) are IPA and Caustic Soda Solution which clearly enabled the stripping process.

 

What's not mentioned on the label is that the Pine Oil fragrance which gives that distinctive, lingering Dettol smell also contains d-limonene which most likely softened the plastic:

 

https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/5633/smpc#gref

 

The damage (and the smell) still remain.

[cctransuk]

45 minutes ago, 5 C said:

Just a word of warning on Dettol. 

 

A couple of years ago I used (original brown) Dettol to strip the paint from one of the latest version Hornby Stanier coaches.

 

While it stripped the paint, it also softened the plastic and created a sticky mess which made a thorough clean up impossible. The plastic eventually hardened again but I was left with deep scratches where I'd tried removing the mess with a toothbrush. Reading around, I'm not the only person to have experienced this effect.

 

Two of the ingredients in Dettol (aka Chloroxylenol) are IPA and Caustic Soda Solution which clearly enabled the stripping process.

 

What's not mentioned on the label is that the Pine Oil fragrance which gives that distinctive, lingering Dettol smell also contains d-limonene which most likely softened the plastic:

 

https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/5633/smpc#gref

 

The damage (and the smell) still remain.

 

Never found the need to resort to Dettol.

 

Methylated spirits, or IPA, or Mr. Muscle oven cleaner have always done the job perfectly satisfactorily.

 

CJI.

[NFWEM57]

1 hour ago, 5 C said:

While it stripped the paint, it also softened the plastic and created a sticky mess which made a thorough clean up impossible.

Hi,

 

Thanks, never encountered that problem or a lingering smell. How long did you leave it in the 'bath' for?

 

Patrick

[5 C]

8 minutes ago, NFWEM57 said:

Hi,

 

Thanks, never encountered that problem or a lingering smell. How long did you leave it in the 'bath' for?

 

Patrick

Only as long as it took to lift the paint. In fact, probably not even the 8 hours used on the 37 body shell. Not only did the smell linger on the coach body, it also lingered on the "bath" - a Poundland food container made from polypropylene. I've just been upstairs to check and the smell is still there.

 

It's powerful stuff. I used a weak solution to disinfect a brand new secondhand wheelie bin delivered by the council last week. The smell lingers on that too, although that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

 

In much the same way a manufacturer's paint composition might change over time, it's possible the plastic composition of the two bodies has changed. I have successfully stripped manufacturer paint (using just IPA) from one vehicle but an identical vehicle from a more recent date was barely touched. 

 

The moral of the story is patch test and don't expect a one size fits all solution (no pun intended).

[NFWEM57]

3 hours ago, 5 C said:

37 body shell.

Hi, it was an R751 body shell, so circa 1977. so getting on for half a century old.  Guess plastic compositions will have changed. I picked up the tip from a thread here a while ago..!

 

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by NFWEM57
added additional info