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Removing epoxy from canopy
- Thread starter AirMarty
- Start date
Mike S
Senior Curmudgeon
Hard to tell without seeing it, but -------------- I would probably use a very sharp wood chisel (upside down) to carefully pry up the run, and then polish out the fingerprints and remainder of the run, and any damage the chisel inflicted. I suspect you may get lucky and the run will pop off reasonably easy. Be careful to not apply too much pressure to the plexi--------you do not want to crack it.
Use tape to cushion the undamaged areas if you use a chisel or similar to pry up the runs.
If you have any scrap canopy left over, do some testing. Or any other scrap plexi.
What you have going for you is that the epoxy does not hold really well to a surface that has not been scratched with sandpaper first.
Other plan would be to mask off the good plexi and sand out the run. Then polish out the last bit of the run, should be the thickness of the masking tape.
Whatever you do, would best to test on scrap first, and go slow and easy.
Good luck.
Use tape to cushion the undamaged areas if you use a chisel or similar to pry up the runs.
If you have any scrap canopy left over, do some testing. Or any other scrap plexi.
What you have going for you is that the epoxy does not hold really well to a surface that has not been scratched with sandpaper first.
Other plan would be to mask off the good plexi and sand out the run. Then polish out the last bit of the run, should be the thickness of the masking tape.
Whatever you do, would best to test on scrap first, and go slow and easy.
Good luck.
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I wouldn't use any metal against the canopy even to try to remove errant expoxy except as a very last resort. It will cut the plexi no matter how careful you are.
If you didn't prepare the plexiglass for epoxy, by sanding it or something, the epoxy will not really want to stick to it very well.
Try a plastic credit card and try to pop it off with that. You could even try to sharpen the edge of a piece of plastic to help get under it or at least catch the edge of the epoxy run.
If that doesn't work, you could try warming it up with a hair dryer or with a heat gun...carefully. That should weaken the grip of the epoxy on the plexiglass.
As a final last resort, you could actually sand it off! Tape up all around it and carefully sand it. It will probably come off at some point. After that, if you have scratched the plexi, you can get a plexi repair kit to polish it back up. VAN's sells them for about $35. I have used grades of black wet sandpaper to gradually sand out a scratch, working up to 2000 grit paper and then polishing with Novus or even paint polishing compound. You might be surprised how well it works.
Good luck.
If you didn't prepare the plexiglass for epoxy, by sanding it or something, the epoxy will not really want to stick to it very well.
Try a plastic credit card and try to pop it off with that. You could even try to sharpen the edge of a piece of plastic to help get under it or at least catch the edge of the epoxy run.
If that doesn't work, you could try warming it up with a hair dryer or with a heat gun...carefully. That should weaken the grip of the epoxy on the plexiglass.
As a final last resort, you could actually sand it off! Tape up all around it and carefully sand it. It will probably come off at some point. After that, if you have scratched the plexi, you can get a plexi repair kit to polish it back up. VAN's sells them for about $35. I have used grades of black wet sandpaper to gradually sand out a scratch, working up to 2000 grit paper and then polishing with Novus or even paint polishing compound. You might be surprised how well it works.
Good luck.
