Tip: Removing Power Coating

[wfinnell]

Hi Guys,

It took me a couple of tries to figure it out, so I thought I would post to hopefully prevent someone from making the same mistakes that I did.

I've tried a couple of products to remove power coating on various parts, both aluminum and steel. Eastwood sells Dekote. Dekote works better than anything else I have tried, but it took me a while to figure out how the get the best results.

I initially followed the instructions with limited success. The instructions say to; shake it, brush it on, wait a couple of hours, then scrape it off. What I found was, the powder coating comes off in strips and patches, leaving a lot paint on the part. It seemed like it would take forever to clean the part with a wire brush and it required many reapplications. The stuff is kind of smelly and unpleasant to work with. If you get it on you it will burn you skin. Also, it will dissolve nitrile gloves. Very slippery and messy!

What I found to work much better is to lightly scuff the part with a scotch brite pad then pop in into a zip-lock baggie with a small amount of Dekote, then WAIT over night. In the morning you can easily scrape off the powder coating down to bare metal. The baggie contains the mess and smell, keeps the dekote from evaporating, and keeps the Dekote in contact with the part.

Dekote works equally well at removing Akzo epoxy primer.

[rv8ch]

Sounds great, but just a heads up - I can't see your images.

[rv7charlie]

If you have access to a bead blaster, use it....edit (got lazy).....instead of chemicals. Only downside that I know of is wear & tear on the beads.

[fl-mike]

you can also submerge in a pot of spray gun cleaner. It contains a cocktail of solvents including methylene chloride (in the "good" stuff!). Be safe.

[scsmith]

Thanks for the great tip. Last time I did it, I mostly burned it off with a propane torch. Still took a lot of elbow grease. I suppose if you have a part too big for a zip-lock bag, you could put it in a hefty trash bag, or maybe even spiral wrap it with a long strip of polyethylene sheet.

[wirejock]

If you plan to change the powder coat color, order the parts bare, fit them then have them powder coated to suit your taste.
Note: They are white to show cracks.

[JonJay]

It is just paint. I found normal
Paint removers, gel type, to be effective at removing powder coatings. Bubbles up and scrapes off.