Stripping the frame...

I have several projects lined up for the winter and am busy at the moment stripping frames down to where they can be painted. I can finish the rest of the builds indoors and the paint is curing that much more through the winter. Over the past week I stripped, primed and gave a final coat to a Worksman paperboy and a 1950 straight bar Schwinn cruiser. On both of those bikes I uses a wire wheel mounted to a stationary motor and wire wheels on a couple of drills. On the worksman I started out using a drill with a sanding disc. Slow going. Today I worked on a 1939 Elgine which had been repainted along the way with a thick yellow paint of some kind. The good part is that it protected everything from rust... as the frame is perfect. The down side is that there's a lot of paint to remove. So, I am using Zip strip which is a kind of chemical solvent if you're not familiar with it. It seems to be doing the job, but of course is nasty stuff and I'll be at it again tomorrow, weather permitting. After the frame I have fenders, skirts etc. and considering each item has two sides, that's a lot of stripping. I don't have access to a sand blasting outfit and don't know that I would want to do that anyway of the 1940 Elgin fenders, fender skirts and chaingaurd which are rusty and will go on the 39 frame. I'd be afraid sandblasting would be rough enough to do damage where it is rusted.
So, my question is for any of you who have stripped a bike down and repainted it, what is your normal method for doing this? Any tips will be appreciated.
Silverbear

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Someday when I grow up I will probably lose interest in toys with wheels, but until then...

i've used "klean-strip aircraft remover" before. you just brush it on, and the paint bubbles up, then you scrape it off. it's kinda nasty stuff, but it beats the wire wheel and all the dust.

it works great on old spray paint, but some factory paint finishes are pretty tough and i don't think it works at all on powder coating. it won't hurt the metal at all, because it becomes inactive after a little while. it'll mess up your skin, though...

they make a spray on kind that i haven't tried yet, but i'm gonna get some soon.

The Worksman was much harder to strip than the old Schwinn. The Worksman isn't all that old so it likely had a powder coat paint job. Where do buy that aircraft stripper?
SB

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Someday when I grow up I will probably lose interest in toys with wheels, but until then...

I've used an orange based stripper I picked up at Home Depot to remove enamel before, worked really well and you could actually hear the paint reacting, kind of like Rice Crispies. lol
Plan on using it to strip a frame soon.

pep boys, home depot, pretty much any hardware or automotive store.

I dunno if ya'll have seen these before but if ya haven't ya outa give them a try - I love 'em.

They're called "sanding mops" and they're really great for curved and detail surfaces, I used them extensively for primarily woodworking restoration - I dunno what I woulda done w/o them working on fancy, ornate table legs etc. I imagine they would do quite well for finish work on these steel tube bike frames, they perform admirably well on inside corners such as the junction of two tubes for instance, they're perfect for detail stuff like brake levers etc. I'd use it after stripper to conserve materials, you could use a heavy grit and no stripper - but it would take longer and use more paper. With prep - I've had these last months of constant, daily use.



They can be somewhat expensive, but if you treat your tools right they last a very long time. It is also quite easy to make your own - just make sure to use a quality cloth-backed paper (like for a belt sander) and be sure to carefully cut all the flaps the same as to balance the tool at speed.

Here's a bit more info on it;
:: Stockroom Supply - The Sanding Mop

and a listing of suppliers;
6 SLIT SANDING MOP - Google Product Search


You maybe have seen them before, I dunno - but I've never seen them in use other than the commercial woodshops I've "done time" in so I figure I'd mention them.

No, I've never seen this before, but it is interesting and looks like it might be perfect for doing a bike... all the curves and hard to reach spots, more so with fenders and chain guards, old rear racks. It looks like just the thing. Yes, it's little pricey, but after a trip to Ace the other day for a wire wheel for the stationary motor and a couple others for the drill,,, that adds up, too. I watched the video demonstrations and one for the dremel would be good, too. I'll be on the lookout for a local supplier. Thanks for the tip!
SB

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Someday when I grow up I will probably lose interest in toys with wheels, but until then...

some paint co. who do sandblasting may also do bead blasting which isnt so abrasive as the black beauty. here is a link Bead blasting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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" We cannot live through a single day without making an impact on the world around us. And we all have free choice - what sort of difference do we want to make?" ~Jane Goodall~

Yes, I've read that the bead blasting is less abrasive. A few years ago I bought pancake air compressor (Chinese, of course), 3 hsp for filling tires, cleaning engine parts and that sort of thing. It doesn't have much of an air tank, so was marginal for painting. I had hopes that a simple sandblaster could be rigged up, bought a cheap one and confirmed that my compressor wasn't up to the job. I've also read that breathing the silica dust is really bad, so it is just as well. Out where I live there is no access to a sand or bead blasting outfit or I'd consider it if it was affordable. It sure would save a lot of time and effort and no doubt is a good option for somebody.
SB

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Someday when I grow up I will probably lose interest in toys with wheels, but until then...

Tho it's true most small home air compressors can't handle the demand of sand/bead blasting I've found these to be invaluable for all sortsa detail work and they work well with a small compressor - provided yer using a finer grit and not expectin' to do a whole car at once lol;


Spot Sandblasters - Google Product Search

Be warned - while I've never had any real luck with your standard cheapo "bucket blaster" these are an effective alternative that also help a bit with the demand placed on a smaller compressor as it's a pressurized system, I've used this one extensively;


Portable Abrasive Blasters | Abrasive + Sand Blasters | Northern Tool + Equipment

Hope this could work out for ya, tho messy there's nothin' like sandblasting for cleaning rusty stuff! There is somewhat of a dance between adjusting grit/tip/pressure etc. but it's well worth it