Removing old paint on parts can be a pain. I used a sandblaster I purchased but it really didn't remove the paint well. I purchased a can of Aircraft paint remover. It's a aerosol can. Simply spray it on, wait a while and hose off with water. This stuff takes the paint down to the metal, old stubborn paint will soften up and I merely scrap it off with a knife. No sanding, wire wheeling, etc. Primer and paint and the part looks like new. It's fast and easy, and not much odor. .. Good stuff!:-X22

Just get jiggy with it. Roll on boys, lets get em done and have a FTE truck show. Central location, nice weather, and some sponsors it can be done. Walford will buy the beverages.

For a really inexpensive way to remove paint:Go to KMart,buy a big plastic tub w/lid.Next,go to your local hardware store,buy about 4 gallons of muriatic acid.Follow directions CAREFULLY,mixing about 50/50 with water,stronger if need be.It will really boil when mixing,don't breathe fumes.Use eye protection,wear gloves.Soak parts over night,will remove paint,but not rust.Rinse thoroughly with water,remove any rust with inexpensive spray cans of rust remover.Clean,dry,primer.
This can be reused over and over,topping up with more acid as needed,stored in an out of the way place.BE CAREFUL!

No offense Buzzard, but as an ex chemist I would HIGHLY discourage anyone from using this "trick". Muriatic acid is industrial grade Hydrochloric acid and is a very nasty and dangerous stuff to even have around, much less be mixing with water in an open plastic tub. If you should mistakenly put the acid in first then add water it will immediately boil explosively spraying anyone and anything nearby with a shower of hot acid. The skin on your face would dissolve instantly into 3rd degree burns and blind you before you could even react.
I needed to acid etch the concrete floor in my garage before applying the floor finish with 10% Muriatic acid. I wore plastic coveralls, knee high boots, chemical grade rubber gloves with the suit sleeves taped over the cuffs and a full face shield while SLOWLY adding the acid to ice cold water while constantly gently stirring the mix with a plastic paddle. I had my wife acting as a safety backup person with a garden hose and a bucket of baking soda solution just in case. Even at just 10% strength the solution immediately turned brown and fizzed like an accident in an alka seltzer factory when poured on the floor. It may seem like paranoid overkill, but I have witnessed just how dangerous it is first hand.
Yes it will remove paint, but there are a lot safer ways to accomplish the same thing that isn't that much more expensive.

I agree with AX on this one. Muriatic acid is dangerous stuff. I use to work in a chrome plating facility and have some experience working with acids such as Sulfuric acid and cyanides. Muriatic acid is a bit extreme just to strip paint. I suggest you use the method I posted. It's safer and a can goes along way for under $5. Why risk you safety and health. Good post AX!

I have had great luck with a product called Greased Lightning, its very similar to Simple Green but a bit cheaper. I buy it in the 5 gallon container and use it straight up. Its a great household cleanser when watered down.
I soaked some engine brackets overnight and not only did it remove 30 years of caked on, cooked on grunge (about 1/2" thinck) but it also took all the paint right off as well. Recenlty I used it on some valve covers, I was in a hurry and couldn't wait overnight, I let them soak about 45 minutes and they came out clean as a whistle and almost to bare steel. An overnight soak would have stripped all the paint.

Note: use gloves, if not you will lose a layer of skin in a day or two after prolonged contact with the stuff.

I use the stuff in my solvent tank as well as its non flammable so I don't have to worry about burning down my garage.

Bobby

Bobbytmn turned on a light for me...

Well, it's the end of the day and as you undress you realize that you've got some grease on your good clothes ?? and your wife/mother/s.o. is gonna raise the roof cause it's the fourth time !!! You look and there's no stain remover in the laundry room ??? huh bunkie ???

Well go back out to the garage (put your clothes back on first) and get your go-jo or fast orange or whatever waterless hand cleaner you have. rub it on the stain and let it set... In about 30 minutes do the laundry before the above mentioned roof moved gets home... takes out the stain and you get brownie points for doing a load of laundry. I wouldn't mix the grease stained clothes with her delicates or any whites. just do a load of jeans to cover the evidence...

it takes grease of your hands... it will work on laundry too.

john

:-hijacked

Ax, was the acid etch necessary for the epoxy to stick? I just had my floor acid stained, and it didn't soak in. I then had it tint sealed. that worked better, but you can still scrape it off. The reason I'm asking, is to justify the cost they charged me. (they say the concrete pourer did a substandard pour, thus not their fault it didn't "take") I don't think they did much prep work short of a quick mop.

Your Honor,I Withdraw the Question....Well I guess I can't recommend this for anyone else,even if I employ this method.While I've had the same safely stored and sealed container for about three years now,I guess it is inherently dangerous and less than wise.Never mind!

I actually used a urethane coating, but acis etching is usually specified for most concrete finishes, it eats away the fine layer of cement at the surface opening the pores to allow bonding. I don't know much about the surface prep when doing an acid stain, but I believe it should have penetrated into the surface, not just laid on top. Acid stain is considered to be rhe most durable way to color concrete. The one part industrial coating I used has proven to be very durable. In fact I ended up using the same product to paint the entire inside of my trailer, It bonds equally well to wood and metal as it does to concrete.

havi; It's all in the prep work. Who ever did your floor didn't prep it the way it should have been done. It should not scrap off at all. As AX said the acid wash opens up the pores to give it something to bond to. Bond is everything, I bet it will even wash off with water on a rag.

I got a good idea from a welding mag onetime, and I'll try to share it with you guys. I will get my wife to post some pics later. Take 2 55 gal drums, cut the top out of one of them. CUt the other one in half, cut a big window out of one side of the one you cut in half.Make a angle iron set of rails to hold a chop saw. Make a rectangle frame to hold the chop saw that will slide in the rails you made earlier. Weld some 1/2" flat bar just above the rectangle frame you made to hold the chop saw. Then you can slide the frame in and out. Then weld the half 55 gal drum on top of the whole drum with the opening stradeling the rails. When you get this made, you can use your chop saw without making a mess in the floor or throwing dangerous sparks everywhere. I'll show you some pics and you'll love it!! I do It's great. I cant take all the credit for it, I just refined it.

anyone have a sorce for a dash knob bezel removal tool. one of my old shop manuals have a pic and part #. looks to be a deep socket type tool with a four inch pin through the the end to allow you to loosen and tighten by hand. I keep boogering up whats left of mine with snap ring pliars and straight screw drivers.

They used to sell such a tool, but years ago I made my own from a section of thin walled tubing like electrical conduit and a file. I filed the end of the tubing back to leave two tabs the right width and length to engage the slots in the bezel.
The tool would self center over the tapered bezel. The soft steel didn't mar the chrome as easily as a hardened steel tool.

Now that I saw the pictures Trux, I need to rig up something like that for my chop saw.