I am painting a Jr. Dragster for a friends daughter. I have already painted the body black and cleared it. I sanded it down with 800 wet. Next I layed down the mask that I had a sign shop make for me for the lettering. I sprayed the outline, then layed the second mask and sprayed the lettering. When I went to unmask is where the trouble came into play. It seems that even though I told the sign guy what I was doing he gave me masks using a high tac adhesive. I now have glue left on the panels all around the basecoat lettering. So my question to all of you is, how do I remove the adhesive without hurting the basecoat??
what about trying some prepsol?test it in a small spot.i have never used the sign mask stuff so im just guessing here.i have had good results with house of kolor brand
If the base/clear has set you should be able to use 3M Adhesive Remover.A little less aggressive solvent would be any good wax and grease remover although DX440 is a bit too aggressive.
First I would try picking it up with masking tape. The 3M green tape is very sticky! If the solvent has gotten through, or under the stencil, it may have damaged the colors underneath, but I would try the tape before I started using chemicals.
Sometimes the prep solvents will disturb the basecoat if they are an aggressive solvent. I have used alchohol with good results. As others have stated, try it on a incon****uos spot first.
http://www.signwarehouse.com/FL-RE-p-FL-VINYLOFF-8OZ.html or http://www.signwarehouse.com/FL-RE-p-FL-PEEL-1QT.html
WD-40? works on price tag residue. I'd ask the sign guy -- with the offer to bring it by and let him remove it Good luck!
Try rubbing baking soda on the the adhesive. It should ball it up. You have to be careful with chemicals as they tend to smear it around on your basecoat. Especially if you have any airbrushing or fading going on. You can also take 2in masking tape and tack it over the glue residue.
Hey, In trouble spots like these I like mineral sprits as a first resort- Some of the pre-cleaners contain ketones and some other hot solvents, all bad news over fresh, partly cured finish! S****ey Devils C.C. Happy Xmas! Happy Whatever!
The sign guy definitely cut out the wrong stuff......how thick was it? 2 or 3 mil? Either that, or the adhesive was old. Did it leave residue everywhere the material was? Or just along the edges? As for getting the adhesive off, have you tried to rub it with just your finger????
If it left a residue he probably just gave you regular vinyl. Most paint masks are low tack and have to be just about perfect to stick at all. I would NOT use a wax and grease remover or WD 40. Chances are it will take the base coat with it. You can use a "Pre paint cleaner" They are used to remove the oils from your hands and tape goo on base coats before clearing. They are not aggressive and high in alcohol they evaporate very fast. Don't keep rubbing it in. Do a quick swipe or two and let the stuff dry up. Some glue will rub off with just your finger. It will ball up and you can pick it up, then pre paint clean it off then clear. Seeing as how we don't know what type of paint you used. Ask your paint guy. Some base coat clear coats have different solvents, so the clear doesn't mottle the base coats. You may be able to wipe it with reducer suited for the clear coat. This won't attack the base coat, but may be able to get the adhesive off. It looks like a nice job and you have a lot of time in it. You can always spray a test panel, get some adhesive on it and give some of the suggestions a try. Hope this helps. Don't eat potato chips while painting, Don
Well I just spent an hour in the garage trying a few things. I tried DX330, DX394, Windex, and green 3M tape. I don't have any mineral spirits as has been suggested. The only thing that remotely worked was using DX103 from PPG. Which as we all know is an alchohol based cleaner. But, it also started to rub off the basecoat. I guess I am going to wait until Wednesday and pick up some adhesive remover and try that. If all else fails I may end up have to redo the whole thing. I hope this guy doesn't try to charge me for another set of masks! donzilla: funny thing is I am the local paint guy! I am a PPG technical rep. for a large jobber. I was just hoping someone out here would have a majic pill. This isn't something I have ever run into. Thanks for all the advice guys.
That is pretty funny. I restored hi end cars and motorcycles for 25+ years. I worked by myself to ashure the best quality to my customers. I use to have a BASF & DuPont rep stop by all the time to see the latest projects. Many of times I bailed them out of problems that they had never seen before. I use to look at it as a challenge, to figure out what was wrong. Their return of technical help and support chemicals were always appriceated. One of the best bails was the "'Whale Eye" body shop. This was a run of the mill collision shop in a down town location. They had a horrendous fish eye problem that got so big it turned into the whale eye shop. 3 paint lines and a bunch of other outside help couldn't fix their problem. They went overboard on everything. Clean, clean and clean again. Smoothie bottles everywhere and still fish eyes galore. The BASF rep was a good friend. He was asked to try and help. He was at it for two weeks when he stopped by to check out a multi colored super comp dragster, have a few after work beers and complain about the days work. He told his tale of woe and I offered to head over in the AM to see if I could help. He showed me everything with the shop owner. They did everything by the book to stop the fish eye problem. This guy was at his wits end. I kept poking around to see if I could be a master of the obvious. I spotted an old Mustang in the back lot. I went out to look at it. It was then that I realized a familliar smell. Seering animal flesh. Hey it's a Burger King about 50 yards from the shop. Yeah I could use a burger. Maybe help me figure out the problem. Once I got over there. I could see the problem more clearly. The smoke from the BK stack went right into the air intake on the roof of the body shop. Once the obvious was brought to their attention. It was crystal clear that no amount of fish eye eliminator could overcome the power of fast food grease. He moved the shop a few months later, but still was called Whale Eye around town. Didn't mean to hi jack the thread, but thought it was a funny story for a paint rep. Don
That is really funny, thanks for the laugh!!!! I of course have known from the start what I will have to do to remedy the situation. As I stated before, I was hoping someone out there has had a similar problem and would have a majic pill or something that I had not thought of. Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!
Try a little rubbing alcohol on the residue. It's always worked for me and is usually gentle with the paint.
Car-Nut, You were probably given the wrong type of vinyl. I have owned and operated a sign shop for 23 years, since before vinyl machines were even out. Been thru it all, including this issue. One thing that can adversly effect even the correct spray mask vinyl is laying it on clear that is too fresh and leaving it on longer than needed ( a day could be to long if the clear is not fully cured). As for getting your adhesive off, several of the products mentioned will work. I have found that "goof-off" works well and will not hurt the exposed base coat paint. It is available at the local hardware store. The trick is to try and get as little as possible on the base coat and then,when all of the adhesive is off , wash it well with windex or another window cleaner product, which wil nutralize it. The stuff has a citrus smell and seems a little slippery, bit if you wash it off well, your new paint will work fine over that area. There are other vinyl-specific products out there and the vinyl shop that gave you the "spry mask" may even have some, but goof-off is cheap and easy and will come in handy for ather stuff around the house and garage. By the way, if you ever need anything like this again (cut vinyl stencils, etc.), I am happy to help. We primarily build big fancy signs now, but have the plotters cutting vinyl for those signs all the time. Let me know if I can help and good luck.
ACME, Thanks for the advice, Goof Off may be cheaper than buying Adhesive Remover from 3M. I will try that. Your insight is much appreciated.
also go to your local picture framing shop and ask if you can get some un-do adhesive remover. it amazing stuff, made to get hi tack stuff off of high end art preatty easily. im a picture framer and i have used it to get masking tape off of my car with great results.
MINERAL SPIRITS...And dry it good...Alcohol might disturb the basecaot. Nothing better than a good old finger rubbing...the adhesive into little balls to tack off.. Guy should have used "Paintmask" designed for this purpose NOT reg sign vinyls. I run a pattern on paper Then hand cut my clear mask with an xacto knife lightly ...the paper transfer paper will not block the basecoat solvents ,leaving bad impression in exsisting base. Doesn't get through the clear thou. Been paintin' and lettering since the sixties and made all the mistakes.
Go to an art supply store and get Rubber Cement thinner. Next time, try this: Before attaching vinyl touch it to material(i.e. your clean, dry jean pants leg), thistakes some of the tackiyness off. If the vinyl piece is larger...lay it upside down and lightly touch it with lintfree (clean t-shirt material.) Then adhere it.
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