What's the best way to strip old fiberglass parts? I tried Jasco, but there has to be a better way. Should I razor it or maybe just sand, sand & sand?
Recalling my fiberglass boat days; Sanding is the best method but it creates a lot of dust. Scraping is slow and requires the proper tools or you'll damage the substrate.
I'd be very careful just dumping stripper on fiberglass without testing it on an area you wouldn't mind losing. I painted aircraft for several years and there are some brands of stripper that will eat the resin out of the glass as well as melt plastic parts, just be sure of what your using
"Regular" stripper is hard on the resins normally used to make fiberglass parts. There are solvent-type strippers intended for fiberglass that do a decent but fairly costly job of removing some types of paint. Sanding is a lot of work, but is safer and removes all types of paint. Where the shape of the part lends itself, a DA sander works well. Don't use too course a paper on fiberglass. When sanding be careful not to put irregularities into the surface, and not to remove the gel coat(if there is any) or outer outer resin layer.
The last time I had to strip glass I had it soda blasted. Stripped the paint off quickly and the gel coat looked like it just came out of the mold.
When I painted boats we used to sandblast them. Makes quick work of any finish, but you gotta be careful you don't blast through the gelcoat.
What I posted is what better Corvette shops use, on older Vettes anyway. Newer (post 57 vettes) which don't show original weave or waves can just be blasted with media.
Soda Blasting is the way to go. Will take off the paint without destroying the fibreglass. Careful with strippers. The Old Tinbasher
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