I have some textured plastic interior pieces that need to have the old finish removed from them. Some of it is flaking off and some is stuck preeeety good. I'd like to get it all off and refinish them. Can't sand them or I'll loose the texture. Unsure of chemicals on the plastic. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks
Blast with baking soda? I have removed finish from delicate woodwork with baking soda and siphon gun, with very minimal wood damage. Experiment with pressure. I also use to use EasyOff oven cleaner to strip old paint off model cars, castrol purple works good too. Make a vat, and soak them. It softens the paint and a quick blast with soda.
following with interest as i have a bitchin metalflake fiberglass motorcycle fender that someone sprayed in flat black....
Easy-Off oven cleaner or brake fluid. Model car builders use it all the time on styrene. You might try it on a small section of the back first. Most interior plastic is polyethylene-very tough and flexible. Rockler, (wood working stuff) sells a stripper made from soybeans. Not sure how it works ,but it does. I've never used it on plastic though.
I have taken paint off of plastic pieces with painters hand cleaner. The kind that will remove paint and varnish. Its made by Permatex, called paint clean I clean my paint guns with it, gets all the pearl and flake out with water. Does not harm your skin, or anything plastic, but it will screw your clothes up like bleach. .
Use brake fluid as it does not hurt plastic, but will eat paint and then washes clean with water. The best thing would be to soak the parts in it as it takes awhile to work, or coat the parts liberally several times untill the paint comes off, then wash clean with soap and water.
I would "color" sand with 600-800, untill all the black is gone. Its like have a extra thick tracer coat to block sand off, clear with base/clear and polish.
I used that stuff to take what was left of the factory chrome off my Comets gauge bezel, it worked great and didnt harm the plastic at all.
I used Motsenbackers Lift Off 4 graffitti remover on the ABS dash of my 55 Studebaker Speedster worked just fine and did not harm the plastic texture.
I used "Pinesol" to remove old model paint from an AMT plastic 32 5 window. It took about a week but it was like new with no damage to the styrene body. I was able to soak the body in a mason jar. You will need to find containers large enough for your pieces. A tooth pick can be used for the tight spots like the creases that denote the doors. Non toxic and available at most grocery stores. I can't say if it will cut the paint on your parts but it worked wonders for me.
Brake fluid is the safest route, but can take multiple applications. Easy Off works great, but can attack certain plastics. Goo Gone will most likely melt/ruin the piece, and I would avoid soda blasting as it may remove details, round edges, etc (don't know exactly what you're working on).
I have used Westley's BleachWhite to remove paint from model car bodies (styrene plastic). Soak it for a few hours and the paint softens enough that you could scrub it off with a toothbrush. I may depend on the type of paint you're trying to remove. The Westley's worked great on Testors spray paint.
Cheap soda blaster: Air compressor and air line (with female quick connecter) 3 liter plastic screw top bottle $3 h/f air gun (with male quick connecter) electric tape 4' 3/8 outside diameter tubing 7" 1/4 outside diameter tubing (rigid or pvc) 5 zip ties 12" 3/8th inside diameter tube (rigid or pvc) 4" shrink tube 3/8inside diameter 1) Make a hole in the screw cap large enough for the for the 12 inch tube 2) notch the bottom of the tube with a V on 2 sides and push down about inch or so from bottom of bottle 3) Push the 3/8 outside diameter tube down but not past V's 4) Make another hole in the screw cap for 1/4 outside diameter tube (breather) 5) Put the other side of 3/8 outside diameter tube half way into the shrink tube 6) Cut a hole in the shrink tube just in front of where the other tube finishes and push the air gun through 7) Tape around the hole and use the zip ties to secure the air gun to the 4' tube 8) Fill container with baking soda and attach the air line to the gun. Air coming out of the gun will suck the soda from the bottle and shoot it. You just need to make sure you have a filter after the air storage to keep moisture from binding the soda as the air and soda meet. You'll get comfortable with gauging the pressure you put on the trigger pretty quickly. Not perfect but cheaper and works better than the HF one.
Easy off oven cleaner. and wash it off with water. Use the no fume. I have did old car models, interior parts with no problems. Depending on how much paint it doesn't take long.
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