Ok so I was starting the prep work for my sons 8R. My plan was to clean with TSP (tri sodium phosphate) to degrease and remove all of the carbon (soot), then plan for paint removal and then painting. The process for TSP is to boil the part for about 1 hour, wash and then dry. Then move to the next step. So normally you have puddles of gunk that will boil up and I use a paper towel to remove this. Well I went to remove a large puddle and it was paint. I pulled the box up and sure enough the paint is boiling off. The process is still going on so I will try to figure out how to post a pic once done.
Ok that worked pretty good. For those who need to remove paint for restoration this may be something to consider. It took about an hour and I did pull it out a couple of times to scrub it a bit with a stiff bristled brush to help remove the loose and disolved paint. After everything was done I had a nice puddle of sludge floating on top of the solution that was easily soaked up with paper towels and removed. When I started the top was pretty much solid black and not much paint left on the inside bottom. I did not think to take a before picture as I did not expect it to remove the paint. I am pleasantly surprised it did.
Actually, I use TSP for my electrolysis bath which makes it a bit faster to remove the paint. Glad to know it works for you. Now to paint
Nice discovery. TSP is a little safer to work with than lye (NaOH) which is also a very potent paint stripper. Still both are pretty nasty. Many of us have used sodium carbonate (washing soda) for electrolysis and have noticed that there is effective stripping of much of the paint in that process -- although slowly. I likewise found that boiling in washing soda was a good way to remove paint from a 111 case, but your TSP idea should be faster. The common factor, of course, is that all of these are alkaline solutions, with sodium carbonate the weakest, and lye the strongest (and one to be avoided for most of us).
Yup, been using TSP in my electro bath for some years now. They did a switcheroo on the TSP in California a while back, changed to some PC substitute. Doesn't work worth a tinkers damn... I can still buy the good stuff when I go to Oregon...
