Stripping!!!

[Govmnt_Lacky]

I have an older MXR Distortion + enclosure that I want to strip down and re-use. The problem is that I have put on about 7 coats of spray-on paint stripper and it has not even put a dent in the paint.
This leads me to believe that the enclosure is possibly powder coated or the paint is on SO WELL that chemical stripper is of no use. The old MXR logo and writing came off fine but the puke yellow paint is resisting.

So... does anyone have any ideas on how to strip the paint off this enclosure

[MikeH]

Electric sander.

Or lots and lots of sanding by hand.

[MmmPedals]

Just spray some primer and paint over it. Done it before with great results.

[chi_boy]

Palm sander with 120grit paper. Even if you don't take it all off, you get enough off to prime and re-paint.

[John Lyons]

+1
If you are going to spray over it again then just make it smooth and
spray over it with paint on still. Don't bake it though since with all that
paint on you may run into wrinkling etc.

A sanding primer would help smoothness and adhesion.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Ran a palm sander with 120 then 220 grit. Worked like a champ. I think this old MXR enclosure is steel cause it is much heavier than its Hammond equivalent.

I would like to polish this enclosure but, it has a LOT of blemishes that are pretty deep. I think I am just going to sand a bit more, prime, and paint.

Thanks for the help.

Still dont know if that was paint or powder. If it was paint, it was VERY resistant to chemical stripping!

[MikeH]

Ran a palm sander with 120 then 220 grit. Worked like a champ. I think this old MXR enclosure is steel cause it is much heavier than its Hammond equivalent.

I would like to polish this enclosure but, it has a LOT of blemishes that are pretty deep. I think I am just going to sand a bit more, prime, and paint.

Thanks for the help.

Still dont know if that was paint or powder. If it was paint, it was VERY resistant to chemical stripping!

It is almost certain that it was powdercoat.  Only VERY early mxr pedals were spray painted, and those are very hard to come by, and pretty valuable I'd say

[Paul Marossy]

Ran a palm sander with 120 then 220 grit. Worked like a champ. I think this old MXR enclosure is steel cause it is much heavier than its Hammond equivalent.

I had a similar thought about the enclosure for an original MXR flanger I had to repair. But it was non-ferric. An easy way to tell is to get a magnet and see if it sticks to the enclosure.  

[alparent]

Brake fluid!

Never tried it on powder coating......but this will strip anything! Just let is soak in the fluid. One don't drop any on anything!

[Paul Marossy]

Brake fluid!

Never tried it on powder coating......but this will strip anything! Just let is soak in the fluid. One don't drop any on anything!

Huh, that's interesting. Never heard of that one before.

[alparent]

I've painted a lot of stuff in my life..........and sucking at it forced my to also become an expert at stripping (the paint that is!)

Drop some brake fluid on your car and let me know how that turns out?!  No, please don't!!!

[RedHouse]

Brake fluid!

Never tried it on powder coating......but this will strip anything! Just let is soak in the fluid. One don't drop any on anything!

That might actually work.

Every car paint job I've ever spilled brake fluid on ...has come off or been severly damaged.

[Ronsonic]

Auto parts store the stuff called "Airframe Stripper" or similar.

It will peel off anything. Relatively (relatively) benign for such a category of evil substances. Have never found anything, including powder coat that did not come off EASILY with two applications.

I've used brake fluid to remove lettering and printing from power coated enclosures. It didn't hurt the powder coat.

[Brymus]

Yeah my friend bought that stuff to take the paint off his car.
He would pour it on wait awhile then just scrape the paint off with a plastic scraper,it was insane.
Right down to the shiny metal primer and all.

[Paul Marossy]

Yeah my friend bought that stuff to take the paint off his car.
He would pour it on wait awhile then just scrape the paint off with a plastic scraper,it was insane.
Right down to the shiny metal primer and all.

Wow, what the heck is in brake fluid?!