Tutorial - How to strip / remove paint / powdercoat off aluminium forks / frame

I have been looking for aluminium forks for a while to put on my brother's Mielec Mash/Gash which came in raw aluminium.

I went to pick up a set of black Leader i806A V2 'track' forks from eBay yesterday - these were bought from BLB for £110 by the original owner, who decided to go for carbon as these are rather heavy thanks to the steel steerer (a mighty 794g).

CSB

**tl;dr **- forks are powdercoated black, I want them in raw silver

Step 1 - Get your kit ready
You will need to buy paint stripper (I recommend Nitromors) then the rest should already be in your house/shed:

• rubber gloves so you don't burn your hands,
  
• safety glasses so you can be smirky when you get Nitromors backsplash on them,
  
• Cling film so you can cover the parts you don't want to strip,
  
• an old toothbrush to brush the stripper in intricate parts,
  
• a metallic spiral scourer - this is needed as powdercoat is much thicker than paint,
  
• wire wool (0 or 00) for a smooth finish.
  
  

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/Useful%20Bike%20Stuff/Paint%20Stripping%20-%20Aluminium%20Forks/20130411_193428_zps3d93a6be.jpg

Step 2 - Cover the parts you don't want to strip in cling film (in my case, the steerer) then apply a coat of Nitromors on the forks, wait for 20 minutes, brush it around with the toothbrush then apply another coat of it and leave for 30 minutes. Do this outside or you will probably die with the fumes.
If the forks were just painted, you can cut these waiting times as the paint would 'bubble' off.
Coat 1
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/Useful%20Bike%20Stuff/Paint%20Stripping%20-%20Aluminium%20Forks/20130411_193552_zps42dd348e.jpg
Coat 2
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/Useful%20Bike%20Stuff/Paint%20Stripping%20-%20Aluminium%20Forks/20130411_194918_zps6e2a2fd1.jpg

Step 3 - Use the metallic spiral scourer and give the forks a good rub, ideally lengthways, this should remove most of the powdercoat.
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/Useful%20Bike%20Stuff/Paint%20Stripping%20-%20Aluminium%20Forks/20130411_202556_zps44ecd203.jpg
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/Useful%20Bike%20Stuff/Paint%20Stripping%20-%20Aluminium%20Forks/20130411_202636_zpsb25bd971.jpg
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/Useful%20Bike%20Stuff/Paint%20Stripping%20-%20Aluminium%20Forks/20130411_202628_zps54cac751.jpg

Step 4 - Repeat Step 2 & 3 on the stubborn areas.
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/Useful%20Bike%20Stuff/Paint%20Stripping%20-%20Aluminium%20Forks/20130411_203134_zpse8b093f1.jpg
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/Useful%20Bike%20Stuff/Paint%20Stripping%20-%20Aluminium%20Forks/20130411_221202_zpsd20a3147.jpg

Step 5 - You're nearly there. Use the wire wool to finish the job, once again lengthways.
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/Useful%20Bike%20Stuff/Paint%20Stripping%20-%20Aluminium%20Forks/20130412_083412_zps42d8d1d6.jpg
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/Useful%20Bike%20Stuff/Paint%20Stripping%20-%20Aluminium%20Forks/20130412_083425_zpsfab3c409.jpg

The black marks on the forks are the welds which I could polish off but i'm going for the raw look.

You could also use some metal polish / polishing compound to have a mirror finish.

I hope this helps - not a hard job, it just take a bit of time and elbow grease.

Cheers

Vince

Good work

What is that pink/purple beast with arroospok hiding in the background?

arrospok ... how dare you
that looks like a decent wheel

I tried stripping powdercoat off a porter rack today. It was a total nightmare and at the end of the day there's still way more than 50% left on! I didn't have anything better than wire wool though, I think I might need a steel brush or a drill attachment maybe...

Have you tried with a Brillo pad?

It removes way more than wire wool.

Also, what paint stripper were you using?

Cheers

Vince

I used nitromors, the sort of liquid stuff though, not the mousse.

I've started looking for places that do it commercially now, I spent half a day fannying around with rubber gloves on and barely shifted anything, so I may cut my losses. The wire wool was a bit shit, but it definitely felt like it wasn't going anywhere even if I'd had some better abrasives...

Try Armourtex

http://www.armourtexltd.co.uk/

I think the EU has banned the chemical that gives paint stripper it's bite, hence Nitromors is a bit weak these days. I stripped some wheels recently and it was a right mission. I'd imagine hooky paint stripper with the br00dal, now banned magic ingredient is track-downable on ebay.

Armourtex can't do it, as it's too big for their tanks (their tanks are built for bikes - so pretty large length by depth, but very narrow - about 130mm as you'd imagine) so trying to find somewhere that does bigger stuff, but strangely the information that the professionals have is wierdly inconsistent

Some say you have to dunk it, because shot blast will ruin alu, some say shot blasting it is fine, and some say that you can't strip powder coat of alu at all. Very odd.

kirkov - this is another bit of info someone gave me on the phone today, said in recent years nitromors has lost its touch because of regulations. he reckoned with old nitromors the powder coat literally fell off!

don't know where any of this leaves me though!

And here they are, polished with Belgom:

Newbie here but I put my pennies worth in, I have used B&Q paint stripper with pretty good results, I found wrapping with cling film helps stripper work and not dry out.

Also Brilo pads are great and I have used scotch cloth in bodyshop for ages and use that on alloy parts all the time.

I also Forgot to Put, If anyone has the dreaded Stuck seat post. although dangerous B&Q concentrated Caustic really works. (I do not work for B&Q just live in rural Norfolk not loads of shops).

Great tutorial, shame about the pink

Dredge time! If I do this in my bath, will I end up with a shit bath? I don't really have any outside space.

Dredge time! If I do this in my bath, will I end up with a shit bath? I don't really have any outside space.

If your bath is plastic then yes you don't want nitromors in it. If it's ceramic I imagine you'll be ok*

*don't quote me on this

No dredging with tutorials!

A stainless steel sink would be less inappropriate than a plastic bath.

#breakingbad #bathtub
breaking bad acid scene - YouTube

I'll probably buy a metal bucket to be safe......

Any reason why this method wouldn't work on a 953 frame?

Right - about to do this on a Giant TCX

Is Nitromors, even the modern, slightly crapper stuff, still the best shout?

Dichloromethane was the active ingredient in "old" Nitromors: if you search for that on eBay, you can still buy strippers that include it.

NB It was banned for a reason: holding your breath and hoping for the best, isn't going to cut it.

During the recent move I unearthed an old alu MTB frame (not good old, just mid 00s)
Needs stripping of its battered and awful paintjob before being resurrected as a long travel hardcore single speed heavy hitter.

Is it still nitromoors and elbow grease or is there a better way?
(Other than getting someone else to do it)

This is the product we use at CCW.
We don't buy t from eBay but it is available there... STARCHEM

Start by scoring the paint already on the bike with a Stanley blade.
Brush this stuff on.
Wait a bit, wipe it off.

Get a couple of wire brush attachments for your power drill to get into hard to reach areas.

Some Red Scotchbrite is also very useful for tricky areas.

Use gloves/overalls/mask/goggles etc

This stuff is serious and will burn your skin.