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Stewart-Warner 9002-A
This is a plastic cabinet that came from the factory in white now I have the Chassis done and its time to refinish. My questions are
1 should I sand or chemical strip?
2 should I use just a spray paint to recover, what brand seems to work best?
Thanks Eric
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City: Hayward, California
You should use paint made for plastic, they have special plastic paint.
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Does this plastic cabinet have a solid colour of white or was it painted that colour? If it's solid white plastic a good cleaning followed by a polish is the best way, if it's painted Bakelite then paint and varnish remover can be used to get the old stuff off.
Regards
Arran
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No the color does not go through, I have washed it and have tried Formby's paint and varnish remover on the underside as a test area and it did not do a very good job I'm beginning to thing it is some sort of epoxy paint so I'm sanding it to feather the chips then will primer and paint,
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It's probably a baked on enamel, they didn't have epoxy paint in the 1940s and 50s. I don't know what Formby's paint and varnish remover has in it but if it isn't methylene chloride based get some that is, I have found that you have to go at it with fine steel wool while the stripper is wet. Another solution may be to try methyl-ethyl-keytone, outside with chemical gloves. One chemical that I have also heard will strip paint is brake fluid, dot 3 to be exact.
Regards
Arran
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I will try what you have recommended , Strippers have been diluted because of the EPA and others.
AK
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I think the paint and varnish remover sold under the Kleenstrip brand might have methylene chloride in it. As for repainting it alkyd enamel spray paint always worked for me, you can also use the special plastic paint too but that was really designed to stick to polyethylene, Bakelite doesn't have that bonding problem so much.
Regards
Arran
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Started experimenting with thinners before buying the brake fluid and Lacquer thinner works great with some of the medium Scotch Brite. The finish just melts off.
Thanks
Eric
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