Stripping M548 hull

[L1A1]

For starters I've read the thread below on "sand" blasting aluminum and found it very informative. http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?81797-Blasting-Aluminum I would have asked this question on there but thought that it would be high-jacking that thread...

I'm in the process of restoring an M548A1 cargo carrier. I've removed everything including the power pack (am removing the steering diff). All I have left to remove (after the diff) are the tracks, suspension & final drives. Kind of dreading this..

No one near me does soda blasting. It's all black beauty,glass/plastic beads or casting sand. With all of the above save for the soda, I would have to remove the final drives, suspension & tracks. I've gotten a couple of quotes from local companies to blast the hull inside & out and the prices aren't bad for what's being asked.

Seeing how there's no corrosion on the hull all I'm looking for is to knock all of the old layers of paint off so I can use a proper etch primer and paint the hull before parts start going back on/in. The hull while aluminum, is very heavy duty so I'm not really worried about heat warpage from sand blasting just more dreading the tear down of the suspension. Good news is that the paint that's on there is flaking/peeling off down to the bare aluminum fairly easily.

So here's my question: Instead of media blasting, has anyone tried a pressure washer to remove peeling/flaking paint from their MV? I'm talking about one of those P/Ws that shoots 4000psi? How about a steam Jenny? These are things I could do here at the house rather than strip & ship the hull out.

Regards,
Matt

 

[teletech]

I tried a P/W on my Al hull with much the same starting condition: little corrosion and paint that was sound in places and very poor in others.
Now, I will add that my P/W has a boiler and hot water seems to help a lot.

Some places it took all the paint, some places just the top couple layers, some places not much effect. Cleaner but slower than media blasting.
Some of my hull stripping efforts are detailed here: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?49446-CVR(T)-65247-invades-the-USA/page5
I'm still in a holding pattern on my experiments with wet blasting, waiting for the weather to clear and for me to have the time when the neighbors aren't going to be in my business.


good luck,

 

[L1A1]

Yeah it's been too cold here to do anything as well. Waiting for the weather to break so I can get back to work on this project. I am lucky in that I haven't had any problems with neighbors (with this project) thus far. I did have an issue about 10-15 years ago and it wasn't a neighbor, it was someone who drove through the area on their way to work who didn't like that I had MVs....

Matt

 

[L1A1]

The weather is supposed to be nice towards the end of next week (sunny & in the low/mid 70s). I'm going to experiment with a hi-pressure washer (4000psi) to see how effective it is against the old paint on the M548.


Just had a thought: maybe use a combo of paint stripper & pressure washer? What do you think?

Matt

 

[gimpyrobb]

I've used a PW to remove paint, it wasn't that great of an experience. I had similar results as Teletech. In some places I went down to a 0* tip and it still didn't peel the paint. I think a blasting media other than water would be your best bet.


Edit, be careful if you do use a stripping agent, the blaster may get it in places on your body that you don't want in contact with it! Use caution AND ppe!

 

[L1A1]

PPE is SOP even if I wasn't using a chemical striping agent w/ pressure washer. Those things are not toys.


Matt

 

[infidel got me]

I've seen the dry ice blasters used. You can see them in action on you tube. They work really well and no clean up of sand or media left behind. The only problem is finding someone close to you that has one.

 

[L1A1]

I've seen the dry ice blasters used. You can see them in action on you tube. They work really well and no clean up of sand or media left behind. The only problem is finding someone close to you that has one.

Hhmm, I'm intrigued . I'll have to do some looking into that. All we seem to have around here (& it's not many) are media blasters that use either coal slag,sand or glass beads. Thanks for that tip.

Steam Jennys (hi pres. hot water) are nice. I use one all the time at work but their PSI is in the 2k range. May not be strong enough for my needs. Before I run out & buy a hi-pres. washer (at least 4k psi) I'm going to rent one for a couple of hours and see what that does. If nothing else, it'll remove all of the loose paint. Leaving only the stubborn stuff for the media blasters to contend with.

By spending a couple of bucks to rent, I can save the big bucks needed to purchase for spending on a trip to the media blaster's.....

Matt

 

[L1A1]

Alright, the weather was nice today & I had off from work so I went down to the local equipment rental place & rented a "cold water" pressure washer with a PSI rating of 4k.

After some experimenting, used the red (smallest apeture) tip for paint removal. Wound up not using the chemical stripper after all.

Like other's experiences, the water was able to remove some of the paint but not all (or even most) of it. It was good to experiment none the less & the vehicle looks cleaner as a result .

Matt

 

[L1A1]

Update:
On a separate occation I tried using a chemical paint stripper which had no effect on the CARC...Well, the first word in that acronym is "Chemical resistant" which works very well I must say . So back to the drawing board...



I did some research on dry ice blasting & while it looks good, the closest place to me that even offers it as a service is 170 miles away from me up in Baltimore. I think that would be a gigantic undertaking to ship the hull up & back for that service.

Matt