The Top 4 Ways to Remove Powder Coating

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These 4 powder stripping methods have unique pros and cons. Which one is right for you?

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• Chemical Stripping
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• Abrasive Blasting
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• Burn-off Ovens
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• Lasers

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Powder coating is an incredible finish that is extremely strong and durable. However, its durability can leave you scratching your head when it comes time to remove it. Whether you’re looking to refinish your project or fix some mistakes, there are several ways to remove powder coating. In this article, we’ll give you the lowdown on the 4 most common ways to get rid of this coating. We’ll also tell you how to remove powder coating yourself by using a chemical stripper or sandblaster. Read on to learn more!

Things You Should Know

• Remove powder coating with a chemical stripper by applying a thin layer on your material. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then scrape the coating away.
• Remove powder coating with a sandblaster by using plastic or glass beads. Fill the blaster with your medium and move the nozzle back and forth across your material.
• Burn-off ovens quickly and easily melt off powder coating. However, they’re expensive and can damage the surface of the material.
• Lasers are more environmentally friendly and are less likely to damage your material. They are very pricey, though.

Steps

Section 1 of 4:

Chemical Stripping

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   Chemical strippers soften and dissolve powder coating. With chemical stripping, you apply the solution directly onto the surface of the powder coating. The chemicals in the stripper breaks down the coating in just several minutes. After it has bubbled up and softened the powder coating, you simply wipe it away.

   • Chemical strippers can be applied to the surface with a brush, which is great for small and large applications.
   • In industrial settings, objects are often dipped and soaked in the chemical stripper.
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   Pros: chemical strippers are inexpensive and easy to use. Out of all the powder coat removal options, chemical stripping is the most DIY friendly. Chemical strippers don’t require other expensive materials to use and are often sold at hardware stores. As another plus, they usually remove the powder coat evenly so streaks aren’t left behind.

   • Chemical strippers also leave your surface super smooth and shiny, which is great if you want that look, but not so great if you want to refinish your piece. If you’re adding a fresh layer of powder coating or paint, you’ll have to roughen up the surface again so they stick.
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   Cons: chemical strippers are hazardous and difficult to clean up. One of the major downsides of chemical strippers is that they are toxic. If you don’t wear a respirator, goggles, and long gloves when using a stripper, it can easily burn your skin. Its toxicity can also make it difficult to dispose of. Both the stripper and the water that you use to clean your piece off with are considered hazardous waste.

   • When using chemical strippers, everything contaminated with the stripper has to be taken to a waste disposal center.
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   Apply a thin layer of chemical stripper on powder coating to remove it. When using a chemical stripper, work in a well-ventilated area and put on gloves, safety goggles, and a respirator mask. Simply spray the chemical stripper on top of the powder coating. Wait 5 to 10 minutes, then scrape away the coating with a plastic scrub brush or toothbrush. Reapply the stripper as needed, then rinse off the finished piece in a bucket of water.

   • Lay a tarp or plastic sheet over your workspace to protect it from the chemical stripper.
   • The most popular chemical strippers are gasket removers and aircraft strippers.
   • To clean up, place your used tarp and paper towels in an air-tight, metal container. Pour the water you used to rinse the finished piece off in a plastic, sealed container. Then, take them to your local waste disposal or recycling center.
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Section 2 of 4:

Abrasive Blasting

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   Abrasive blasting removes powder coating with sand or plastic beads. An abrasive blaster shoots materials like sand, plastic, or glass out of a nozzle at high speeds. When aimed at a surface covered in powder coating, the abrasiveness of these materials easily strips it off. To protect you as you blast, the object you’re resurfacing is typically placed in a special blasting cabinet.
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   Pros: abrasive blasting leaves behind a scuffed surface. Due to the abrasive materials it uses, abrasive blasters can sand your surface as you remove the coating. If you want to refinish your surface, this means you don’t have to do double the work to scuff it back up! The direct and focused stripping of an abrasive blaster also means that it can easily remove powder coating from super small and large surfaces.
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   Cons: abrasive blasting can be expensive and damage metal. In general, professional abrasive blasters charge about $45-65 per hour to blast your surface. Because blasting can take a long time, you might end up spending a lot of cash, especially if your surface is large. The abrasive medium used can also damage or dent your surface if it's made out of a softer metal like aluminum.
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   Sandblast your own material by buying or renting a sandblaster. To sandblast safely, work in an open space and put on earmuffs, gloves, safety goggles, and a respirator mask. Fill the blaster with your abrasive material. Then, attach the air compressor hose to the blaster. Aim the nozzle of the blaster about 6 inches (15 cm) away from the material. Just move in back and forth strokes to strip the powder coating off.

   • The size of your project depends on how long the sandblasting takes. A wheel rim might take 1 to 2 hours to remove the powder coating, while a whole car can take several days.
   • Most sandblasting units start at around $150 to buy or rent.
   • Plastic beads are a great medium that removes powder coating from most metals. If you’re working with harder metals like steel and iron, use glass beads.
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Section 3 of 4:

Burn-off Ovens

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   Burn-off ovens melt the powder coating off of your surface. These definitely aren’t your run-of-the-mill kitchen ovens. Burn-off ovens often get up to temperatures above 1,000° F (538° C)! The heat turns the powder coating into a dust, so these ovens also have special ventilation systems to deal with the chemicals as they melt and evaporate.

   • Because of their special parts and equipment, burn-off ovens aren’t really feasible for you to use. However, they are commonly used in production facilities.
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   Pros: burn-off ovens melt off powder coating quickly. The biggest benefit of using a burn-off oven is that they can remove powder coating in several minutes to an hour. They are also pretty simple to use and require less manual labor than some of the other stripping methods.
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   Cons: burn-off ovens can damage your material. The high heats used in burn-off ovens can easily damage some metal surfaces with lower melting points, like aluminum. They also tend to be expensive, even for large production facilities. The ovens are usually very large and require a lot of energy to get working, too.

   • The heat can also leave the surface of the material super smooth, so it has to be re-sanded before a new coat of powder or paint is applied.
   • Due to the high heat, burn-off ovens might be best suited for metals with higher melting points, like iron and titanium.
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Section 4 of 4:

Lasers

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   High-powered lasers can zap off powder coating. Lasers work a lot like abrasive blasting, except they use light waves to work. The light in a laser is extremely hot, focused, and energized. When it’s unleashed onto a surface covered in powder coating, it dissolves it right off.

   • Laser cleaning is a newer technology that is extremely costly for a DIYer. They’re mostly used in industrial settings.
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   Pros: lasers cause very little damage. Unlike the abrasiveness of blasters and the heat of ovens, lasers are less likely to damage softer metals. They are also more environmentally friendly than some of the other options, as they don’t use hazardous materials or require cleanup after the stripping is finished.

   • Like abrasive blasters, the size of your material depends on how long the removal takes. However, they’re typically faster than blasters and might take several minutes to hours to remove powder coating.
   • Due to it being less damaging, lasers are great to use on both soft and hard metals.
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   Cons: lasers are very expensive. It might come to no surprise that a high-powered, specialty laser costs a lot to buy and use! They also typically smooth out the surface after removing the powder coating, so it has to be scuffed up again. However, some of these lasers can do the re-sanding as well.

   • Lasers typically cost about $3-4 for each square foot (meter) of material cleaned. Laser devices themselves can cost upwards of $10,000.
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