Infrared Paint Remover

[monkey writer]

Hello,

Has anyone tried using infrared to strip paint? How successful is it? Is it to be recommended? There seems to be a buzz building up on the internet about it - but they don't seem to be available in the UK properly yet.

http://www.silentpaintremover.com/spr/index.htm

This seems to be the most vocal one - it looks pretty good and is supposed to be gentle and environmentally friendly.

Cheers!

 

[Ian Bond]

Sounds ideal for window restoration - removing paint and putty without busting the priceless old glass for example.

I've seen it in conjunction with the Windowcare system, which uses the Dryflex stuff for plastic repairs.

It would be worth having a machine like this if you had a lot of windows to restore, but it's pricey. I wonder if it is hire-able in the UK?

Ian

 

[biffvernon]

That American one is cheaper than this European one, but if you buy make sure you get the 220v version.

 

[MattJ]

The Holkham infrared lamp isn't good for paint removal - it focuses the infrared in a thin line, ideal for heating and removing putty, but wouldn't work for large areas of paint. Mine will be up for sale soon, if anyone's interested, as I'm done restoring my windows.

MattJ

 

[skier-hughes]

but if you buy make sure you get the 220v version.

Or just buy a 240 -110 V transformer, which I did for my NTSC video player, cheaper to buy on US Ebay (ten a penny there) and have shipped over than finding one for sale here, then bought the transformer for £10.

Graham

 

[brian stout]

I did a writeup in the forum last year, can't find it now. The unit is expensive but I have lots of windows to strip. These are perfect for removing all of the paint from the flat sections of the window. The unit works by heating the paint enough to soften it without running the risk of burning the paint and possibly creating dangerous lead-paint fumes, plumbic gasses. You can still scorch the wood if you are not careful. It works best with two people, one to hold the heater in place for 20 seconds or so, that's all it needs to soften the paint, while the other person weilds the scraper. The paint comes completely off, ready to paint immediately. My 100+ year old windows even had sap coming to the surface a few minutes after scraping off the paint.

The molded profile on the inside is harder to get clean. Mostly it is a problem with having the correct shape available to scrape. If I made a scraper to the correct profile it would be much easier.

The paint only stays soft for 10-20 seconds so you need to be quick. It heats an area about 4"x12". For a longer working time you are supposed to be able to put on a coat of boiled linseed oil about an hour before stripping. This allows the paint to retain more of the heat so it can stay softer longer.

 

[biffvernon]

My 100+ year old windows even had sap coming to the surface a few minutes after scraping off the paint.

I doubt if it was actually 100 year old sap. More likely rainwater that had been trapped by the impermeable modern paint. Hope you repainted with linseed oil paint. The IR paint stripper sounds a useful tool though.

 

[L1zzy]

Hi All - I'm interested in this subject but have an aside question - I've stripped and sanded all my frames but still have some of the original linseed grey/putty coloured base layer in thin/shallow streaks in some of the more hard to get to places .Sanding doesn't seem to help much as it effectively 'heats or warms up ' the gunk so I can neither scrape it away or sand it off if you get my drift. I'm about to order my Linseed oil (1st coat) and Linseed paint (second and third coats) from Holkham but I'm fretting (by now you'll all know I do this!!) will Linseed cover these streaky bits or am i likely to get problems with stickability?

 

[biffvernon]

It'll probably cover over quite well.

I find that it's best to use three coats of paint, brushed out as thin as possible, after the first coat of pure oil.

BTW, the reason for giving the wood a coat of oil before painting is that it allows less risk that too much oil from the first coat soaks into the wood leaving a layer of pigment depleted in binder, and therefore weaker, on the surface.