Painted Foilcal

[Uncle Paul]

Any suggestions for getting paint off a foilcal without damaging it? I'm getting ready to ressurect a slightly mangled, slightly rusted, and unfortunately repainted pair of L94 lenses. I'd like to salvage and reuse the foilcals if I can.

[Regis]

Are you talking about removing the paint off've the foilcal or removing the foilcal from the metal lenses? If you're talking about removing the foilcal from the lenses, that's going to be tricky. Removing off the speaker involves a very flexible putty knife and a hairdryer to heat up the foilcal and soften the glue. I'm not sure if you could remove the round (?) foilcals without scratching the metal surface, but since they've been repainted anyway, you might give it a careful try.

[Titanium Dome]

Can you tell if it's water-based, alkyd, or polyurethane paint?

[Uncle Paul]

I plan on taking them down to bare metal as part of the makeover. How can I test the repainted areas to see what the base is? Then I suppose the next step is to figure out what solvent would remove the paint without damaging the foilcals. Can you tell me what sorts of solvents would ruin the foilcals and which may be safe?

[edgewound]

I would think the safest bet would be a citrus-based remover...although years ago, I used Strip-eze to remove crinkle finish paint from the face-plate of my 1964 Fender Bandmaster guitar amp. It had been modified and the the beautiful blackface plate was painted over...the spray paint just fell off with Strip-eze, revealing the original faceplate undamaged...beautiful! I think solvents such as MEK, acetone, lacquer thinner will damage the foilcal.


Good Luck:)

Edgewound

[pmakres1]

I plan on taking them down to bare metal as part of the makeover. How can I test the repainted areas to see what the base is? Then I suppose the next step is to figure out what solvent would remove the paint without damaging the foilcals. Can you tell me what sorts of solvents would ruin the foilcals and which may be safe?

You might try "Turpenoid Natural" by Weber. (NOT to be confused with Turpentine!). Turpenoid is, as the name implies, a natural product that is used for cleaning oil paint from brushes, etc. It is used by artists and is available at Craft stores such as Michael's. Because of its natural composition it works well for cleaning oil paint from clothing, carpet, upholstery, etc without damage. So, it may work well for your purpose, BUT I would test a small area first, or if you have an old foilcal that doesn't matter you could test with that first.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Peter

[lgvenable]

citrus based cleaners are based on d-limonene, available from
http://www.floridachemical.com/Default.htm

this is a strong solvent, which can be used with small amounts of water (they are miscible), to mediate the activity of the solvent. There are recommended emulsifiers which allow a stable mixture to be made, using a hand drill and paddle mixer; but I'd have to look up the right surfactant. With the emulsifier, they can be made into gels.

Either way, as a neat chemical it can soften the surface of polystyrene; so a little water would make sure it is not too active.

It is a terpenoid, specifically a mono-terpene. As I get the chance I'll post the emulsifier later today.

Using this solvent blend with water, small amounts of heat (from a variable temp heat gun, and a plastic (polypropylene or nylon) covered utensil (like a spatula) should prevent scratching.

Emulsifier:
http://www.deforest.net/d'limone.htm (http://www.deforest.net/d%27limone.htm)

DeMULS DLN-532CE is a 97% active emulsifier which can be used to produce clear D'Limonene emulsion concentrates containing as much as 50% D'Limonene. These clear concentrates can be diluted up to 32:1 with water producing clear dilutions.
DeMULS DLN-532CE is biodegradable and non-phenolic. This surfactant will also act as an emulsifier and solubilizer for other oils & solvents and has excellent wetting properties. :D

[pelly3s]

Just aviod MEK lol..... There isnt much on the face of this earth that it wont damage. Sem-solve might work for you. I would check the MSDS sheet on it first though

[Don Mascali]

Damn, is there anything the guys on this board don't know?:blink: