Removing Paint from Acrylic

[Danh]

I just bought a used 450g acrylic. The sides are painted black. The owner wasn't one of us lol... He didn't know what kind of paint it was.

Suggestions on what I should use to remove it that won't damage the acrylic beyond repair? I may be buffing the whole thing anyway so I really just don't want to damage it beyond repair.

 

[Danh]

Along those lines - any help finding the "best" acrylic buffing post would be great.

 

[wednesday13]

Only way to get paint off acrylic is sanding it off… “buffing” is just wet sanding through all the grits then using polish to get it clear again. Orbital sander works best. Palm sanders do not work and leave marks in the surface.
Start with 600-800 and go through all the girts up to 3000-4000. After that u can use certain car polishes to make it clear again or the line of “novus” brand polishes. IME theres no difference between novus brand polish u may overpay for and mcguires brand car polishes that can be found locally at an auto parts store.
Theres no quick way to “buff”. have to take ur time and go through every grit, then buff with polishes to finish the process.

Not much worry of damaging anything either, scratches and sanding marks can always be made clear again with patience.

 

[Danh]

I was thinking about some kind of solvent permanently hazing the acrylic that maybe couldn't be buffed out.

I MAY want to buff out some scratches on the other panels... But you're saying a 600 to 4000 full sand/buff should be how to handle the paint too?

 

[altums85]

There are chemicals at home depot u can apply to get it off. Or u can prob use a high pressure washer to spray it off. As for buffing. U can google or youtube videos on how to buff tanks

 

[wednesday13]

I was thinking about some kind of solvent permanently hazing the acrylic that maybe couldn't be buffed out.

I MAY want to buff out some scratches on the other panels... But you're saying a 600 to 4000 full sand/buff should be how to handle the paint too?

You are correct… a typical paint stripper would most likely damage/craze the acrylic like acetone would. There are water based/chemical free strippers that might do it tho. Test in a small area first just to be sure. Sanding will take it off fairly quickly tho also.

 

[Danh]

So if I'm going to be buffing anyway there may be no reason to try to use a water based stripper... I need to clean the tank up to decide if I need to buff the whole thing.

 

[wednesday13]

So if I'm going to be buffing anyway there may be no reason to try to use a water based stripper... I need to clean the tank up to decide if I need to buff the whole thing.

With a decent orbital sander… u could prob knock the entire tank out pretty easy yes. I did a tank by hand with a sanding block just to learn how to do it lol… wasn’t too terrible that way even.