Tank Paint Removal

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Grumman-581 - 29 Nov 2003 23:26 GMT

What would be the best method for removing the paint / finish off of
an aluminum SCUBA tank? Chemical stripper? Sandblasting? I suspect
that taking an angle-grinder to it would not be conducive it passing
its next hydro... I'm not wanting to repaint it, so just painting over
it is not an option...

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Pete S. - 29 Nov 2003 23:36 GMT

>What would be the best method for removing the paint / finish off of
>an aluminum SCUBA tank? Chemical stripper? Sandblasting? I suspect
>that taking an angle-grinder to it would not be conducive it passing
>its next hydro... I'm not wanting to repaint it, so just painting over
>it is not an option...

A bit of heat works well. Just fire up a blow lamp, and strip away,
the hotter you get the paint the easier it comes off.

This assumes that I'm not around when you have the cylinder filled
again.......

Pete S.

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Bardo - 30 Nov 2003 07:47 GMT

> >What would be the best method for removing the paint / finish off of
> >an aluminum SCUBA tank? Chemical stripper? Sandblasting? I suspect
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> A bit of heat works well. Just fire up a blow lamp, and strip away,
> the hotter you get the paint the easier it comes off.

...and don't forget to fill the cylinder with pure O2 at maximum pressure
before you start work, Pete... ;-)

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Alan Street - 30 Nov 2003 02:12 GMT

DMSO is a pretty effective "solvent" for epoxy, and I believe the
paints used on tanks are epoxy based. The only problem is that you have
to heat the DMSO to ~50C, and it takes 30 minutes or so to depolymerize
the epoxy. It won't do any damage to the aluminum, however. You might
also look into some of the solvents used to strip bottom paint off of
boats. Try searching on Interlux, Awlgrip or even 3M.

Alan

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Al Wells - 30 Nov 2003 13:08 GMT

> What would be the best method for removing the paint / finish off of
> an aluminum SCUBA tank? Chemical stripper? Sandblasting? I suspect
> that taking an angle-grinder to it would not be conducive it passing
> its next hydro... I'm not wanting to repaint it, so just painting over
> it is not an option...

We bead blast them. Make sure you use beads and not Al2O3, which is
too aggressive.

Some of tha cave divers use an aircraft paint stripper that is
available in some auto parts stores. I don't remember the name, but it
has the word "aircraft" in it. You might find it with a search of the
old Cavers and Techdiver mailing lists.

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Fredric Altman - 04 Dec 2003 21:13 GMT

>Some of tha cave divers use an aircraft paint stripper that is
>available in some auto parts stores. I don't remember the name, but it
>has the word "aircraft" in it. You might find it with a search of the
>old Cavers and Techdiver mailing lists.

Aircraft Stripper is the name.

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Karl Denninger - 01 Dec 2003 02:56 GMT

Aircraft paint stripper.

Don't get any inside the tank.

Mechanical or heat-based means of removal condemn the tank. Expect lots of
questions when you go to get it re-VIPped.

--

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mike gray, CID - 03 Dec 2003 01:43 GMT

> What would be the best method for removing the paint / finish off of
> an aluminum SCUBA tank? Chemical stripper? Sandblasting? I suspect
> that taking an angle-grinder to it would not be conducive it passing
> its next hydro... I'm not wanting to repaint it, so just painting over
> it is not an option...

Locally (SoFla), there are places that polish Al tanks. They look pretty
good. I'm guessing the old paint comes off in the polishing process, but
I'm not sure.

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