I have a carbon bike I wanna strip chemically and send off to the painters to have ceracoated. I do know that Carbo-Life is out of business and a guy listed on their site as a Partner said it did not work very well. Does anynoe know of anything that stripped the paint off without too much hassle and elbo grease? It is a Kestrel so the paint is heavy and thick! We would mechnanically strip it but that would take 10-12 hours or so.
Thanks in advanced
Coming from a Autobody/paint background I can tell you paint stripper is a pain. With that being said your only other option would be using a high grit sandpaper to strip it down. Good luck with it.
A few years ago there was a product called “Carbo-Lift,” not sure whether it’s still around, but it’s supposed to take off most of the paint fairly quickly, so that you just have a little bit of hand work to do…
A few years ago there was a product called “Carbo-Lift,” not sure whether it’s still around, but it’s supposed to take off most of the paint fairly quickly, so that you just have a little bit of hand work to do…
I confirmed that they are out of business! the stuff was really not that good but people who used it. That’s why I was asking. There is some really toxic stuff I can use but I am ot interested. I want something that works that will not kill everything it comes in contact with. I have several friends in the aerospace industry and they said they would do it for me. I really wanted to do it myself and make sure they bike wasn’t compromised, cuz I have to ride the darn thing!
A few years ago there was a product called “Carbo-Lift,” not sure whether it’s still around, but it’s supposed to take off most of the paint fairly quickly, so that you just have a little bit of hand work to do…
I confirmed that they are out of business! the stuff was really not that good but people who used it. That’s why I was asking. There is some really toxic stuff I can use but I am ot interested. I want something that works that will not kill everything it comes in contact with. I have several friends in the aerospace industry and they said they would do
it for me. I really wanted to do it myself and make sure they bike wasn’t compromised, cuz I have to ride the darn thing!
So I look up Cerakote wondering what it was because I’ve been a car painter and still dabble with it. Turns out you have to bake it at 300 degrees for a minimum of 2 hours. paint booths dont even get to that temp. Are you sure that’s safe for the carbon? Or did you mean to type clear coat.
Btw, just use the nasty paint stripper. It’s the only thing that works well on that kind of paint. mask off the floor beneath you. Don’t get it on your skin.
A few years ago there was a product called “Carbo-Lift,” not sure whether it’s still around, but it’s supposed to take off most of the paint fairly quickly, so that you just have a little bit of hand work to do…
I confirmed that they are out of business! the stuff was really not that good but people who used it. That’s why I was asking. There is some really toxic stuff I can use but I am ot interested. I want something that works that will not kill everything it comes in contact with. I have several friends in the aerospace industry and they said they would do
it for me. I really wanted to do it myself and make sure they bike wasn’t compromised, cuz I have to ride the darn thing!
So I look up Cerakote wondering what it was because I’ve been a car painter and still dabble with it. Turns out you have to bake it at 300 degrees for a minimum of 2 hours. paint booths dont even get to that temp. Are you sure that’s safe for the carbon? Or did you mean to type clear coat.
Btw, just use the nasty paint stripper. It’s the only thing that works well on that kind of paint. mask off the floor beneath you. Don’t get it on your skin.
Well I was able to locate a vendor that supplied that stuff for Carbo-Lift but they said they had issues with them. So we are ordering some and giving the new formula a try. If anyone is interested we may buy in bulk for other projects and sell it at wholesale.
Anyways the coating (I am also involved in a business that applies the Cerakote) There are several verions of the product. The main product which is primarily used for guns is cured at temps. There are two other versions, one is basically an air dry and the other is cured by UV. I decided to use the UV cured product on my personal bike. It was extremely expensive and it was overkill (I received it as a government sample for testing). The coating is more durable than standard automotive style paints.
A few years ago there was a product called “Carbo-Lift,” not sure whether it’s still around, but it’s supposed to take off most of the paint fairly quickly, so that you just have a little bit of hand work to do…
I confirmed that they are out of business! the stuff was really not that good but people who used it. That’s why I was asking. There is some really toxic stuff I can use but I am ot interested. I want something that works that will not kill everything it comes in contact with. I have several friends in the aerospace industry and they said they would do
it for me. I really wanted to do it myself and make sure they bike wasn’t compromised, cuz I have to ride the darn thing!
So I look up Cerakote wondering what it was because I’ve been a car painter and still dabble with it. Turns out you have to bake it at 300 degrees for a minimum of 2 hours. paint booths dont even get to that temp. Are you sure that’s safe for the carbon? Or did you mean to type clear coat.
Btw, just use the nasty paint stripper. It’s the only thing that works well on that kind of paint. mask off the floor beneath you. Don’t get it on your skin.
The nasty paint stripper (might have Aircraft stripper on the can) will eat your carbon frame too, so I’d advise against that
Short answer is I don’t think there is any stripper that can safely and easily remove paint from carbon.
Discussions here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=4355838;search_string=nickag%20paint;#4355838
If you’re not concerned about the weight, then just scuff the clear coat without going to the hassle of removing the color coat, that’s what I did.
About 99% of the frames I paint are carbon and if there was a safe chemical stripper I would use it. Although there are some like carbo strip that claim to be safe I am not going to use the on my customer frames. I use sandpaper on every frame to remove the finish down to primer. For bare carbon jobs it just requires twice as much labor.
About 99% of the frames I paint are carbon and if there was a safe chemical stripper I would use it. Although there are some like carbo strip that claim to be safe I am not going to use the on my customer frames. I use sandpaper on every frame to remove the finish down to primer. For bare carbon jobs it just requires twice as much labor.
I talked to the company that made Carbo for them. It was their product and they had issues with the Carbo company so they stopped suppling them all together. I stuff is 100% safe and I also spoke with their technical support guy. The stuff is safe but it does take time to work on the product. It is safe and they even can ship the containers by air. We are purchasing a few gallons and giving it a go. I actually had my first bike stripped professionally by hand. The shop quoted 12-15 hours and it took them almost 16 hours for the frame and fork. I was told that they could strip a Trek Madone in about 3 hours time (not including the product’s working time and final paint prep). We will have to se how it goes?
Can I ask how many frame you paint up normally?
the problem I have with stripper that says it is safe is that frames are made of parts bonded together and how can I be sure it wont eat the epoxy that was used to bond that area? without testing each type of epoxy used by the manufacture i just dont trust it. I can prep a frame in about an hour to be ready for primer and repaint using sandpaper so not a lot of benifit if it take 3 hours. I always strip metal frames to bare metal with stripper first but it is just plain messy.
I paint about 30 frames a year.
Ceracoating and powder coating both require baking in an oven. This will ruin the carbon/resin that holds it together. As has been previously mentioned, sandpaper is the best way, although certainly a painstaking process. As with any frame painting, start with a low grit (150) and work your way higher (600-1000). The key is to wet sand to ensure that the paint that has been removed is washed away.
There has been some extensive discussion of this on the cycling forum weightweenies.starbike.com. I don’t know of any painters that will undertake this sort of job unless you hand the frame off completely stripped.
the problem I have with stripper that says it is safe is that frames are made of parts bonded together and how can I be sure it wont eat the epoxy that was used to bond that area? without testing each type of epoxy used by the manufacture i just dont trust it. I can prep a frame in about an hour to be ready for primer and repaint using sandpaper so not a lot of benifit if it take 3 hours. I always strip metal frames to bare metal with stripper first but it is just plain messy.
I paint about 30 frames a year.
Isn’t carbon fibre composite (as in bike frames) made up of carbon fibre cloth and epoxy to form the tubes? The glue that holds tubes to each other is the same as the glue (epoxy) that holds the cloth rigid?
I’m just repairing my second carbon frame. I’m actually taking small bundles of carbon fibre and laying them up in a unidirectional pattern over the repair, in 3 layers (letting the epoxy go off for each layer) then I will cover with a single layer of woven fibre matt to provide a similar look to the original frame.
Based on my first frame repair, I suspect it will be stronger than the original part that broke.
Epoxy is very chemically resistant, but best to check a chemical resistance chart to be sure.
I cannot answer if the epoxy used to bond the parts of a carbon frame is the same as what is used to lay up the frame. I do know that I have seen the glue in a joint line get soft from other chemicals.
I will just keep sanding them for now.
No, the glue bonding the tubes together is not necessarily the same as the epoxy contained in the fiber cloth.
It depends on the fabrication method. Tube-to-tube is done with (typically) the same or similar resin. Modular monocoque and other types where the joins are not wrapped with fabric and then pressured and cured will use a completely different kind of glue.