Anyone removed their hammertone finish?

[FACE MEAT]

Greetings REOnauts. Sorry I haven't shown my face in REOville in a while. A new baby and moving house have kept me pretty busy the past few months.

My silver hammertone LP Grand has started to chip off at the corners. I considered shipping it to ROB's spa for some TLC, but I can't stomach the idea of being REO-less for multiple days.

Has anybody removed the paint from a REO to expose the raw aluminum? I'd like to give this a shot, but don't want to end up ruining my pride and joy.

Cheers and thanks!

 

[marsos52]

hi, my hammertone finish started pealing of the body inside and out and I decided to help it out and make totally raw.

I used 220 grit to get the job joining. and moved to finer grit as things progressed.

I did alittle here and there as I felt in the mood.

after I was almost had the job complete. I found I could have just used my air compressor. the forced air is strong enough to lift the
paint from the body perfectly.

wish I tried that before I started to sand it off.

 

[SteamStack]

Couldn't you find some hammer tone paint to just touch it up?

 

[TX Foilhead]

buy another one, what were you thinking not having a back-up.

 

[tobarger]

I found I could have just used my air compressor. the forced air is strong enough to lift the paint from the body perfectly

You can really just BLOW the paint off with an air compressor?
There has to be more to it than that, maybe your using the compressor with a sandblaster
And HammerTone is about the most durable paint Rob uses
I have a secondhand HammerTone VV Grand and it looks like the day it was born

 

[marsos52]

I'll try to explain it better if I can.
the inside of the mod where the battery is placed, the paint began to lift off and break away from the body
on its own, soon after the same thing happened around the 510 connector area.

then it just keep on peeling further and further, that's went I decided to help it along. first with sand paper, I would do a little each day or so.

one day I had so much paint dust and thought I'd blow it out with my air compressor. once the forced air got under a section that still had paint
left the paint just lifted of the body perfectly..

 

[custom-classic]

I took my copper vein from this...

To this...

Using this...

Klean-Strip EAR322 Aerosol Aircraft Remover, 18-Ounce - Paint Strippers - Amazon.com

It had become almost black over a period of time. That stuff made the powder coat swell up like a balloon and it just wiped right off, after soaking for about 20 minutes...

 

[FACE MEAT]

I took my copper vein from this...

To this...

Using this...

Klean-Strip EAR322 Aerosol Aircraft Remover, 18-Ounce - Paint Strippers - Amazon.com

It had become almost black over a period of time. That stuff made the powder coat swell up like a balloon and it just wiped right off, after soaking for about 20 minutes...

Did the paint stripper damage the 510 at all? That's what I'm most concerned about.

 

[jifjifjif]

I'm betting that the button hole, 510 connector were taped up to keep them clean. Just my guess though.

 

[custom-classic]

No. I just pulled the pin, gasket, and grommet out.
this was the old 510.....

 

[Doffy]

I also used paint stripper, easy peasy

 

[muzichead]

I have stripped an anodized and a silver vein with Klean-strip and will say the anodized was the hardest to strip. It took a little more elbow grease and about 3 coatings to get everything off. This is not to say the silver vein was easy... I think it was 2 good coatings to get everything. Both of mine had the original 510 like CC's and I also disassembled them prior. If you have the new 510, you should be able to just tape it up and be good to go...

 

[TX Foilhead]

Anodizing chemically rusts the aluminum and the it's dyed, it shouldn't come off with paint stripper. I have seen some things on Rob's site that say annodized, but they look like they have a texture like my black wrinkle REO's. You need something like oven cleaner and some sand paper to remove Anno'd parts.

Speaking of cleaning things up, my Polished REO has spent too much time in my pocket and was looking a bit shabby. Yeasterday I got out a Roloc pad and a drill and brushed it. Didn't like the way that turned out with the very noticeable swirls. So I took green and blue scotchbrite pads and rubbed it top to bottom and came out with a nice dull silver finish. Not quite as dull as the Challice, but it's definitely not polished. There's still a few swirls so I figure I'll spend a little time one it the next few times I give it the ultrasonic bath and hopefully it will even out by Labor Day.

 

[muzichead]

Nope, this is what I used... Like I said, it took a couple applications but it removed it all...