Frame paint stripper that works?

I bought stuff on ebay called Starchem Synstryp. Worked well but definitely contained chemicals I'd rather not breathe in again.

Thanks for the recommendation, sounds like the kind of thing I’m after. I can only find it in cans big enough that they cost the same as the media blasting quote I’ve got though!

Is it painted or powder coated? It's worth trying a bit of heat first. On some frames the coating comes of very easily with a hot air gun without getting it crazy hot. Just peels off in big lumps. Try an area and if not much happens then you can hit the chemicals.

Painted, I don’t have a heat gun but I’ll see what happens if I point mrs a’s hairdryer at it 😅

Probably not much as the heat output is not comparable.

After you apply whatever stripper. Wrap those areas in plastic bin bags, as it stops the stripper drying out.

Leave it like that for a couple of hours, remove bags and you'll find the stripper has worked better. Rinse and repeat till all the paint is gone.

Starchem. Go to your local trade paints supplier and ask them for a litre in a bottle. You don't have to buy a whole can.

Good tips above. Do it in a ventilated area but if you can drape some plastic over the treated area the stripper stays active for much longer.

Minimal effort is taking it to a sand blaster that has done alu bike frames before, surely people on here can recommend a few near you. Starchem is always messy, then you've got to tidy it up with a bit of scraping and sanding on the fiddly bits were the stripper hasn't quite done it's best.

Look for paint stripper with dichloromethane / methylene chloride / mecl2.

Nitromors doesn't contain it anymore which is why it no longer works. It's nasty stuff - use proper PPE.

Don't use a sand media blaster that doesn't know what he's doing with the thin walled tubing of bike frames otherwise they will damage it.

If you are powder coating it be mindful of the oven effectively subjecting a frame to a heat treatment cycle - once again especially from companies that don't do/understand bike frame metalurgy.

Yeah, I’ve done some googling and it seems like Starchem is the stripper I want but it also seems like maybe I don’t want to actually deal with the stuff.

I’ve got a quote to sandblast it for £50, I might see what a chemical dip would cost but I expect I’ll end up paying someone one way or another.

Thanks for the help everyone 👍

Don’t use a sand media blaster that doesn’t know what he’s doing with the thin walled tubing of bike frames otherwise they will damage it.

Mine is on a recommendation by a friend who runs an engineering company so hopefully they know what they’re doing 🤷

If you are powder coating it be mindful of the oven effectively subjecting a frame to a heat treatment cycle – once again especially from companies that don’t do/understand bike frame metalurgy.

The plan is to scotchbrite and leave it raw or possibly lacquer. It’s an old frame though so I’m looking to spend as little as possible for a reasonable finish rather than perfect.

I keep meaning to try this. My dad has a bottle of nitromoors in the garage from the 70's. I bet that would work compared to the modern rubbish which had to be made safe enough for idiots to drink.

Id just spend the £50

Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking too.

If you're anywhere near Sheffield or can post it then Cycles in Motion blasted and powder coated my Geometron and it was a mint job. They only do bikes and I'm sure they'd do a good job just blasting it and leaving it.

Spend the £50. It's peanuts compared to the cost of materials and the fluffing around with chemicals for hours at a time.

FIRE!