Sunday, July 12, 2015

Removing 35 year old decals- cheap way...

I preface this with the fact that I don't know what I'm doing....  I made this up because I like to do things with materials I have on hand.  So I gave this a shot and it worked.  I removed the decals from my Apache pop up.    I also intended to paint it so paint damage was not a concern for me.

My materials- natural bristle brush, MEK substitute and MEK and a flat razor scraper.  On the first side I tried heat- didn't work. 
Then I used a little of the MEK and a lot of scraping.  This resulted in many deep scratches and it hurt my hand.  

This is the better way-
 These decals are cracked and baked on- the grey is part of the decal.  First apply MEK with brush, being careful to not to let it drip (it will remove paint.)
 then very carefully scrape.  I had to be careful not to scrub or scrape to hard, it just scratches the surrounding paint.
Lightly scraping allows the MEK to break up the sticker.
  Brush on another layer of MEK as soon as it stops breaking down the sticker.
Keep scraping and
 Scraping and 
 Scraping and 
 Scraping and 
 Scraping until all the decal and adhesive is gone.  
It took less than two hours to get it all off.  

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