Paint remover for aluminum

I'm "overhauling" a D-65 pedal tractor for grandson #1. It looks bad, but there are no cracks in the castings, so it 's a good restoration candidate. It has been painted with Oliver Green brushed on enamel, some sort of white stuff that I can hardly get to lift, and for you Farmall fans, there's even some red paint on the axle housings.

If it was steel or iron, it would be in my electrolysis tank, or at least getting the lye gravy treatment, but being aluminum, I can't go caustic for fear that the base metal will pit. I normally use something with a lot of Methylene Chloride in it like Zip-Strip, but after half a gallon, it's coming off, but very slowly and it really needs coaxing off using a small wire brush. It just gets gummy and sort of rolls off.

At this rate, I will get it cleaned, but I was wondering if anyone out there had another product to suggest. I don't want to hit it with my sandblaster, as I feel you lose too much detail that way with the eroding of the soft metal, and if it were to be blasted, it really should be with plastic media.

Used to be you could find aircraft stripping products out there with Butyl Alcohol in them, which I would go to when up against an epoxy, which I think that white stuff may be, but I have not been successful finding any. They probably went the way of Phisohex. I might even try some Methyl Ethyl Ketone to see if it will lift it and flush the surface clean.

Appreciate any leads. Oh, and what do you use for a primer for aluminum? Is a traditional DP-40/90 all right? I would like to finish it with my traditional acrylic enamel, wet sand, clear coat method, or I might opt for a base coat/clear coat, but I need a primer that will stick and be tough enough for the kid to knock it around.

Frank

PPG's DP (now DPLF w/o lead) series of epoxy primers are some of the best bare metal primers out there - for steel or aluminum or anything else. And they have been for many years. It's pricey nowadays and I personally believe PPG's OMNI MP170 is just as good at a significant cost savings. I used to use DP 40 exclusively but changed to MP170 a few years ago because of cost. I have noticed no practical difference in them.

As far as aluminim cleaning, I have used the extra fine version of Black Beauty sandblast grit on an aluminum rocker cover which I clearcoated years ago. The extra fine, more like a powder than a grit, did not leave a noticeable blast profile in the cast aluminum and the clearcoating preserved the aluminum appearance for a long time in a Honda Accord engine compartment. After a couple of years, it did darken but still looked very nice. After any paint and oxidation removal, the aluminum should be cleaned and conditioned with specialized acidic preps before priming with epoxy. The treatments in PPG are DX533, aluminum cleaner and DX503 aluminum conditioner. If you are going to clear the aluminum directly (no primer or paint), then replace the DX503 with DX501, the clear version of the aluminum conditioner. You can find the tech sheets for the PPG metal treatments here.

Rod

Thanks again guys!

Frank-in-Tallahassee

I still think a solvent/liquid release agent is what I need, but I'll ask around again.

I picked some up just the other day, and noticed it was "aluminum safe".

We used it to remove multiple HEAVY coats of paint from a steel bumper, and it did a GREAT job. NASTY STUFF, though, I'm surprised they sell it to the general public.