Is there a safe paint remover for plexiglass?

My search on this subject, paint removal on plexiglass, only addresses overspray
safely removed with abrasives and polish. Solvents were bad although one person had good results with MEK. The entire top of my canopy has been painted by the previous owner as a sunblock ( must be a Texas thing).http://www.vansairforce.com/community/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Are there paint removers such as the citrus based non solvents that are up to the task? The idea of removing 2 layers of paint from 6 sq. ft. by polishing seems daunting at least.

Yikes!

It really depends on what was used to paint the canopy. Could you find out what the builder used? Quite a few of the finishes used around aircraft and automobiles are based on solvents that will etch acrylic (plexiglas.) If it is one of those, you may be toast. I just Googled "paint removal from plexiglas" and came up with a few products that you might want to investigate.

John Clark
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA

If it was painted properly, the plexi was probably scuffed extensively to make the paint stick. Even when you get the paint off, you may not be able to polish it out.
Mine is painted with Jet-Glo. I don't know of anything that will cut a good poly-urethane paint without damaging the plexi.

Assuming you are not etched I have had good luck using AC Spruce part number 09-40820

Multiple grades of wet or dry sandpaper will do it.

I've brought back plexi that was completely covered in paint / epoxy resins. If you start with wet coarse paper and after each sanding go to a finer grit you will be amazed at what you can do. Alternate directions of sanding. No doubt though, it's a lot of work! Finish up with various grades of polishes.

zzapp said:

My search on this subject, paint removal on plexiglass, only addresses overspray
safely removed with abrasives and polish. Solvents were bad although one person had good results with MEK. The entire top of my canopy has been painted by the previous owner as a sunblock ( must be a Texas thing).http://www.vansairforce.com/community/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Are there paint removers such as the citrus based non solvents that are up to the task? The idea of removing 2 layers of paint from 6 sq. ft. by polishing seems daunting at least.

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There are many products that appear to be safe when used on acrylic that will cause permanent hidden damage that show up over time. This is in addition to the products that will instantly damage the canopy. For good information take a look at what the people who make canopies recommend. Stoddard solvent is a good solvent that can be used safely on canopies and may attack the paint. Kerosene is another. Sanding off the paint and then polishing the canopy may be the only solution that works though. Here is a line to a supplier:

http://www.lpaero.com/accessories.html

Dave,
RV6

Check Dan Checkoway's site. He had some overspray on some plexi and used MicroMesh to remove it and he reported it came out fine.

DavidBurton said:

There are many products that appear to be safe when used on acrylic that will cause permanent hidden damage that show up over time. This is in addition to the products that will instantly damage the canopy.
RV6

Click to expand...

Ah yes the lurking danger only time will play out. There are two coats. The first being an auto type of which the rest of the plane is painted. This area was top coated and further expanded with a flat white ( rattlecan?). I can scrape with a fingernail some of the white although the first coat may be another story. Having lots of random orbit sanders in the shop this might be the way to proceed. Thanks for the input. C