Removing cured UV gloss and printing

[jessenator]

Yes, yes, google and all of that, but with the AI generated $#!@storm of repeat/bogus content coming up as top results, I wanted to poll the forum to see if anyone has done this successfully without the use of caustic and/or hard-to-dispose-of chemicals; a home remedy, if you will:

So there were a couple of vendor-side mistakes made with some enclosures in my last order, but I'd like the material itself (drilled aluminum is still good) to not be waste, even though the design/color is.

Won't be able to immediately take this on, but it's on my mind… Looking for a way to remove the UV layers without completely damaging the main enclosure powder coat (i.e. something other than sanding). Big ask, I know. If it's not possible, maybe I'll see if there's a powder coat shop who will clear them off completely with their access to said harsh chemicals.

Thanks.

 

[PedalBuilder]

I've scratched off small areas of UV print that I didn't want, like a 5mm circle marker for an LED that I installed elsewhere, and it worked well for me. Scratching it off without damaging the powdercoat isn't easy, though. If I had to remove all of the UV print, I'd probably just stick a faceplate on the pedal and cover it up.

 

[JTEX]

Maybe a buffing wheel with some compound?

 

[peccary]

If you want to get rid of everything, powdercoat included, I'd suggest acetone. It's not particularly dangerous (other than being flammable) and is inexpensive and easily available.

 

[sticky1138]

I've taken off a small amount (a couple words) of UV print by lifting it with an X-acto. The powder coat was still intact, but there were definitely some scrape artifacts. I'm curious about chemical solutions because I've been trying to do this on larger areas as well.

 

[Erik S]

I stripped the paint off a motorcycle gas tank once. I put it on a saw horse, sprayed it down with aerosol “aircraft stripper” and walked away. When I came back, almost all the paint was on the ground. Smells awful, works great.

 

[jessenator]

thanks, y'all.

I'm wanting to remove all of the UV artwork (wrong color, wrong drill pattern, wrong art combo), and scraping would be kinda tedious for one of them, because it's a big-ol area of print. For that one I'll start with acetone and work my way up the caustic scale

I'll try scraping off the more spread out design, but if that fails, I'll just strip it all.

 

[Giorfida]

Scuff sand it and spray paint over it

 

[chris.knudson]

I'll try scraping off the more spread out design

Maybe a razor blade?

 

[jwin615]

Fire.

 

[jwin615]