<![CDATA[Latest posts for the thread "Odd ball question on paint stripping minis."]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/8.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net Odd ball question on paint stripping minis.
Could i put the damn thing in a dishwasher (with detergent) to clean off the paint gunk?

Will it work?
Will it melt?
Will it leave paint crap all over the interior of the unit causing much wife aggro? (Probably the most likely end result)

Anyone out there crazy enough to have tried this? (I hold no responsibility if you attempt this)]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5542717.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5542717.page GMT Odd ball question on paint stripping minis.
Many years ago, we used to use a dishwasher to clean some extremely delicate glass lab equipment. It would have all manner of different things in it or on it. One of the guys who I worked with would actually bring his model railroad car bodies in to wash them in the dishwasher after they had been stripped in a bath of sodium hydroxide.

You shouldn't have problems with melting, provided you don't use the auto-dry function. The water will not be hotter than boiling - no matter what kind of a beast of a water heater you have...and 99.99% of the time, it will be far below that temperature. Since styrene holds it's shape up to around 250 degrees or so (then it starts to go through various amorphous transition stages till you finally get a blob) - there should be no problems.

How much of what is left on the inside would depend on how much of what was left when you put it in. Large chunks of paint would likely stick to the sides of the dishwasher as they are blown off. They also might clog up the return lines. The stuff he was throwing in there was already stripped clean and it was mainly to rinse the stripper off in a simple and thorough manner.

If you are looking for a hands off method - an ultrasonerator will work. If that is out of the budget, an electric toothbrush will save on elbow grease.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5543016.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5543016.page GMT Odd ball question on paint stripping minis.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_324828-995-3410481_4294715832__?productId=3166529&Ns=p_product_avg_rating|1&pl=1¤tURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_avg_rating|1&facetInfo=

You can pick them up at any hardware store. Use the black one on the plastic models, and the other two on metal or large vehicles. Much quicker than a toothbrush. I promise.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5543101.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5543101.page GMT Odd ball question on paint stripping minis.
Should go without saying that you need to get a dedicated bag to test this out and not use one of hers. =)]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5543396.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5543396.page GMT Odd ball question on paint stripping minis.
 Sean_OBrien wrote:
You shouldn't have problems with melting, provided you don't use the auto-dry function. The water will not be hotter than boiling - no matter what kind of a beast of a water heater you have...and 99.99% of the time, it will be far below that temperature. Since styrene holds it's shape up to around 250 degrees or so (then it starts to go through various amorphous transition stages till you finally get a blob) - there should be no problems.


Sean, If you are going to look up facts on the internet, please make sure you look up the right ones! You are quoting the melting temperature of Styrene as above 250 degress. This is only true of Syndiotactic polystyrene, a form that is NOT commercially produced due to the slow speed of polymerisation (Which means it is too expensive to be used for the sort of applications we are talking about.). The Polystrene that will be used in kits, cups, etc, is Atactic polystyrene, which melts at (has a Glass Transition Temperature of) around 90°C. This means it is a lot more likely to soften in a dishwasher than you are saying.

My advice, try a small, unimportant model or part from the same manufacturer first, just to make sure!]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5544080.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5544080.page GMT Odd ball question on paint stripping minis.
 Conrad Turner wrote:
 Sean_OBrien wrote:
You shouldn't have problems with melting, provided you don't use the auto-dry function. The water will not be hotter than boiling - no matter what kind of a beast of a water heater you have...and 99.99% of the time, it will be far below that temperature. Since styrene holds it's shape up to around 250 degrees or so (then it starts to go through various amorphous transition stages till you finally get a blob) - there should be no problems.


Sean, If you are going to look up facts on the internet, please make sure you look up the right ones! You are quoting the melting temperature of Styrene as above 250 degress. This is only true of Syndiotactic polystyrene, a form that is NOT commercially produced due to the slow speed of polymerisation (Which means it is too expensive to be used for the sort of applications we are talking about.). The Polystrene that will be used in kits, cups, etc, is Atactic polystyrene, which melts at (has a Glass Transition Temperature of) around 90°C. This means it is a lot more likely to soften in a dishwasher than you are saying.

My advice, try a small, unimportant model or part from the same manufacturer first, just to make sure!


If I were to be quoting things from online, I would hope I could be more specific than 250 degrees Fahrenheit (yep - we yanks still use Fahrenheit as the common temperature scale). Instead, I am going off from past practice with heat forming sheet styrene and using salt beds to bend models like polystyrene dinosaur kits, Tyranids and others. In both cases, the ideal temperature which I have found has been above 250 degrees. Below that, the polystyrene used for models and plasticard tends to hold its shape.

Considering that most dishwashers use water that is the same or slightly higher (if they have a heating coil) than hot water from the tap...and in most instances, that will be around 120 degree Fahrenheit...pretty sure there should be no problems. Even if you had cranked the thermostat all the way up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit...still, no problems.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5544262.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5544262.page GMT Re:Odd ball question on paint stripping minis.
90°C = 194°F, not 250°F. If you'd said around 200 degrees, I'd have been able to work out you were talking in Farenheit.

Still, my advice to try it on a part or piece of sprue before going in for the whole model still stands.

If you want to try something out, get a ceramic mug, cut a length of sprue longer than the mug is tall and place it in the mug. Boil a kettle and carefully pour the boiling water on the sprue. Leave it in the water for a couple of minutes and then, also carefully, pour the water away. Your straight sprue will not be straight any more!]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5544359.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5544359.page GMT Odd ball question on paint stripping minis.
The lowest temperature my oven will heat to is 250 F. I fill a pyrex pan with sand, throw it in the oven and preheat. Once it is hot, I pull the pan out and put whatever item I might want to bend in it (for example a chunky carnifex or warrior body/tail). Toss it back in the oven for a couple minutes...pull it out and it is slightly bendy. It hasnt formed into goop.

When I was setting up the calibration marks for heat forming plastics on my vacuum former, I used an IR thermometer. At 250, you start to see sag in the sheet over the heating element...not much. At around 300, it is ready for simple shapes. Somewhere around 400 or so, the styrene turns clear and really is sagging and about ready to fail.

Specific temperatures will vary, and I am sure there are certain issues with the IR thermometer and the accuracy of my ovens thermostat (plastics not being the best emitters of IR and ovens not being precision calibrated).

That said, the only time that I have had some plastic melt in the dishwasher was when it fell down on the heating element during the dry cycle...that is a mess. I have washed and reused polystyrene tripours and other things that are not "dish washer safe" without problems. I have never washed any GW models, but I know a person who has washed polystyrene models in one.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5544433.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/523071/5544433.page GMT