Ultrasonic Strippers? (hijacked)

[Mr.Marx]

Hey All,

Has anyone got a good way of stripping smaller scale figures?

I've always used break fluid and a toothbrush - but I can't imagine that scrubbing will work all that well with smaller figures. It'd be fiddly and tedious has hell and all.

I've some broad idea of perhaps sealing a whole load up in a jar and giving it a damned good shake in lieu of the scrubbing, in the vague hope that them rubbing against each other might knock off the paint? Feels like a terrible idea, but its the best I've got right now.

So yeah, any ideas?

MM.

[Connectamabob]

How small do you mean? 15mm? 6mm?

Generally my thoughts are that even a 35mm figure has areas of detail equivalent to a whole 6mm figure, so if a bush works for that it'll work for a 6mm figure as well. The problem wouldn't be the brush or solvent, but rather holding them while you use the brush on them.

[Major_Gilbear]

Why not get yourself a small ultrasonic cleaner? They cost around £30, but that's not a massive investment in the long-run.

- Put your figures in a small container with your figures of choice and some solvent (like brake fluid, acetone, whatever).

- Drop the bottle into the cleaner bath, and fill with warm water. You want a temperature that's somewhere between lukewarm and comfortable hand-washing temp. (Not too hot as you don't want the solvent to break or leak from the container, but warm water is faster-acting and more effective than cold).

- Set the cleaner to run for 20 minutes.

- Check the minis and repeat as required.

Should net you a potful of clean minis with little work!

Link of someone else who tried this.

[AndrewBeasley]

Jam jar full of Detol.

Soak for a few days and then just run the paint off.

I've done 15mm and 6mm this way - not tried any 2mm yet.

[Mr.Marx]

Why not get yourself a small ultrasonic cleaner? They cost around £30, but that's not a massive investment in the long-run.

- Put your figures in a small container with your figures of choice and some solvent (like brake fluid, acetone, whatever).

- Drop the bottle into the cleaner bath, and fill with warm water. You want a temperature that's somewhere between lukewarm and comfortable hand-washing temp. (Not too hot as you don't want the solvent to break or leak from the container, but warm water is faster-acting and more effective than cold).

- Set the cleaner to run for 20 minutes.

- Check the minis and repeat as required.

Should net you a potful of clean minis with little work!

Link of someone else who tried this.

This sounds very prominence. I've watched a few videos and the results appear to be rather miraculous.

Have you (or anyone else for that matter) any experience with this method of stripping?

How small do you mean? 15mm? 6mm?

Generally my thoughts are that even a 35mm figure has areas of detail equivalent to a whole 6mm figure, so if a bush works for that it'll work for a 6mm figure as well. The problem wouldn't be the brush or solvent, but rather holding them while you use the brush on them.

I've loads of 15mm and 10mm individual figures and a baazzillion 6mm scale tanks in need of un-painting. Your quite right, its getting a grip on them that's the difficult part.

I've the traditional method (solvent and toothbrush) many times before, but its just so damned finikity that if there is another way out there, I really want to know.

MM.

[Brandlin]

Hmmm

Ultrasonic cleaners work by propagating a compression wave through a medium (liquid). The energy of that wave breaks up small deposits of gunk (technical term) by loosening the bond with the substrate.

By putting your figures within a glass bottle, isolated from the main medium, you will significantly limit the propagation of the wave into the bottle. It will work, but by far the bigger effect will be the chemical effect of the stripping medium.

Personally I've had much more success simply putting dettol into my ultrasonic cleaner, with the figures in it. Make sure your ultrasonic cleaner bath material and basket are not affected by your stripping medium. Some are stainless steel, others are a cheap chrome/electro plate and may be damaged.

Note that ultrasonic cleaning is quite good for breaking CA glue joints.

[Mr.Marx]

Hmmm

Ultrasonic cleaners work by propagating a compression wave through a medium (liquid). The energy of that wave breaks up small deposits of gunk (technical term) by loosening the bond with the substrate.

By putting your figures within a glass bottle, isolated from the main medium, you will significantly limit the propagation of the wave into the bottle. It will work, but by far the bigger effect will be the chemical effect of the stripping medium.

Personally I've had much more success simply putting dettol into my ultrasonic cleaner, with the figures in it. Make sure your ultrasonic cleaner bath material and basket are not affected by your stripping medium. Some are stainless steel, others are a cheap chrome/electro plate and may be damaged.

Note that ultrasonic cleaning is quite good for breaking CA glue joints.

Thanks for the knowings.

I was thinking that I'd give the figures a good soak in solvent and then replace the toothbrushing with a spell in the ultrasonic bath?

Unless I'm missing something that should give me all the softening/loosening of the solvent with the effortless scrubbing effect of the 'sonic.

I'm looking at this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Direct-Professional-Ultrasonic-CD-D008L/dp/B00E8JUML6/ref=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_t

Not sure if it would be okay to fill with solvent. Anyone 'in the know' fancy filling me in?

Ta,

MM.

[Brandlin]

You can do that, but you need to decide what you're filling the ultrasonic cleaner with.

If you have used dettol or an oil based stripper then filling your cleaner with water will mean you just end up with gunk. Chemically dettol and water don't like each other.

[Mr.Marx]

You can do that, but you need to decide what you're filling the ultrasonic cleaner with.

If you have used dettol or an oil based stripper then filling your cleaner with water will mean you just end up with gunk. Chemically dettol and water don't like each other.

Ah, I get you. I'd not considered the reaction between water and the solvent itself.

However, would the solvent not have already done its work by the time that it gets put in a water bath?

If I was to fill the bath with a solvent of some kind, how safe would that be for me? and how much damage would it do to the machine?

More particularly, either this machine;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/JPL-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Digital-Timer-Black-Silver/dp/B00112B0U0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418234135&sr=8-1&keywords=ultrasonic+bath

or this one;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Direct-Professional-Ultrasonic-CD-D008L/dp/B00E8JUML6/ref=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_t

[Otto1485]

Hi Mr Marx,

I use an ultrasonic cleaner to strip paint and I must say that it's highly successful.

I have quite and expensive model (James Products 8060 D-H) - don't use the plastic basket - just put the figures straight in.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultra-8060-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Heater-De-Gas/dp/B0095VDTHG/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&qid=1418246173&sr=8-28&keywords=Ultrasonic+Cleaner

I use pure isopropyl alcohol (IPA) as the stripping medium - this is the active ingredient in acrylic paint and the IPA strips it back really well - it cleans metal, plastic and resin figures very well. The IPA is also the active ingredient in Dettol as well which is why that works - I (and my wife) just think the IPA smells better and you can keep the lid on the cleaner as well.

Please be aware that IPA doesn't strip enamel paint (even in the ultrasonic cleaner) - for that I use Biostrip (www.biostrip.co.uk) an excellent water based paint stripper that is virtually odourless. I am planning on using this in the ultrasonic cleaner soon - watered down - to see if it works.

All the best

Otto  

[FramFramson]

Man, I sure thought some other things when I saw this thread title. 

[Brandlin]

However, would the solvent not have already done its work by the time that it gets put in a water bath?

Depends on the solvent. Mostly though the solvent dissolves the paint, so the residue on the figure is a solvent/paint mix/mess.

As a trial, soak a figure in dettol for a couple of days, then try and wash the detol off with water. Let me know when you finally manage to get the resulting gunk off your fingers!

[Burnt65]

Fram
I was trying to figure that out as well!
Keith

[SotF]

Found another good take on them from Tabletop Minions...