Decal removal

[Ted in NE-OH]

I am restoring a 60 year old tractor and on the hood are logo decals. My sand blaster doesn't want to blast
the hood fearing he would deform it, so what is the best way to remove the decals.

 

[flying belgian]

Wire wheel.

 

[Crazy Horse]

Your sandblaster friend knows what he's doing. Good for him, a lot of tractor tin has been ruined by blasters who get too aggressive.

 

[ASEguy]

I use a heat gun, but I have not taken them off of old tractors, just vehicles.

 

[MSD]

They make a gummy wheel that will take them off. Check at a paint supply place for one.

 

[tomnwoh]

I acid dip a lot of sheet metal . Works excellent. There is a good one in Sandusky ,Oh

 

[Tony in SD]

X2 on heat gun

 

[urbancase]

Rubber wheel made for doing such things, I used one many time in my shop. Just need to be mindful to stay in the rpm rating for the wheel, around 800 or so if I remember right.

 

[Ted in NE-OH]

thanks

 

[Stephen Newell]

You might scrape the decals off with a sharp chisel. Since you are not sandblasting the tin you might have someone chemically strip the paint off. The decals would come off with the paint. A furniture refinishing shop should be able to do it. I used to keep old dirty paint stripper for such an application.

 

[showcrop]

I removed some actual, as opposed to vinyl, decals a few weeks ago. I worked at them with razor scraper, and scraper with heat. The problem I had is that the heat softens the paint under the decals. Even though I got 90% of them removed without paint damage, The damage made a full repaint necessary so all my time and effort was for nothing. Wire wheel.

 

[Mike Groom]

Find a Soda blast person and you won't have any problems, we have a local guy that comes out to the farm and blasts, he hasn't warped any sheet metal that I have heard about.

 

[Rich'sToys]

If you're repainting it anyway, why not just sand them off? You're over thinking this.

 

[SkipperII]

I second the gummy wheel. We used them to strip huge decals off company decals on dozens of vehicles, with no damage to the paint.

 

[GermantownGreen]

Denatured alcohol. Wear gloves.
Give it a bit to soften up.
GG Wes