Hot Air Paint Strippers - Any Good or A Waste Of Time ?

[WhiteVanJack]

Hi,

Are hot air paint strippers any good or not worth the bother?

If they are any good would anyone please be able to recommend a decent one?


Rgds
Jack

 

[dcdec]

Hi Jack, i've got a dewalt hot air gun and always does the job well for me. Its got a good adjustable dial for temp control although placement means its easily turned by mistake.

Hot air is a great way of stripping paint and in my experience the fastest. There are drawbacks and applications when you cant use them such as close to glass, paint that may contain lead and listed properties. I think mine cost around £30 so worth having at that price to have it there whenever you may need it. I often use it for stripping off the bottom 12- 18 inches of garage doors and i'm sure its faster than any other method.

I'd replace the dewalt if it was lost/stolen but i did have a budget one that always worked fine, think i bought it in homebase when i started in the game

 

[WhiteVanJack]

dcdec,

Thanks for the reply.

I was looking at the DeWalt as Amazon are doing them for £27.50p including delivery which seems a reasonable price.


Rgds
Jack

 

[Symptoms]

WVJ - the DeWalt is very good indeed. Back in the day I've used paraffin blowlamps, propane ones but thought I'd get a hot air jobby a couple of years ago. Got my DeWalt in Makro and was amazed how good it is; but the real secret to burning-off paint is to make sure you use decent scrapers and shaves. Keep a file close for cleaning the business edge of scrapers/shaves.

 

[joinerjohn]

Listed Properties? That's a new one on me. Next you'll be telling me I can't use my electric planer if I'm replacing doors in a listed property, or an electric mixer for plaster.

 

[Jasbrojpb]

Hot air paint strippers are very effective. You need to be careful around UPVC window frames as even if you use heat-shields, you can still get heat discolouration on the frames. Also good gloves are an essential as contact with scrapers or shaves can result in nasty burns.
After a few hours practice, you will be amazed at how quickly you can move old paint. BTW, the Dewalt trade stripper is a very good unit.

 

[dcdec]

Joinerjohn its because of the fire risk

 

[WhiteVanJack]

As a follow up, I bought two hot air guns, a Silverline model for £19.85p from Toolstation and a DeWalt DW340K from a shed for £29.98p.

The DeWalt has variable temperature control but no fan control whereas the Silverline has variable temperature control and 2 fan speeds. The Silverline is still going OK and has been very useful. The DeWalt packed in after 2 hours use and was returned to to the shed for a refund. I think that I was obviously unlucky with the DeWalt DW340K rather than it reflecting globally on the model as other users have good experience with this model.

The Silverline at £19.85p from Toolstation represents a good value and has done the job that it was needed for.



Rgds
Jack

 

[RF Lighting]

You probably weren't that unlucky. It reflects exactly on the 'quality' of dewalt tools these days.

 

[gregers]

weve got a bosch 110v at work,3 temp settings and iirc a dial that goes up to 15/16.the thing must be at least 10 years old now at its a beauty.