Removing duct tape residue.

From: Mail List <mail.list_at_analog-and-digital-solutions.com>
Date: Thu May 15 23:53:01 2003

OK, I've said this before, but no one listened?

I've gotten sharpie marker completely off painted metal computer
items with acetone. It takes a little paint off too, so don't rub too
hard, for too long in one spot. Don't use acetone near any ignition
sources, like a lit cigarette, or a hot water heater pilot light, etc. It's
explosively flammable.

If it's sharpie marked plastic, best results are first clean with alcohol
to get a lot of it. Then, with an alcohol wetted paper towel, sprinkle
some comet cleanser on the towel to make an alcohol/comet paste,
and scrub till it's off. Use pure white paper towels, because the ink from
printed ones tends to come off back onto the surface you're cleaning.

Acetone will also take sharpie off plastic too, but it will take some plastic
with it, and leave textured surfaces smooth afterwards.







At 10:53 PM 5/15/03 +0000, you wrote:
>At 06:38 PM 5/15/03 -0500, Toth wrote:
> >On Thu, 15 May 2003, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
> >> On Thu, 15 May 2003, Joe wrote:
> >>
> >> > > Has anyone tried removing Sharpie from a chassis with textured
> >> > > paint? I have a couple of items that were marked up with a Sharpie,
> >> > > and short of paint thinner (which seems to dilute and bury the ink
> >> > > in the paint while damaging the texture), I've found nothing that
> >> > > seems to work.
> >> >
> >> > I've used alcohol on that stuff and it seems to remove some but not
> >> > all of it. I've never found anything that would remove it completely.
> >>
> >> Try using a stiff plastic bristle brush with the alcohol. It'll get
> >> deeper into the texture and remove more.
> >
> >The textured paint I have with sharpie on it has a very light texture. The
> >problem seems to be that the paint is "soft", or some kind of scratch
> >resistant paint, and the sharpie was pulled down into tiny pores in the
> >paint. I've been wondering if I'd be better off just repainting the
> >covers, as they aren't very large. I just don't know where I'd get that
> >kind of paint, or how it needs to be cured.
>
> Check with automotive paint suppliers. They have every color under the
>rainbow and now that most of the new cars are being made of plastic they
>carry paint that's designed for use on plastic. Paint made for metal
>finishes never does work well on plastic. It's not flexible enough and it
>usually flakes and peels. You'd probably have to buy a minimum of a quart
>of paint so the cost might be prohibitive. You'd also need a GOOD
>compressor and spray gun and a place to spray so it's a big investment.
>
> The problem is that most computer stuff seems to use a peeble finish and
>not a smooth finish. You need to sand the surface in order to get the paint
>to stick but if you do you lose the peeble finish. If you don't sand then
>the new paint flakes off and in addition the new paint fills a lot of
>peeble finish anyway. You might be able to bead blast it to roughen the
>surface without losing the finish but now you need more equipment!
>
> I see on TV that they now have lasers that can burn off dark spots like
>freckles and tatoos without burning the lighter color skin around them. I
>wonder if something like that could be used to burn off dark marker stains
>without damaging the lighter surrounding area. Yeah I know that kind of
>equipment is expensive but I wonder if it would work. If so there are some
>of us that could build their own lasers or modify existing ones. Just an idea.
>
> Joe
Received on Thu May 15 2003 - 23:53:01 BST

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