To strip or not to strip

[John Deats]

I ordered a Diehl 10" 6 bladed fan on Ebay. The fan arrived destroyed. The plus of this story. Is that the seller reimbursed my payment and let me keep the fan. Now the question. The motor case is made of bakelite. I can't strip with a brass turn wheel.  Can bakelite be stripped with regular stripper. The can said for use on wood, metal, and masonry. Can these e z strippers be used on bakelite, or would it possibly melt it. Before I experiment and or move on with this fan, I could use some help.  Thanks !

[John Deats]

[Russ Huber]

3 hours ago, John Deats said:

I ordered a Diehl 10" 6 bladed fan on Ebay. The fan arrived destroyed. The plus of this story. Is that the seller reimbursed my payment and let me keep the fan. Now the question. The motor case is made of bakelite. I can't strip with a brass turn wheel.  Can bakelite be stripped with regular stripper. The can said for use on wood, metal, and masonry. Can these e z strippers be used on bakelite, or would it possibly melt it. Before I experiment and or move on with this fan, I could use some help.  Thanks !

Is your motor housing POT METAL, or BAKELITE?

[John Deats]

Two of the photo's show the motor casing as being bakelite. And my mistake. The fan is a command air.

[Russ Huber]

Unreal. Your right. Command Air is Diehl. I would just use a fine wet dry to sand down the outside surfaces on the Bakelite to paint, wipe it down clean and paint it. I wouldn't use anything with acid content. Some of those liquid cleaners like Extreme Green MAY strip old paint without dissolving the Bakelite.

[John Deats]

Thanks Russ, I am going to fine wet sand. Much easier and definitely safer on the bakelite.

[Steven P Dempsey]

I have spares

[Steven P Dempsey]

[John Deats]

They are nice. 

[John Deats]

Russ,

     I went with your suggestion and did wet sand the bakelite parts to remove the paint. It worked very well. I started with 80 grit, then 100, and finished with 200. The majority of the paint came off. What paint that's left on it is so smooth that I can't even catch any with my nail. We'll see how it looks with the first two coats of primer. No bakelite was scratched or damaged during this process. Thanks !!!