Heat Gun vs Paint: What Temp is Safe?

[Scorpion]

I have a heat gun and I want to apply heat to remove the rest of the badging on my truck. I'm kind of afraid to hold the gun on the paint too long for fear of burning the paint. If I set the gun on low(450') can I hold it there for ~5 minutes w/o damaging the paint?



Has anyone ever heard of someone burning their paint with a heat gun? Pictures?

 

[imported_themightytimmah]

Keep it moving at all times. If you can't touch the paint comfortably, thats not a good sign.

 

[Scorpion]

Thanks for the response. So basically, I just want to get the surface temp up to about 120F degrees?

 

[josephclemente]

Have you tried using dental floss and WD-40? That has worked flawlessly for me. Some use fishing line.



I have used "Stretch Magic" (clear, elastic cord) from Michaels for this purpose and it works very easily.

 

[foxtrapper]

Has anyone ever heard of someone burning their paint with a heat gun?

Old house restoration folks intentionally burn paint off with heat guns all the time. I use mine for that. Shoot, I can start wood on fire with my heat gun.



300 degrees is about the limit for most paints. Above that, and they start to fail.



For working on a car, I wouldn't use a heat gun, I'd use a blow drier. The temperature is lower and you're less likely to do damage.



Keep the gun always moving. Start out too far away, and work your way in until it's just effective.

 

[schoi]

Old house restoration folks intentionally burn paint off with heat guns all the time. I use mine for that. Shoot, I can start wood on fire with my heat gun.



300 degrees is about the limit for most paints. Above that, and they start to fail.



For working on a car, I wouldn't use a heat gun, I'd use a blow drier. The temperature is lower and you're less likely to do damage.



Keep the gun always moving. Start out too far away, and work your way in until it's just effective.

Yup. Blow drier and dental floss - that's what I've done before.

 

[the other pc]

...Shoot, I can start wood on fire with my heat gun...

Back before they banned smoking in workplaces we had a guy who always came into our lab to light cigarettes with the heat guns.



I've used heat guns to sweat solder onto copper pipes.





PC.

 

[Accumulator]

Yup. Blow drier and dental floss - that's what I've done before.

I *have* overheated the hairdryer before doing that though... a little 3M Adhesive Remover will make the job easier.



But it's not like you'll need to heat the adhesive for five minutes to soften it, emblems have always come off rather easily for me.

 

[Bill D]

I *have* overheated the hairdryer before doing that though

Yep, same here Luckily, the hair dryer did "resurrect" and that was using it to soften a new vinyl hood mask at the time.

 

[Tasty]

Here's another vote for dental floss or fishing line. That's exactly how I removed the badging on my truck. I didn't want to risk damage with heat gun.

 

[Scorpion]

Thanks guys. Before posting this thread I had done both side letterings. I used a heat gun very carefully, dental floss, and Goof Off TM. The problem is that everything I used only lossened the chrome letters from the adhesive padding underneath and left 99.99% of the padding. The padding is the hardest thing to get off. Goof Off TM works good but I used the entire aerosol can just to do the sides. I was hoping that there was a safe way to heat only the metal under the adhesive padding to bypass all the tedious labor. I keep forgetting that boiling water may be an option. I will try that on the back letters and let you all know how it turns out. Again, thanks.

 

[Scorpion]

Yep, same here Luckily, the hair dryer did "resurrect" and that was using it to soften a new vinyl hood mask at the time.

Re: Overheated Hairdryer



Most late model hairdryers have built in thermal protection. They will turn off automatically and reset once the unit cools sufficiently.

 

[salty]

I use a heat gun on paint everyday. 5min is way too long. The decal or emblem will soften before you have paint damage.

I take a plastic knife or plastic razor blade and heat until the vinyl of the emblem peels with the blade and then give it a one second blast of heat, peel with blade then one second blast and peel and so on. When the lettering is off , let it cool a little and use a mild solvent like Varsol to remove the glue.