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vac decal removal

Twodose

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Use generous amount of xylol and a cotton towel, xylol will melt the adhesive, if the adhesive is thick it will come off in layers, do like a 12x12 section at a time. Once the towel gets saturated with the adhesive use a new towel or keep going to a new section of the towel. It will take that metal down to like new, it will completely remove all of the adhesive. Wear gloves and a mask, I use nitrile gloves but I used to do without both when I was younger. There is nothing anyone will suggest that will work better than xylol, and out of all the solvents xylol is the only one that will work. I have been taking off decals and adhesive for 35 years, have tried everything, and that is the one that works, and very easily.
 

Randy

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You can get the xylol/xylene at Lowes or Home depot for around $20 gallon. Be careful, it's a dangerous product.
 

MEP001

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I tried Citristrip on some decals and it worked extremely well, pretty fast and safe. It will dissolve some decal material like plain vinyl, but it won't do much on others like JE Adams decals with a silver layer which I would guess is mylar. You have to get that off completely first, which I do with a heat gun and a sharp scraper blade. You may have a pattern of the decal left on the stainless steel which should come off with Klean Wall or a similar stainless cleaner.
 

Twodose

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Look whats in 3m, probably why it works, anything that will remove that adhesive is going to be bad for you.

Hydrotreated Light Naphtha (Petroleum) 64742-49-0 30 - 60 Trade Secret *
Xylene 1330-20-7 30 - 60 Trade Secret *
Ethylbenzene 100-41-4 5 - 9.9 Trade Secret *
Toluene 108-88-3 <= 0.9 Trade Secret *
Benzene 71-43-2 <= 0.05 Trade Secret *
 

jack954

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thanks for the ideas, will try them next week
 

Greg Pack

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D limonene (orange peel) based solvents work well for adhesive and don't have harsh chemicals. I love Zep big orange but it is expensive. Turtle wax makes a bumper sticker remover that you can find in auto parts stores that works pretty good.

https://www.autozone.com/wash-clean...x-label-sticker-remover-spray-10oz/380152_0_0

This works good too:
 

JMMUSTANG

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removed all decals and am left with a lot of adhesive. anyone come up with an effective way to clean it up besides covering with new decals?
What did you use to get the actual decals off? How long did it take per vac?
I’m taking the same ones off tomorrow.
 

jack954

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i tried a heat gun but took way too long so i went with propane torch and razor scraper which sped things up greatly. each vac had decals on both sides that had been on for at least 15 years and took about an hour per vac.
 

getnbusy

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I use a heat gun to help peel off the decal. Then wipe off all the glue with some gas on a rag. Works like a champ.
 
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