removing paint from tractor hood

I have done several restorations and several types of paint removal,one being blasting. I would like to avoid blasting as it can stretch and deform the hood. Your thoughts on other methods. Thanks in advance / Chuck Machinist
This is a pic of ACG 's 511, a similar pic of the 611-b

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If you kept moving you could sand it off with an orbital sander or disc sander. To stay in one spot too long can generate as much heat as sandblasting.

Cup style twisted wire wheel.

Slide the sander slowly across the car and let it grind off the paint as you move.

(quoted from post at 22:59:57 08/19/21) Slide the sander slowly across the car and let it grind off the paint as you move.

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The car that I restored a few years ago had eleven separate spots where someone sanded right through the sheet metal.

when we do a restoration at my shop, we send the parts and or entire vehicle to a company called media tech. they have various blasting medias to strip paint and rust without damaging metal. here is a link to their website. they can use media like corn cob, walnut shell , staurlite and plastic media. there is also soda blasting. soda blasting uses baking soda. there is probably some one in your area that does it. here is a link
poke here

I use 80 grit sanding disks on a buffer, not grinder. Slower speed keeps the paper from clogging due to heat and is much less likely to dig into the metal. Not a good solution for complicated shapes, but on a hood or fender it is ideal.

Thanks fellas I certainly appreciate the different concepts and ideas! CM

well, not sure if this is old school, but all that I really had access to. I did my wheels and fenders this way and intending to do the same shortly on the hood. I used paint remover - the two minute kind, but takes more that two minutes and a few applications. I scrape off with a firm putty knife and other scraper and then finish the residue with a stripper product that has worked great which fits into your drill and some wire wheel too, various sized for the curves, also with the drill. I then go through various sandpaper grits to get as smooth as possible, but not too obsessive. I've been pleased with the result.

How long ago did you do that. In the last couple years the government banned the chemical that makes paint removers effective. Other than the remover taking the paint off one layer at a time paint removers used to be a really good way to remove paint.

just this spring in Ohio, I bought the exact same can of remover that I bought two years ago. I can share brand and store if I'm allowed to do that.

What did you use? Any of the methylene chloride free removers I've tried were next to nothing.

(quoted from post at 12:55:24 08/29/21) What did you use? Any of the methylene chloride free removers I've tried were next to nothing.

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It is a product by Sunnyside: two minute remover. Appears to be widely available. Label does indicate methylene chloride free.

contents: methyl alcohol, 1,3-dioxolane, dimethyl carbonate, acetone and petroleum distillates.

Even though I degrease the surface, it seems like the first coat of remover gets rid of that top residue. Second application then works pretty well, but does go layer by layer. It has somewhat fun to see the various colors used over time, letting me speculate on how this 8N of mine has gone through the years. I've noticed, however, that if there is rust in the area, the remover needs a little help. I do let each application sit more like 15 minutes, but don't let it dry.

For sheet metal and small parts, I take a 55 gal plastic drum and cut the side so a 16" wide rim will fit in there. Then I take some heavy scrap metal like mower blades and brake rotors and weld them to the fit inside the drum and some is sticking up out of one side. I fill it up with water and "PhUP", a pool chemical from walmart, and I also add some lye. I suspend my part to it does not touch the metal and connect a battery charger to it and the scrap metal. Sometimes only 60% fits so I flip it. There are youtube videos with the details. The rust comes off via electrolysis as Fe3+ and the paint where it was not rusted bubbles up from the lye. Power washing takes off that remaining paint and scotch brite gets any final spots. Small parts get passivation dunked in Ospho as you will get flash rust otherwise as soon as it dries. Larger parts and be sprayed with a trigger bottle. Spot putty will fill any major pitting. I prime and sand several times to build up while identifying rough spots. I use good PPG automotive PU which is better than those old tractors ever had when they left the factory, or even most cars. I follow the instructions for my paint and shoot it with a cheapo Harbor Freight top feed gun to get the solids I paid for, but I filter carefully and use dry air. No problem. I like to go a little wet, cheating by moving my parts into optimum position to avoid sags and that's how it dries, looking wet. Good paint is expensive and primer is cheap by comparison so really prime and sand several times, build it up.

(reply to post at 19:24:37 08/18/21)

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That's nice looking.