Stripping Glue Residue After Vinyl Removal

JeffC

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TL;DR - How to you remove vinyl glue residue from particle board? Already tried Heat Gun, Paint Thinner, Acetone, Wallpaper Remover.

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I'm stripping down a cab that is being much more difficult that I've experienced before. It's had a lot of work done to it, so depending on the area I'm working on I'm stripping 1 or 2 layers of vinyl, topped with at least one layer of spray paint...sometimes two.

With many hours of scraping and peeling and sanding and scraping and peeling I've gotten most of the lowest layer of vinyl off. I'm sure it was laid at the factory. Now I have particle board covered in a semi-clear layer of dried glue. At first I didn't even know it was there, hit it with the orbital sander and completely coated a disc in a rubber-glue layer in 30 seconds.

I've since tried a heat gun, Paint Thinner, Acetone and wall-paper remover to loosen the glue so I could scrap it off. All of it has literally had zero effect. Any other tips for removing this glue without damaging my particle board under?

Thanks, Jeff
 
Not sure what sandpaper you're using, and I doubt it would make a huge difference, but..

I've found that the cheap stuff, like Harbor Freight sells, is useless, while the premium green 3M (gator?) stuff takes longer to clog and works much better. I just can't see a method better than sanding it off, as long as it doesn't get too aggressive on the particle board. Of course, you'll want to seal the PB with a clean varnish or Zinsser seal coat, then smooth sand that. Good luck.

What's was the game originally and is that what you're restoring it back to?
 
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Hey, thanks a lot Joey. I'll check for some better sandpaper today. It's actually raining here this morning (in San Diego????) so I won't get much done, but can go to the store.

It's a Dynamo HS-9 that has Street Fighter 2 in it. So, I'm not real concerned about matching some original scheme or originality, because it was such a grey area with all these cabs. I do want it to look cleaned up though...it's a mess to start.

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I'd go with a good paint stripper, and then scrape it clean. And when I say paint stripper, I mean, find the one with the most warnings and shortest working time, not that weak sauce that takes hours.

Typical thin solvents + a rag won't work on old dried adhesive because if they're volatile enough to be strong (in other words, break the molecular bonds), they won't stay around long enough to soften it to the point you can get it to come off.

The problem with sanding on adhesive sometimes is that to get it off, you need a really aggressive grit and that will leave you Bondo-ing your particle board filling in all the accidental grooves you made.
 
TL;DR - How to you remove vinyl glue residue from particle board? Already tried Heat Gun, Paint Thinner, Acetone, Wallpaper Remover.

Pro-tip: An old hair dryer is NOT a heat gun. When I borrowed one from the shop I saw that my issue was just not enough heat. Lot's of heating and scraping got enough of the glue off that I was then able to sand and bondo today.
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Thanks for the tips guys. I actually took a belt sander from the same place as the heat gun; that would have been my next step.
 
Acetone will turn the adhesive to gel. If you use a belt sander on it it will just gum up the sandpaper.

Look at my simpsons cabinet thread in my signature, you can see how effective acetone is.
 
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