epoxy bedding clean up question.

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philipbrousseau

Member
I recently installed pillars and bedded a McMillan drop in stock with devcon 10110. I used isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip to clean the epoxy around the receiver and it took the paint off the stock. what should I have used that would not have ruined the factory paint job.
 
philipbrousseau said:
I recently installed pillars and bedded a McMillan drop in stock with devcon 10110. I used isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip to clean the epoxy around the receiver and it took the paint off the stock. what should I have used that would not have ruined the factory paint job.
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Odorless mineral spirits, available at most home improvement centers that sell paint and other supplies.

Works well for me.

Gene Beggs
 
Masking off the stock around the action inletting pretty much keeps the bedding off of the stock. I remove the overflow with a popsicle stick cut square, and then clean up what's left with a shop towel soaked with WD-40.

This works for me.

Justin
 
Alcohol shouldn’t remove factory coatings. Might look into that. You did exactly what I have done for years. Lots of qtips with rubbing alcohol
 
Brownell's has always recommended white vinegar for epoxy cleanup. Last I knew McMillan used Sherwin Williams Polane to paint their stocks and vinegar didn't affect it.

That said, I use GOOD automotive grade masking tape everywhere and the added benefit is that cleanup leaves the epoxy a little proud, easy to plane/file down to flush.

I have 6-8 new ones down in the shop, I'll try go down tomorrow and dab some vinegar, some acetone and some methyl ethyl ketone in some barrel channels.
 
Tonite I applied;

-mineral spirits ("odorless"...LOL!)
-acetone
-white vinegar

To a new McMillan stock. I goobered it into the barrel channel etc to no effect. I scrubbed it in, Q-Tipped it and fingernailed it and could find no effect.

I actually skipped the MEK as I'd never use it for cleanup as it dissolves epoxy bases and I'd be afraid it'd penetrate too deeply, even acetone is a little scary in this regard since it is the base solvent of many epoxy matrixes. I've always used vinegar. Now I'll also use mineral spirits depending on which foul odor I find less distasteful that day :)

Or now lantern fuel

hth

al
 
A slight divergence to bedding compound removal:

The blue 3M painters tape and green Frog Tape both do a nice job for masking. They are a bit porous and some of the compound can wick through from the outside of the tape inwards. A coat of wax applied with a q-tip to the outside of the tape seals it and makes clean up easier.

I sourced some .020 thick, adhesive backed flexible vinyl for the sides of the receiver, recoil lug, rear tang, etc. Works great.

Good shootin'. Al
 
Al Nyhus said:
A slight divergence to bedding compound removal:

The blue 3M painters tape and green Frog Tape both do a nice job for masking. They are a bit porous and some of the compound can wick through from the outside of the tape inwards. A coat of wax applied with a q-tip to the outside of the tape seals it and makes clean up easier.

I sourced some .020 thick, adhesive backed flexible vinyl for the sides of the receiver, recoil lug, rear tang, etc. Works great.

Good shootin'. Al
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Any more I just wax the metal..... only tape and plug holes and protrusions
 
Seriously though Al do try automotive grade masking tape from an auto paint store. I buy buckets of it, have it hanging all over the shop while the blue and green and yellow tapes just set there
 
As to your primary question, any decent automotive surface cleaner/wax remover. It’s cheap, safe, and leaves zero residue which is why it is used to prep for paint. A quart is fairly cheap.
 
Gene Beggs said:
Odorless mineral spirits, available at most home improvement centers that sell paint and other supplies.

Works well for me.

Gene Beggs
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A lot of the 'Mineral spirits' have acetone added now.

It used to be mostly 'Stoddard Solvent' a light wight distillation product.

Acetone is not a VOC and the EPA has been clamping down on VOCs for a long while now
thus the move to acetone.

Any finish that isopropyl removes must have been rather 'delicate.'
 
brickeyee said:
MSDS sheets for a number of brands of 'Mineral Spirits.'

The EPA also has some info available but it takes some digging.
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Very strange. I looked at MSDS for 5 different common brands of mineral spirits on line and none contained acetone. How about a URL?

RWO
 
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