I am trying to remove easily 10 layers of paint from diamond plate. What makes it good to walk on, makes it rather hard to clean off. I've been able to "pop" most of the layers off with a rubber mallet and old screwdriver as chisel, very tedious, but that leaves a lot of cruft and a bit of rust.

What works well for prepping that diamond plate for paint? Or locomotive decks generally?

The paint will be a 2-part urethane that'll handle foot traffic well, with gripping "sand" added between the coats. But it's only as good as the prep.

If it is steel diamond plate and it is going to be painted, my first preference is sand blasting. If that isn't acceptable than my second choice is a needle gun or needle descaler. I usually have to follow that up with a wire wheel.

Really thin metal and aluminum often don't come out well with the needle gun, so be careful there.

Wire wheels alone can often do the job, but paint that thick will take time. The use of a propane torch or heat gun to heat the paint prior to scraping or wire brushing might help. Be aware of what else heat may damage.

Lastly chemical strippers might loosen a lot of the paint. I've found different stripper work better on different paints so some testing is in order.

Greg

I’ve had real good luck with wet blasting using black beauty grit propelled by waterjet - easy to clean-up and no dust problem.

JK

You can use a torch to burn it off, no problem. The diamond plate has to be 1/4" minimum perhaps thicker. You are not heating the plate red hot only burning the paint or actually softening it. Use a scraper and a wire brush. Make sure you have gloves and a face shield. This would work best with two people, one burning and the other scraping. Do a section then clean up so you are not kneeling on hot chips.

But the needle scaler is really the way to go, since the thicker the paint, the better they work. Just think of it as ten or a dozen of those mallet and screw driver combinations hitting many times per minute.

Burn it with the torch, then needle scale, followed by a wire wheel.

The good news is the thick paint is *so* thick (I see coats down to original) that a screwdriver under it will pop off all the layers in a cell. There are just so many cells! Given its rubbery nature I would expect media blast to perform poorly. I am more concerned with the cruft that remains: the edges of lifted paint, that last coat of primer, and the rust. The car has roller bearings so media blast is not out of the question, just awkward given the limited facilities on site.

Listen to those who have done this before! There is no "easy" way to remove multiple coats of paint from a diamond tread deck apron. If media blasting is unacceptable for whatever reason, the next best alternative is needle scaling. Or continue your current laborious method. I've done it both ways, and I know what my choice would be. Now it's your choice.

A professional sand blast rig will eat that paint right off, not your cheapo HF "Cheepo Problematic" brand junk. Could probably hire it done by someone with mobile rig cheaper then you think.

In reading this, the goal is to remove paint, then add a textured surface (while painting) to the existing diamond plate.

Has anyone in this industry explored Slipnot?

It is a bit pricey, but it is well worth it. Very anti-slip even with oil/coolant spilled all over it. I have had it installed in projects that I have installed, and my company keeps asking for more of it to be installed. It can easily be cut using a metal cutting circular saw, laser cutter, water jet, torch, etc..

I believe it comes in diamond plate form also, but I'm not finding it on their site. Also, they can apply the slipnot finish to a customer supplied surface.

It can be a bit difficult to clean, but I personally think the advantage of anti-slip flooring over cleanliness is well worth it. But then again, that's just me thinking Safety First.

When Pennsylvania Trolley Museum acquired our 1942 Porter centercab a repaint was in order. Fortunately the donor allowed us to do this inside their product painting facility. But this meant decided limits on how much dust we could make without being tossed out of the place. Needle guns were the answer, and for the entire loco, not just the diamond plate walkways. Took a while and made a lot of noise, but the residue did not get airborne, the building owner didn't get riled, and cleanup was relatively easy. We used both "professional" models and the Chinese imitations and consumed several in the course of the project. Another plus was the availability of unlimited 150 psi air at this facility. Definitely THE tool for the job under our conditions.

I know where Robert is working and there are limitations to the needle gun option.

1. Noise, this is a residential area on one side of the tracks and light industrial on the other.

2. Air source, our options are a 3 hp homeowner model crapsman compressor or run the locomotive. One can't keep up the other will eat your lunch in diesel bill.


Not saying we could not borrow or rent a compressor to do the job but I think the already pissed off neighbors (the ones who bought a house next to railroad tracks and can't stand horns used twice a month on Saturdays in the summer months) may have a few more unkind words for us.

If it's a noise issue with the neighbors, take the locomotive somewhere down the line, deep in the woods and have at it with a needle scaler. So you have to run the locomotive for a few hours to do the job -- do it and be done with it! Is it worth the time it takes to do it the slow way?

Gas tor the torch normally isn't free, either.

If you want to play, you got to pay no matter what you do. If you are cheap, leave it outdoors for 60 years or so and the paint will loosen up real well. If there's a plan to burn brush or such, take it off and drop it on the fire. That will help.