Technical data

Care should be taken when cutting and trimming
of the barrier/tape to prevent damage to the
transparent plastic and glass surfaces.
c. Mask all radomes, antennas, fiber glass and/or compos-
ite structure, and rubber boots and/or all other rubber or
elastomer surfaces to prevent chemical removers and air
or water driven abrasive media from damaging these
materials and/or components. (See Paragraph 2.14 for
composite paint stripping procedure).
d. Mask all engine intake and exhaust openings and all
openings or ports leading to interior cavities of structure
to prevent entrapment of chemical removers and abra-
sive media. When masking aircraft pitot static ports and
probes, the probe and port openings shall be covered
with a disk of barrier material or paper prior to appli-
cation of pressure sensitive tape to prevent tape adhesive
from contaminating the interior and the openings of
these probes and ports. The tape shall cover the barrier
material or paper completely and overlap onto the
aircraft surface approximately one-half inch past the
outside diameter of the pitot static port circular hole
pattern.
e. Mask all seams of removable inspection and equipment
access panels and personnel doors for chemical removal
operations to prevent seepage of the remover into joints.
f. Mask all edges, repairs, and loose fasteners on honey-
comb and metal-to-metal adhesively bonded panels and
doors for chemical removal operations to prevent
chemical removers from damaging adhesives and dis-
bonding adhesively bonded structure.
g. Fabric covered control surfaces (rudders, elevators,
ailerons, etc.), shall be either completely masked or
removed from the aircraft prior to any paint removal
operations in the area of these components. Fabric can
be damaged by chemical removers and air or water
driven abrasive media.
h. Sometimes, replacements for very detailed or highly
specialized decals are very difficult to obtain. Mask
these types of decals using barrier material over the
decal if directed to save them.
i. Mask all other areas specified in and as directed by
system peculiar aircraft or equipment technical orders,
such as aircraft -23 corrosion technical orders.
NOTE
For extensive chemical removal operations such
as entire aircraft exterior finish system, some
residual stripping will be required. For this lim-
ited stripping, it may be more efficient and
practical to strip those areas of the finish system
which will be covered by masking tape by the
hand residual finish system removal procedures
in this chapter prior to masking for the over all
media removal operation. This is authorized as
long as extreme care is taken to prevent damage
to areas which require protection by masking, all
remover and open finish system residue is thor-
oughly removed from the stripped areas and areas
around them, and surfaces on which masking tape
will be applied are solvent wiped with a cotton
rag wetted with TT-I-735 isopropyl alcohol fol-
lowed by wiping dry with a clean cotton rag
before the alcohol evaporates.
2.4 ORGANIC FINISH SYSTEM REMOVAL.
There are two methods for removal of organic finishing
systems; chemical and mechanical. Each method has its own
set of procedures, precautions, restrictions, and limitations;
and therefore, each will be explained separately. If confined
areas or non-metallic structural materials are involved in the
removal operation, specific procedures for these areas are
presented in this chapter and shall be used.
2.5 CHEMICAL REMOVAL OF ORGANIC FINISH
SYSTEMS FROM METAL SUBRATES.
Chemical removal procedures and their sequence of perfor-
mance are essentially the same for all types of organic finish
systems, all types of chemical removers, and either limited or
extensive removal operations. However, the type of chemical
remover used depends on the type of organic finish system to
be removed.
2.6 CHEMICAL REMOVERS.
The type of chemical remover used to remove an organic
finish system varies according to the type of system to be
removed: alkyd base primer, lacquer or alkyd enamel top-
coats over alkyd base primer, epoxy and polyurethane prim-
ers, epoxy and polyurethane topcoats over epoxy or polyure-
thane primers, or polyurethane topcoat over polysulfide
primer. The approved types of chemical removers which shall
be used to remove each of these organic finish systems are
identified below along with precautions to be used for each
type:
TO 1-1-8
2-4