Paint on aluminum tank

[Scared Silly]

my 15 year old aluminum pony bottle (painted yellow) has paint bubbling on the edge. Should I scrape it off (leaving a bare aluminum spot) or leave it alone?

I would give it a quick brushing with a plastic brush so get the major flakes off so that water can not get trapped under the paint.

 

[maniago]

Another thought about this for your consideration: when I'm viping tanks, if the tank has customer paint on it (and its always obvious), I take a magnifying glass to the tanks looking for dings and deep scratches that the customer is trying to hide - usually from a failed vip. I also get take off any stickers that are not vip or nitrox, as people like to hide all sorts of things under those as well.

But if youre really sold on painting, go do some research on Vans Air Force forums under priming and read up about prep and priming AL the proper way. I'd probably also discuss your plans with whatever tech is going to vip your tanks so he/she won't give you grief. Then again, many tank techs hardly know how to tie their shoes, so ymmv.

 

[halocline]

Another thought about this for your consideration: when I'm viping tanks, if the tank has customer paint on it (and its always obvious), I take a magnifying glass to the tanks looking for dings and deep scratches that the customer is trying to hide - usually from a failed vip. I also get take off any stickers that are not vip or nitrox, as people like to hide all sorts of things under those as well.

But if youre really sold on painting, go do some research on Vans Air Force forums under priming and read up about prep and priming AL the proper way. I'd probably also discuss your plans with whatever tech is going to vip your tanks so he/she won't give you grief. Then again, many tank techs hardly know how to tie their shoes, so ymmv.

This would be excellent advice if the OP was talking about painting a tank, which he clearly is not. He just wants to remove paint and leave the AL surface exposed.