The Quartz Based IPR

PreAmble:

For the NEW IPR model, click here

Background:

Those who frequent the Old House forums have heard me complain about the cost of commercial devices known as "Silent Paint Removers" or "Speed Heaters." (IPRs: Infrared paint removers) These devices are intended to aid the average restoration buff in stripping paint from surfaces. These devices can typically strip many layers of paint in very little time, without the aid of harsh chemicals or the toxic dust released from sanding. At the time of writing, these units cost well over four hundred dollars. Usually, a tool that does the job and does it well is worth the cost, and I'll gladly pay good money for a good tool. What irritated me is that the price of these units is pure extortion, and I expect to see them on sale at Wallmart in a few years for $50. If there was some reason these units are so expensive I'd gladly fork over the cash. Though I've gotten close to doing so, I always held back. I now know why, the realization came to me the other day the these devices are probably nothing more than a quartz heater with a handle on it. The "infrared" moniker threw me too. How does a quartz heater warm you? Infrared radiation, that's how. Two and two made four in my mind when I saw an image of the bottom of a unit on the internet; looked like the Lakewood heater I had in the attic. In a millisecond my activity for the next few days was cemented in my mind.

Theory:

If I was on to something (or even close), I could test out the theory with a quartz heater I had in the attic. The particular model I have in the attic is a Lakewood QT1. This is a really nice quartz heater. The shape of it is not unlike a commercial IPR, it's just a bit larger. I hauled a "test door" out to the porch, and brought the heater down from the attic. My wife saw my coming down with the unit in hand. She had witnessed me scouring the internet for IPR info and had been listening to me fussin' and fumin'. She immediately recognized what I was up to. She proclaimed me crazy, twice over.

I fired it up and grabbed my scraper. The image below shows what I was able to accomplish by using the thing as an IPR. After about 15-20 seconds of holding it over one spot, the paint underneath began to blister and lift. I have a good feel for what I am looking for as far as that goes because I've spent so much time doing this with a heat gun. Removing the heater quickly, I was able to peel large swaths of paint off. Unlike the heat gun, the paint in this exercise did not start to smoke. I didn't have to wave it around like a heat gun trying to heat evenly. The paint simply warmed up and started to blister. No smoke, no fuss, no hassle. Of course, the unit shown is rather heavy after a few minutes, and I suspect the protective grating on the front kept me a little too far away from the door.

Thus my conclusion is that a cheap simple IPR can be had by simply repackaging an off the shelf quartz heater.

The Unit:

Wife calling you crazy: free
Parts: $40
Money Saved: $400
Watching wife enjoy stripping paint: Priceless.

The rest of this page focuses on simply repackaging a quartz heater to make your own IPR.

I considered making a 'mother of all IPRs' by using the Lakewood heater shown above. It has 17" long quartz rods. I bet you could really chug along with a bad boy like that. I decided I like my QT1, and that I would sacrifice our other Lakewood quartz heater, the quartz rod length was more in keeping with commercial IPR size.

Anyway, I suppose this is a good time to point out some safety issues and make a disclaimer. Making your own IPR involves electricity. The project involves wiring as well as drilling, sanding, and cutting. (jeez doesn't sound too bad) I am not advocating that you run out and build one, I am presenting my method here for your review. If you do make one, you do so of your own accord. If you electrocute yourself, or burn your house down, well, hey, that's life, and your own responsibility. I'll be up front and say that my unit is probably not the best design that I could have come up with had I wished to put more brain power into it. The unit wont win any UL awards for safety (not this year anyway). I am an electrical engineer by trade, and spent my youth building million volt Tesla coils, so I am comfortable with its potential hazards. You may not be, and I urge that if you should be as 'crazy' as me and make one anyway, you improve on my design. I will point out its limitations in detail as this treatise progresses.

Construction:

The first step was to disassemble a perfectly fine and working order quartz heater. The unit we had was a Lakewood HQH307, apparently a newer model, still available at Amazon, shown below. Once disassembled, I could see if there was any specialized circuitry involved in making the thing run. Turns out there is none, which was the final green light.

Opening the case. Of course, the power is unplugged...

Below is a picture of the inside of the unit. The wiring simple. House voltage essentially is dropped across the quartz rods in parallel...

The goal was to remove the rods from the unit without damaging them. I carefully cut tie wraps and unscrewed the part holding the fan and knobs. The image below shows the point of no return; the magic moment when the heater is either destined for glory, or to be hauled out with the trash next week...

The next image shows how the rods are held in the unit. We are looking from the "back"; the rods are behind the reflectors with the ends poking out the left. There is a few inches of space between the rods in this heater. My other Lakewood has much larger rods spaced very close together. The rod on the top of the image still has a metal bracket holding the cap in place. There is a same bracket at the other end of the rod. Now it's important to know a bit about the rods themselves. A quartz rod in these heaters is not a solid rod, it's hollow. Running through the center of the rod is a metal spring. Affixed to the the spring on each end is a porcelain cap. The porcelain cap is not secured to the quartz rod itself, the caps are held over the ends of the quartz rod by the tension of the spring which wants to pull the caps inwards. If you hold a quartz rod in your hands you can gently pull the caps apart and see the spring start to stretch. The spring connects to terminals through the caps to which wires are connected. Electric current is run through the springs causing them to heat up, which causes the quartz to glow. The bottom rod has had its wire cut...

The following picture shows the reflector pan and the rods as removed from the heater. At this point I measured the length of the pan because I would have to re-create that same dimension in my IPR. It's really the only critical dimension there is. For this heater model and these rods, it's 14.5 inches...

Now it was time to start constructing the box for the new IPR. I chose to use 1/8 inch angle aluminum from Lowe's It would be easy to cut, not too heavy, same material as heaters are made from, strong, etc. I did my work with a hacksaw, you can make a smarter cut with a metal blade on a cut-off saw. I smoothed the edges and burs with a table sander...

The following image shows the top of the box. 14.5 inches long, 4 inches wide. I wasn't too fixated on getting the holes for the four screws centered down to a hair. It really isn't that critical. What is critical is making sure that lock washers and flat washers are used. One doesn't want the thing to come apart during use. A proper mechanical connection of this sort uses a machine screw (I used 4mm screws), once the screw is put through both pieces, a flat washer is placed on the end of the screw and then a split washer or star washer is put over that. Then the nut goes on. With this method, the screw will never work free. All drill holes had their burrs removed. One can do so using a large drill bit (1/2" or bigger) in your hand. Wrap tape around the bit to keep the sharp edges from hurting your hands...

The "legs" of the IPR were next. I chose to make them 3.5 inches long. More screws, more washers, more nuts. Once the four legs were done I used 1"x1/8" aluminum (from Lowe's) for the "skirt". The image below shows me ready to cut it to length on the left. I ran the skirt "around" the base of the legs. In all it made a very strong box. It could support my weight without damage...

Here's an image of the IPR box frame completed:

Next step was to add a reflector to the box. I used a piece of vent pipe from Lowe's. The inside has a gold reflective coating. It is very flexible and easily cut with tin snips. It was a few bucks. 4" vent or something, from the dryer vent isle. I cut a square from it size enough to make a nice reflector for the box.

These images show the reflector placed into the box frame. Two screws on each side of the frame double up on their duty in order to secure the reflector to the frame...

Waste not want not. Might as well use the tin snips to cut those "height adjusters" from the quartz heater's face shield. Of course as installed here, mine aren't readily adjustable without a screw driver, but it turned out not to be a big deal. Screws that hold the "Adjusters" on also hold more places of the reflector:

A 1.5"x1/8" piece of aluminum cut to length serves as a platform for a handle (yup, all from Lowe's). The platform is raised on 1 inch stand-offs (not from Lowe's, I scrounged 'em). A metal handle is not a wise idea, but I already bought it, more on that later though. It is starting to look like an IPR !!!!

Here's an important picture, it shows the rod holders in place. They are taken from the quartz heater. There are four of them, all alike. The porcelain caps on the ends of the quarts rods, simply sit in the holes. Here's an analogy to explain it: Imagine a rolling pin (the kind with handles). Imagine it sitting on a table. You take each of your hands and make an O with your index finger and thumb. Take the O's, place them over the handles of the rolling pin and lift. This is the same way the rods are supported. The metal holders here are the O's, the quartz rod is the pin itself, and the handles of the rolling pin are the porcelain caps. A good thing here is that these metal holders could be flipped over if the box was a bit too short. They could also be installed on the inner side of the box too, so there's four ways on each end to try in case you get the length wrong. The holders are affixed with screws on which large washers hold the edge of the metal strapping. This had the side benefit of making the position of the rods somewhat adjustable. I didn't plan it as a design feature, it just worked out. I was going to sheath the ends and cut holes for the rods, glad I didn't , un-necessary. Once installed, the rods should have some play, about an eight inch back and forth. You don't want to stress the rods, but you don't want them falling out of the holders either:

The following image shows the bracket for the soon-to-come power switch and fuse. I didn't want to affix that stuff to the box in case the box got really hot. So I stood it off on a few stand-offs with a piece of angle aluminum left over from making the frame. I didn't drill new holes in the frame for this, I removed the screws that were in the end of the frame and screwed the stand-offs in instead. The angle aluminum is oriented so the switch will be protected from casual contact from the top, and from the end where an errant scraper might come from.

Below is another important shot. The rods must be treated delicately lest they break and the project delayed. A little caution is better than a trip down to Home Depot for another quartz heater. The image shows the used ring lugs being removed from the terminals. The needle nose pliers are holding the inner nut firm, while the socket screwdriver loosens the outer nut. The threads have LockTite on them so the pliers must be held firm. No pressure is put on the quartz behind. Never touch the quartz part of the rods with your bare fingers, there is evidence that oils from your skin can compromise their life span.

Here the rods have been installed. In order to do so, the metal holders at one end must be removed and the rod slid in from the end. Once an end of the rod is in place, the metal holders on the install end can be affixed over the rod. At that point the rods can be made parallel and a bit of free play in the rods can be insured.

Here the switch and the fuse and the power cord are installed onto the holder bracket. The switch is from Radio Shack. Make sure the switch is rated at least ten amps, 15 even better. The fuse holder I scrounged and the power cord I stole from a printer. It is important at this stage to know the difference between the neutral, hot, and ground wires from the power cord. I elected to run the hot line through the fuse and the switch, then to the ends of the rods at the same end of the unit. That way I wouldn't be running the hot lead all the way down the length of the unit. That way if the hot lead breaks free, it's only an inch or so long and wont flap around too far. The neutral lead I ran down to the other side of the quartz rods. The MOST IMPORTANT thing in the whole project is to connect the ground wire to the chassis itself. This gives some measure of protection in case the hot lead shorts to the chassis somehow, or if the quartz rod breaks and the springs short to the chassis, etc.

Here's my simple schematic. I re-used the wire from the heater, I figure it must be rated for heat in some regard. Connections to the quartz rods are via ring lugs crimped onto the wires. Connections to the switch and fuse are soldered although in retrospect that may not be so wise, I should replace them with quick disconnect lugs. Caution: your browser might size it down to fit the window:

The image below shows the wiring close up. The power cord is run through small grommet (Lowe's) and tied in a knot behind. This keeps tension off the components when you yank the power cord while using it. As you can see, most importantly, the green ground wire is lugged to the chassis. The brown Hot lead from the power cord goes to the fuse then the switch. From the other side of the switch, Hot is distributed to the ends of the two rods. The blue Neutral wire runs to the other side of the unit and connects the two ends there. The fuse in the holder MUST be rated for at least 10 Amps, and make it a fast-blow fuse. A five amp fuse will simply blow.

If one wires up the ground to the chassis as shown. That's a good thing, but if the house outlet your plugging this into is not wired correctly, then the safety measure is useless. If one were crazy and made one of these they would be very smart to test the AC outlet with an outlet tester to make sure the outlet is ground and wired correctly. You be surprised at how many outlets aren't. Of course, it goes without saying that if you use one of those three prong to two adapters, or an extension cord with no ground lead, the safety measure is useless. Plugging the unit into a GFCI outlet would help insure safety too.

Finally, here is the unit, ready for testing, more or less complete albeit some refinements perhaps required.

First Trials:

Here we go! Notice I'm wearing a glove, that is because I didn't know how hot the handle may get, and wanted to be safe in case all the other safety measures failed. Upon throwing the power switch the quartz rods made that telltale momentary buzz they usually do when a quartz heater is turned on. They started to glow and we were off and running. Using it like I imagined it should be used, I held it over a spot for 10-20 seconds. Lifting it up, the paint underneath had started to bubble and lift. The scraper took it off like hot cheese.

Here's a picture of the thing under power.

Performance/Notes:

The thing seems to work exactly as it should. After about 20 minutes, the chassis was too hot to touch. I don't think it's an issue at this point. An ordinary quartz heater gets too hot to touch too, and it isn't a problem. The aluminum isn't going to melt and I doubt the rods will suffer, they're made for heat. What concerns me most is the switch area becoming too hot. The switch holder, sitting out on the standoffs seemed to stay cool much longer than the chassis itself. It wasn't until a good half hour went by that it was getting too hot to touch. This is something I'm thinking about now. I brought home some Teflon tubing and will encase the red wire running along the top in Teflon. This should protect it even more.

Takes off house paint... "no problemo:"

Conclusion:

In all I consider it a success. I'm going to use the damn thing and tweak it for safety, keeping a mindful eye on respecting the discussed safety issues.

The Lakewood web site insinuates that replacement parts for the heaters can be bought there. So if I break a rod I won't go buy a whole new heater. I'm going to replace the metal handle for something non-conductive, mostly for psychological reasons.

I hope you enjoyed my little experiment. This page is somewhat preliminary and I will update as I learn and tinker.

FAQ:

Q: Can this device be used safely inside?

It wouldn't be appropriate for me to make any blanket statements concerning the safety of IPRs. The science and knowledge of how lead evaporates from paint as it's heated by various means is somewhat "speculative". There are claims that paint is safe until a magic temperature is reached, and other claims that lead sublimates at all temperatures (even room temperature) but faster as the temp rises. On one side, there are many scaremongers who would have you believe that simply looking at lead paint calls for prompt medical attention. On the other hand, many others blatantly ignore all safety precautions. I feel that while the IPR is not infallibly safe, the IPR can be easier to use safely than other means of stripping. It's a bit more forgiving than a heat gun in that it wont allow you to get too close to the wood. But even so, an IPR can be left over a spot long enough to make the paint boil and release smoke, which most likely means lead is being released. My mantra is to always use the IPR in a room with a fan blowing the air out the window, and another window open to let fresh air in. The IPR doesn't create much dust, but I still use a dedicated shop vac with the finest particulate filter bag available to vacuum up the scrapings. Lastly, I change out of scraping clothes and bathe after an IPR session.

Q: Can the hanging Marvin heater I see on Amazon be used as is?

That probably would indeed make the paint bubble. The problem with that heater is two-fold. First is that the rods are apparently far enough apart that you might leave stripes of cold paint in the middle. Secondly and more important is that the unit will be heavier than homemade ones making it tiresome to use over a period of time. If you have already bought it and tried it, let me know how you made out.

Q: Can't I just bolt a handle on a quartz heater and use it?

There is a reason to the madness. Quartz heaters typically have tip-over switches, so that if you hold it in any direction other than upright, it will shut off. This needs to be remedied. Chances are you will need to hold the IPR at differing angles and attitudes during your stripping odyssey. Secondly, as out-of-box, quartz heaters are very unwieldy. Most have large plastic fairings and helper fans to blow heater air out. It is difficult to get a full quartz heater into some of the places that need to be stripped. Thirdly and most importantly, a quartz heater is simply too tiring to hold for extended periods of time. Even though a quartz heater is not the heaviest object in the world, holding a full one at arms length for more than a few minutes becomes a chore. All these combine to make repackaging desirable. One builder, Garth, managed to find a very old quartz heater which was light weight, had no fans, and appropriately shaped. In that case, it is possible you might do little more than add a handle. You would still need to defeat the tip-over switch though, and you might not be too happy trying to get into tight spaces with it.

Q: Will you make one for me?

No. I need to spend my free time stripping paint. On average it will take a person 8 hours to build it if you include going shopping. At $50/hr this comes to $400, which is what the commercial units cost.

Q: I busted a rod. Where can I find replacement rods?

Someone sent me a link once, but I can't seem to find it, when I do I'll post it. In the mean time if you know of a place, please send it in. -thanks.

Q: What about using toaster ovens?

I need to do an experiment... I assume 'toaster oven' elements are resistive and not quartz. There have been several people writing in who use toaster ovens as the basis for their IPR. The question that comes to my mind is whether a toaster oven element will ever be as effective as a quartz rod. A quartz rod throws out strong infrared radiation. When you're standing in a sunny window on a cold winter day, your face can still feel the heat of the sun, even though the sun is millions of miles away and the space between you and the sun may be 10 degrees F. This is true infrared radiation being absorbed by your skin. Quartz rods throw off this type of radiation which is absorbed by the paint without using the air in between as a medium to carry the heat. This is what makes them such wonderful heaters. When applied to paint, this radiation warms the paint slowly, through and through, allowing it to soften and lift off the wood. My hypothesis is that resistive oven elements don't throw off much infrared -they heat more by convection, heating the air around them, which in turn heats the paint, therefore, you end up scorching the surface of the paint or completely melting it too quickly. They make paint removers using resistive elements, called 'hot plates' which I see on ebay for $15. I doubt I'd go through the effort to build what can be had on ebay for $15. There are a few who have made toaster oven and even ceramic IPRs and claim they do a good job. The experiment that needs to be resolved is how much more effective is radiant (quartz) over convective (toaster).

Builders' Gallery: Why don't I have a picture of your IPR?

Built yerself an IPR? Then you have earned the right to add this image to your site:

Hopefully, you'll link the image back to here.

Visitor Comments:

Comment by Tom:
Just wanted to let you know that my IPR was finished and I did my first door with it. It works wonderfully! I have attached a couple of pics ...My final total on the build was $98, that included buying everything (including heater) and having to buy a pair of tin snips.

Comment by Jim B:
Well, she's finished. Preliminary test shows the device to be functional. Made it pretty much like yours but added the 'sta-cool' handle by bending a couple pieces of the 1/8 x 1-1/2 aluminum to make holders for a 1-1/8" dowel. I also couldn't locate standoffs so I used bolts with extra nuts and washers to hold everything in place. Electrically, I found the rods to be pulling a bit more than 10 amps so I upgraded the fuse holder and fuse to 15 amps and used a regular light switch. I used a Patton PQH307 heater (Home Depot - $40) which looks identical to the one you used. Thanks again for the great idea and informative site!

Comment by Louis M:
Dave: My IPR is finally finished. I followed your suggestions and added 15amp fuse. Also note cooling fins on the back. I figured a heat sink wouldn't be a bad idea! Just need a proper grommet for the power cord. Thanks for your info. This sure beats sanding.( been there - done that!)

Comment by JG:
Dave thank you...you have saved me a lot of money. I followed your instructions on how to make my own. boy does it work great. I am removing the paint off my large columns on my house, these old column have a lot of layers of paint on them. my IPR takes it off with one pass. I am glad you brought up the problem with the heat, that comes with long use of the paint remover. I went to Lowe's and bought me some fiber glass insulation for pipes, I use this to cover the body of my IPR and then I cut me a piece of 14x12 tin and bend it over the fiber glass insulation on my IPR and screwed it to the body. now there is barely any heat come up, didn't wear any gloves the hole time I used it that day. Here are some pictures of the job I am working on at my house.

Comment by Rod W:
I have finished mine and it seems to work well. I constructed mine with sheet metal left over from my ductwork project and insulated between the reflector and the upper part of the housing to keep the handle cool. The heat elements are replacement elements for marvin space heaters and can be ordered at do-it-best hardware stores or their web site for about $10.00 each. This type of element requires a spring-loaded socket to hold them together, so I had to fabricate some from copper pipe fittings and ceramic bushings. Thanks again for the plans.

Comment by Hugh:
I ended up using 3/4" aluminum for most of the frame because it was cheaper. Also I found a scrap piece of carbon fiber which I used as a heat shield on the top. The polyurethane handle came from the cheapest masonry float that Home Depot sells (I think it was around $3.50.) The side grills are each attached by two anodized aluminum thumbscrews which are from the back of a computer case. The thumb screws go into motherboard mounts which are attached to the frame. This affords quick depth adjustments. Instead of off-sets I mounted the illuminated switch and fuse to an aluminum heat sink which I got from a dead computer power supply. The heat sink is mounted directly to the top of the frame. I was fortunate to find an old Xerox printer cable with a built-in GFCI which I used for the power cord. Finally, instead of running the neutral wire on top of the frame, I shortened the height of the reflector assembly and ran the wire in some heat resistant tubing (rated 1100° F) between the reflector and the carbon fiber. I picked up the same heater you used from Amazon on sale for $20

Comment by Kristen:
So, it's finally finished, my IPR. You can't imagine the respect a girl can get when you go to Radio Shack and you mention your building an infrared paint remover! I am still amazed. The guy even wanted to know how my husband felt about me building this thing. I have to say, I think he's quite proud of me!

Comment by Dan:
Hi Dave -After hearing about the 'Silent Paint Stripper' on other DIY home restoration sites - but being equally shocked with the price of the units - I was delighted to stumble across your website - and have successfully completed building my own IPR. The only main design consideration I made in terms of safety - was to try and 'enclose' as much of the switch & terminals as possible - so I made provisions for a "box" to reduce the chance of coming in contact with the live terminals. Probably put 15 hours into the construction - but I stripped two window frames in preparation for painting prior to getting new storm windows installed - probably took 1.5 hours per window. Once the storms are installed - I'll pull the sashes and restore them. THANKS!

Comment by Garth:
Total cost: $19. That's $15 for the '70s era space heater, with the elements closer together than they make them today, and about $4 in parts (wooden handle, bolts/nuts/washers, fiberglass insulation, aluminum flashing). I re-arranged the wiring to bypass the knock-over switch, using the parts inside. I put fiberglass insulation designed for wrapping water pipes between the reflector and the back of the heater, keeping the back cool enough to hold your hand on. It's light weight, and my wife used it for hours straight. And after attempting to strip paint outside in a breeze, I added side baffles, made from aluminum flashing.

Comment by Jim R:
Thanks for putting up these instructions. Here's my IPR. It works great. I used a finishing trowel for the handle. So far it stays pretty cool, but I might put some insulation between it and the reflector shield if heat does become a problem. I used a couple of 2" shelf brackets to offset the switches and wiring. They stay pretty cool during use. It took 2 days and about $100 start to finish. Thanks again for the informative website.

Comment by Paul:
Thanks for doing us all a favour and putting together your IPR site. I actually went through a near identical series of events with the Silent Remover and wound up seeing the one image of the unit on its side but still wasn't convinced that those were normal Quartz tubes given the price! Somewhere I even read that the official replacement tubes cost $150 . Yikes! As you can see by the pictures I slapped mine together in 3 days using the innards from a Wal-Mart toaster oven (Durabrand $20.00 Canadian) It is rated at 1200 watts exactly the same as the Silent Remover. I kept all the dials and timer for fun. The original wiring was all heat sleeve insulated and looks great. Yes I even have a Bell on mine. I can Toast or Broil my paint and cook my daughter a grilled cheese sandwich during breaks. It works great (see the bald spot on deck) "daddy the grilled cheese tastes like an old heritage house" Yucky. The handle is also nice and cool tube aluminum insulated from the chassis by old ceramic insulators from the 1930's house wiring in the basement.

Comment by Erik:
Thanks for the IPR DIY. You saved me $350. My IPR works great and only took me about 30 minutes to make. Looks like I started out with the same heater as you, but I didn't get as elaborate as everyone else with the case.

Comment by Bob E:
INFARED PAINT STRIPPER KIT FOR $20!
Well, it is almost a kit. Wal-Mart currently sells one model of a 1000 watt toaster oven, Durabrand, that has quartz heating elements and is only $18. You use almost all the parts plus 4-#4 3/8" additional screws, 2 1-1/2" screws for the handle and a scrap of fiberglass insulation-that's it. It weighs 4 #'s, has a comfortable handle, perforated runners on the bottom and a grille guard over the elements-in other words, comparable to the $400 commercial infared stripper in most every way except price. Fabricating tools were simply a pair of metal bending vice grips, tin snips, pliers, screw drivers, small metal file, a hammer and a block of wood. I spent untold hours studying the commercial model and all the other homemade strippers I found on the internet and thinking about how to do this but only about 12 actual hours in building it. I could do it again in probably 6 and you should be able to do it in 8 hours with detailed instructions. $20 with all new parts is hard to beat!
Here is an overview of what I did: cut the depth of the oven cabinet down 2-1/2"so that the bottom opening was 5-3/4" wide; discarded some of the interior liner; moved the top tube down next to the bottom one; discarded the glass door and made a metal cover plate for that side from the crumb tray; used the inside heat dispersal strips for runners; the liner formed the reflector;the grilling rack for a guard over the tubes and used one of the legs for a handle. If you would like detailed instructions email me, bob at casasbybob dot com

Comment by Duane:
Thanks for a great idea! I made mine with 1 trip to WalMart and 1 trip to the hardware store for a few pieces I didn't have laying around the shop. Works like a charms and will come in handy as we renovate our 1863 limestone farmhouse!
My only comment about construction is that adjustable "legs" as standoffs are not necessary because you can simply adjust the amount of time the stripper is placed on the surface you want to strip paint. A distance of 3-4" is fine. And I suspect that greater distances are probably better because then the infrared radiation does the heating rather than any convective heating that might occur.

Comment by Zoa:
Man you rule! I love the DIY way. I do a lot of research in this field on internet. Sometimes I can waste a lot of time before finding. First website I ended up was the Silent on. I started dreaming about it. The price is prohibitive unless you use it as a work tool, or have a lot of money to spare (me it's time but in a constructive manner). Second site : yours! Thanks so much I didn't notice comments about the safe disposal of the paint scraping, I was thinking of putting mine in empty paint cans and taking them to the hazardous waste collection poin. What do you think? Internet will empower people maybe to much for them soon.

Comment by Andres:
Finished mine about a month ago, but haven't been able to use it because it's too cold outside. I had a hard time finding a fuse holder rated for 15A, so I used a mini-breaker from a power extension instead. Your site is excellent, an invaluable resource. One thing though, a materials list would have come in handy.

Comment by A. J. Souza:
Well, I must defer to ingenuity. I was lucky in that I inherited an infrared paint stripper from a friend who completed their project (I had to do it the hard way, stripper and heat gun). Unfortunately, the bulb is broken and I have spend the last couple years trying to locate a replacement unsuccessfully. So...I have the frame already (professionally) made, but it only has one bulb. I am wondering if I can get the best of each world: Use the premade frame and just get ONE 1000watt quartz unit hardware (or up to 1200) to slip into it. The bulb itself is 13" long and this would save me a ton of time with fabrication. The question is: Is there some way to buy just the parts I need to do this? Raw materials available? I am not an electrical engineer, just a handyman guy who still has hundreds of feet of old growth 1x6 T&G Douglas fir to strip for a hoped-for modest addition to my 1924 cottage. Also, as if that's not enough, I live in Hawaii: Nobody I know carries speed heaters (if you get my drift). Never even heard of them until this website. Would appreciate any ideas. Thands, A.J.

Comment by Chris:
Well, I built a SPR starting with the ~$19 walmart IR toaster over. I probably have $100 in the thing but it beats $400. I still have some modifcations to make to really finish the unit, but it is fully enclosed so no electrical connections are exposed, the unit has the steel liner from the oven, about a half inch of fiberglass insulation over that then 1/8" plexiglass heated and formed over that. The handle contains the fuse, switch and powercord to keep it all away from the heat. I used a $5 drywall sander and cut and fit the components into it. The thing I have to fix is how the handle attaches to the unit. On first use I had bolts through the steel liner and it transfered heat and melted the plastic of the handle around the bolts. I will go back and attach the handle to the plexiglass only and then install 1/4" thick end plates that will be tapped so I can make my own handsfree attachments. I have a 3,200 sqft 2 story victorian that needs stripped completely on the outside and over half of the woodwork on the inside. I'll be busy for a good number of years doing all of the woodwork and paint, though a hail storm 2 days ago did start the job by sandblasting all of the loose paint off of the outside of the house :(. This has been a very helpful site, thank you all. Chris.

Comment by Phil:
Anyone notice this IR stripper for sale that looks pretty darn close to Dave's? See it at http://www.paintshaver.com/heat-n-strip.html.

Dave, you didn't start a side business did you?

Nope, no side business here. That vendor makes the Paint Shaver Pro as well. At $399 this IPR is still a price-gouging insult. You will know when I sell mine, it will be for $49.99 -what they are worth.

Panic by Chris:
Well, I finished repairing my spr on Saturday. I used it, didn't loose the handle this time but now it doesn't work half as well, it barely bubbles up the paint even though both elements are functional. It starts to bubble the paint then it starts to make the paint smoke. I originally had a 3" deep housing with the tubes about a half inch from the top. Now it is 2" deep and I have standoffs that add 1.5" so the tubes are about 3 inches from the paint and there is now 1.5" of airspace between the SPR and the paint. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Chris, It sounds like the paint. There are some paints that simply resist the IPR, like milk paint. I have some trim that the IPR takes the paint right off. I have other paint that the IPR wont budge.

Dave, thank you for the response, only thing is that it worked great when it was a 3.5" solid sides and no venting, it bubbled the paint up beautifully and it scraped right off. I tested both times on same board with same paint. Only probable was it started to smoke, so I cut sides down to 2" and have 1.5" standoffs so it vents and heats mostly with IR instead of convection to try to prevent burning but now it barely bubbles and smokes even more :(. Any suggestions how much fixed shroud and how much ventilation space would be appreciated, this is the 1000watt walmart toaster elements, one is 450w other is 550w, though this doesn't seem to effect anything, it bubbles equally on either side.

Hi Dave, I sent you the photos last night. While I was at it, I removed the legs that projected 1.5" and tried it again on the 1/8" thick paint on my garage from the 1920's. It worked :), I left it there probably 30-40 seconds and it never smoked even though it had almost no airspace to provent convection heating. Thanks for all of your help, if you want to post the pics you are welcome to. Chris

Comment by Holly:
I thought I would email you with my story about the Silent Paint Stripper. Didnt have much luck with it at all. We are painters and decorators and had a major project last year stripping "all" the paint from the timbers in a large old house, to restore them back to the original condition then staining and oiling, which meant every speck of paint had to be removed. Well believe me we tried everything known to man and for 4 months it was trial and error all the way. The blurb about the silent stripper didnt really do what it was supposed to, the element only bubbled the paint on the central part of the element, very difficult to get into corners, and when we had to go back over the parts not reached by the element, it burned the wood after only having it on that section for the recommended 20 seconds. We were disappointed to find that the "Try Before You Buy" really means "rent". We sent the unit back and felt it was really a bit of a failure and very expensive. So we are quite excited to try making your invention, and good on you for giving this information to the world. Excellent.

Just a little extra note: I was fiddling around the other day with a couple of windows and decided to try making my own paint stripper. Well, it worked, really worked, though it may tend to darken some timbers but I didnt find that at all detrimental. I got some flour about 1/2 cup (ordinary wheat flour) cooked it up with water in a saucepan to a lovely paste and when it was very hot, and with my gloves and other protective gear, put in about a 1/2 cup of caustic soda and stirred it frantically with an old kitchen whisk. It bubbles up dramatically, goes bright yellow and at this point it also spits, so protective clothing and goggles are very very important. I let it cool and using an old flat scraper, applied it to the 4 layers of ancient paint. I decided to leave it for a day and when I went back, the paint scraped away beautifully. I only had to do two applications and it got into all the corners. I neutralised it with straight white vinegar. The cost? A kilo of flour, and a 500 gram container of caustic soda. It is still messy but there were no fumes and I have since found that I can leave the "stripper" on for several days and it doesnt dry out. The wood may tend to "fur up" a bit, but then again when its milled its rough, and anyway it sands easily and ends up like satin. I hope this may interest you and someone might be interested in trying it.-Regards Holly

Thanks Holly for your recipe. For those here in the States, caustic soda is usually referred to as Lye. Lye (sodium hydroxide) has become a bit more difficult to find 'on the shelf'. You can sniff out vendors on Google via 'soap making', or if you know an avid soap maker, she will probably know some local sources. Email me if you want more info.

Comment by Bob E:
A follow up note on my "INFARED PAINT STRIPPER KIT FOR $20!" post of January. Over a hundred have emailed me for instructions and some have now written back saying they have had good results both in building it and it's performance. I loaned mine to a professional painter who used it for some stripping and removal of old floor tile and said it worked great for both.

Comment by Beverly:
My husband just sent me this information after informing me last night that an IPR was a required purchase for us to effectively strip and repaint our exterior windows. I am beyond thrilled with this information and everyone's success stories. I can't wait for the day when we can document OUR success story, too!

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Page Updates:

08-14-04: I found some quarter inch Teflon tubing. I will use this to sheath the long neutral lead running the length of the unit. I also added "fast blow" and amperage information to the fuse and switch info in the text above.

08-24-04: I mentioned above that the chassis got too hot to touch. I realize now that is because I was using the thing on a horizontal surface. On the other hand, using it on a vertical surface the other day I noticed everything except the reflector stayed rather cool. I guess since heat rises, holding it with the rods toward the ground will cause heat to be absorbed up in the unit, making it hotter. My advice is to use it on vertical surfaces as much as possible. Rather than laying the door down flat, I prop it against a wall.

09-29-04: I have one section of my house stripped and painted. The IPR worked very well. Looking forward to doing the rest of the house in the spring. (Pictures added above).

10-13-04: One of our first tinkerers, Tom from St Louis, has reported back that his own home made IPR was a complete success...

10-23-04: Replaced the schematic with something a bit easier on the eye.
12-19-04: Added Jim B's suggestions to the text above (GFCI outlet and quartz handling)
01-04-05: Re-arranged the page a bit more logically.
05-05-05: Fixed a few typos, changed and added content to the gallery.
03-26-06: Migrated the page to xhtml.
09-21-06: Added a FAQ and more builder's images.
01-13-07: Migrated the page into new WordPress schema. Had to reset comment dates.
05-02-07: Wordpress is bloat. Going back to static pages and my beloved Dreamweaver.