Stripping old tank

Morning all. I have got hold of a large tank with broken front piece and with the new piece of glass supplied. I am wanting to strip the entire thing. How do I 'soften' the old silicone. If I remember correctly I once saw guy put thinners or turps??? onto old silicone and he just easily scraped off the old stuff with a blade. I want to take the tank apart, clean all the glass and then get it re-assembled. Going to use piano wire( if I can find it) to cut thro the edges, but then wanted to use the thinners to clean the rest of the silicone off.
In other words hat product 'dissolves' or softens silicone if there is such a thing ?

 

if you cant find piano wire then try using wire that you use for shad trace . how thick is the glass?
let me know how it goes...


regards,

 

I've used fishing line to get between the glass and separate the planes of glass. As for easily getting the silicon off, I've tried Acetone, rubbing alcohol and thinners, but honestly don't think they make that much of a difference. A scraper and elbow grease is the best option. Yet to see an option that "dissolves" it, but would make it a lot easier!

 

You dont want to dissolve the silicon - here is why:

Glass is made of silicon dioxide - SiO. Silicon glue is made or RSiO where R is an organic compound. This means that if you dissolve the silicon you will end up dissolving the glass as well.

Elbow grease and a scraper is your best bet.

 

+1 on peeling it off yourself. Even the specially made "silicon remover" just barely softens the surface of the silicon.

 

Well are'nt you a bunch of informative peeps - DAMN - I was hoping for a miracle - so- elbow grease it is - there goes the weekend then !!!

 

It is 12mm glass

 

Try this. Worked for me:

If you want to absolutely remove every last milligram of silicone on the glass I would suggest using Bostik silicone stripper. You have to first use a stanely blade to remove as much silicone as you can, then use the stripper. It's almost useless at removing large quantities of silicone, it is very messy, and if you are only re-siliconing one or two panes of glass then be careful not to get any of it on the rest of the siliconed joins.

Having said that, you realise how much silicone (sometimes quite a bit) is still left even after scraping as much as you can with a stanely blade...

If you do choose to use it, take their instructions to heart and add generous amounts to the specific area.

Then wipe every thing off with a damp cloth, then again with meths...

 

Ok so tank all stripped and ready for re-build. IF ANYONE ever sees me saying again, that I am going to strip a big tank of silicone and clean the thing myself - PLEASE TAKE ME OUT AND SHOOT ME FIRST. I have never worked so much on one tank in my life. The mess !!! the frustration!!!! the difficulty ...... need I say more. I have decided that life is TOO SHORT to strip down a tank and replace apiece of glass yourself!! enuf said !

 

Hahhhaa... but you did it!!!

Well done!!

Now we look forward to more work being done.. and updates!!

 

true words and if i had seen this post before i would have warned you, it sucks
other lesson i believe you are about to learn is that neat silicone seals is also a touch of a art and silicone gets everywhere and sticks to everything.
these 2 points has got me to the point where i will never reseal another tank and definetley never try build another big tank again

 

I 100cement agree with you here. i have been through this harrowing experience myself and when you asked on the forum about it, i thought (let him feel the burn like i did) not really hey! i thought that maybe i am just being negative coz clearly time healed that wound and that i should just follow your progress and decide if its just me thats a d**s!
thanks for helping me out with this

 

ABSOBLOODYLUTELYNOT going to put it back together myself - I know when I'm beaten - All I can say is I have won the battle but not the war !!! Found a very good man to do it for me - the wonderfull James - I can stand back and admire his skills

 

james rocks

 

Absolutely agree.. as @top dog says... James is amazing

He just makes it look SO EASY!!

 

Just a tip if anyone wants to go down this route again. After scraping off as much of the silicone from the panels the remainder of the silicone "residue" comes of easily with fine steelwool.

 

BUT is also scratches the glass big time !!

 

I use that plastic pot scrubber like the type you get glued to a sponge, it works and hasn't scratched my glass that I noticed.

 

My day didn't go so nice

 

DAMN that's not great !!!