How To Remove Old Paper From Acrylic Sheet

1 cup warm water.

How to remove old paper from acrylic sheet.

Carefully use your fingernail to peel back the covering on one of the corners. To get the old paper off and even the new in large sheets we use a broom stick and two strong guys with big fore arms. You don t have to overdo it since overheating the plastic can do damage. Many of these sheets used an adhesive that is heat activated.

Masked acrylic should be kept away from heat and sunlight and masking should be removed soon after installation. You can try using an electric hair dryer to warm the corner of the sheet and see if this loosens the paper. Whether the acrylic is used for a fish tank table or other item being able to have a clean mark free piece is important. Sometimes you will find old paper that just will not absorb water.

Be careful not to dig into the acrylic. Residue can also be left behind by tape or other sticky substances. 3m makes a citrus based cleaner that works well for acrylic paper as well as all kinds of self adhesive labels and such. If it does slowly work your way across the sheet if you go too fast the paper will rip making removal more difficult.

It is frustrating to remove a sticker from acrylic only to find a sticky residue left behind. Spray it on let it soak in a bit and peel off the paper. When this happens scuff the surface with coarse sandpaper or a scoring tool to allow the water to soak into the paper. Mcmaster also has an adhesive removing spray but i haven t used it.

First try using the hairdryer method. Then start stripping it away with a scraper. If the adhesive has hardened moisten it with aliphatic naphtha hexane or kerosene will help to soften it. You can remove the paper masking with a cardboard tube by rolling the masking around it.

When removing the protective covering you ll want to work on a smooth flat surface. Let the paper soak for a few minutes.