Has anyone ever found a really good way to remove the orange plastic like coating from the lower deck handrails or refurbished RM/RML's?

Sorry if this has been asked before, couldn't find any other topics which asked this question.

Many thanks,
Tom

My bus number (if any): RML2344

You may not like this, but....! It depends who your bus was refurbished by. Some have the orange coating powder coated and baked on. This will NOT come off. The only answer is to replace the handrails, easy to find the seat stanchions but the bulkhead and bench seat grab rails are difficult to find now, because everyone wanted them to replace orange ones!

Others, like the Marshall refurbs and Arriva refurbs, have the handrails shot blasted and enamled- again, this will NOT come off. Even with heat or acid (tried both) the rail is blasted and the surface spoiled.

Lastly you have what you need to hope yours is. A simple hot dip plastic coating applied over a black primer. There is no easy way to remove it, only the long and slow way, which I did! Remove each rail from the bus and take it home. Spread newspaper on the lounge floor. Take a stanley knife and slice down the length of the rail. A small shaving will come off. Repeat again and again till done and your arms are ready to drop off. The black primer might take a bit more work. Then polish the handrail with a suitable metal polish such as autosol with some wire wool. Thats it I'm afraid!

Test which type you have first by attempting to slice some plastic off a rail while its still on the bus.

NB Undoing the bottoms of the stanchions from the tops of the seats is a pig.

My bus number (if any): RM531

I agree with Steve,
When I bought 1797, it was an Ex New Cross bus, but someone had swapped the bench seat and bulkhead handrails, and I ended up with orange ones. It was a Stanley knife and rotary wire brush job, then finally Autosol.
It would have been easier to swap, but who wants orange?

Rob

My bus number (if any): RM1797

Don't throw the coated parts away. They can be restored but it takes a bit of work.

They can be bead blasted with a different media ( the new word for sand or glass or eggshells) This will remove the coatings but also the polished original finish.
However the brass can be replated and the stainless can be repolished.

I had a set done at PAG in Hanwell a bout 5 years ago and they came back looking like new. It did cost (as it was for a client anyway) but far less than getting new made which is prohibitive.
So even if you find good replacements, don't trash the unwanted ones.

Hello Steve

Good advice but a long way to go to your house every night :)

Jack

I recognise the name PAG Hanwell. Were they involved with colouring the handrails in the first place?

David

My bus number (if any): RML2276, M1001, T806

No I don't thinks so as they just do fabricating and polishing.

They have though, in the past made up a lot of RM alloy panels as well as the tricky ones.

Peter who has nor retired was always able to replicate. They now copy from originals via a computer aided system or from drawings in either media.

We use them a lot for vehicle structural work.

Hi there i found the easiest way to remove the plastic coating from the rails was to remove the rails clamp them in a vice between bits of wood, put a wire wheel in an electric drill then slowly and gently run the wire wheel along the rails.

My bus number (if any): rml 2613

If you can remove it with a wire wheel Denis, you can peel it off with a knife as Steve said above, but on some RMLs you cannot remove it, it depends how it was put on. The rails are stainless steel and some applications damage the exterior beyond any economical restoration. As 2344 and 2613 were I believe refurbed at different places, its unlikely they will have the same type of coating, we will just have to wait until the OP comes back to tell us.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960 RMC 1458 RM 1585 and several RTs

Thanky for your comments. I have slowly started removing the orange with fairly blunt screwdriver as not to mark the polished metal. I have had some success with this.

On some rails I have gently heated (with a blow torch) the orange then given it a very quick going over with a wire wheel on the end of a drill. Very quick method of removing it but the metal does need polishing afterwards.

My bus number (if any): RML2344