stripping combustion canon

[feral_patriot]

Recently I was showing one of my children some of the very cool -looking launchers on this site when my 7yr old asked me why I hadn't painted any of ours...I hadn't ever given it any thought before.So,he and I went shopping for colors...Plasti-cote:green, red,blue,yellow,& chrome.
Everything turned out beautifully; gave me a chance to teach #3 something #s 1&2 missed out on...
Anyways,I hadn't given it any thought until I began to re-assemble them all, and had put the last one together (the 'Intimidator" or as my wife puts it ,:''OH MY G-D ! Wrap that thing up in a blanket and don't let the neighbors see it" canon when we leave to go shoot) ,but apparently the chrome spray-paint has a high enough metal content in it that the ignition spark is conducted all-across the outside of the chamber;hence,touching the chrome and a bolt head allows for a noticable zap!
It took some time to troubleshoot where my spark had gone,as I was less than alert down with the flu...
Anyway, my 16 yr old pointed out the spark jumping from the chrome paint to the bolt.
The chamber is sch-40 non-metallic underground 4" conduit with two sch40 black ABS pressure rated milled couplers sleeving where the 1/4" electrodes go into the chamber. What solvent(s), if any can we use to clean this chrome paint off without destroying this old beast?

[MisterSteve124]

Why don't you just paint over it with regular paint? That way you don't have to strip it and you don't get shocked.

[Mini Khan]

the pest thing to do is take out the screws and wrap electrical tape where they came in contact with the chrome, it works because the same problem happened to me before

[boilingleadbath]

If you want to keep the keep the paint (or spend less effort), you could probably just remove the paint in a 1/4"-1/2" diameter circle around the electrodes. (with fine sand paper or something)

Interestingly, there has been some research done into "painted spark strips" The person investigating them apparently was getting a couple dozen sparks with a BBQ ignighter.
(sparkstrip was formed by painting a strip of PVC, then scratching paint away with knife to form gap)

[feral_patriot]

Thank you both for the time and effort to help us salvage what had been hours of fun and years of memories!
After my inquiry I:
1. Did spray over 4 coats of Plati-cote plu three clear coat.
outcome: No change, the current still carried through.
2.Then , after all that wasted time (but not really,#3 has dicovered
he rally likes my respirator mask and spray gun!...good bonding)
I tried numerous layers of thick PVC pipe wrap,as a gasket.
Still no luck!
3.I should be honest and mention that before all that I thought the
charge mechanism had worn out, again.So I switched with another
canon,no change...must be the trigger,changed it ,no luck. The wires
(with quick disconnects),changed that,no luck.
4.I had never given any thought to taping over the holes because the
metallic properties of the chrome paint didn't register.
5. I ended up sanding off all the paint on the coupler area's with
40 grit on a 2 amp pad sander (quick). Then , I used one of my
rifle bore cleaning brushes (.22 cal) no a drill to clean out the
holes.
6. Finally, re-assembled everything in its original configuration and
BAM! (as Emeril would say)
And all this time my ass has been getting majorly kicked by the flu.
But,alas, all was done in time to go out Easter evening and send some spuds into orbit! And I got to hear the kids exclaim, "This is the best day of my life!"... candy candy candy boom boom boom family get togethers just aren't the same without orbiting spuds,golf balls, 20 oz
& 1 liter bottles,baby carrots,marbles, steely's,racquet balls, and whatever else we can come up with...Yes,we've even shot bundled up diapers;though they aren't always useable if we can recover them !!!