Mark Tool’s Best SplashTRON® Removal Technique
You’re going to need a box cutter and a pair of vice-grips.
1.) Take your box cutter and slice the coating lengthwise about every two inches to make long strips. Go all the way around the area to be cleaned. Make sure you cut it all the way through to the steel beneath. For smaller ODs, make the strip narrow enough that it does not have a whole lot of curve to it.
2.) Take the vice-grips and grab a hold of the top end of one of the strips. You might need to use the box cutter to get the strip started enough to get at it with the vice-grips.
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Once the strip is started, pull it away from the pipe with the vice-grips and use the box cutter to slice across where the backside of the SplashTRON® is still bonded to the pipe. Pull and slice. Pull and slice. Pull and slice… You can see where this is going. “Just like skinning a fish”. You should end up with a strip of SplashTRON® about two inches wide and however long as the area you have to clean; continue all the way around.
3.) You will probably need a grinder when you’re done pulling the strips because there will almost certainly be quite a few little fragments still adhering to the pipe. Use a cup brush on the grinder, as this is the most effective way.
Tools you will need to do the job:
- Box cutters
- Blades for box cutter
- Vice-grips
- 4” angle grinder with cup brush
Note: this will take two men.
Tip for commercial divers: Divers who need to remove SplashTRON® from risers know how hard it can be to remove. Seeing blisters? Don’t puncture them! SplashTRON® has been seen to contain product at hundreds of PSI where a pipe wall has corroded underneath it. That blister might be nothing. Or it might be pressurized and waiting for some knucklehead to come and stab it with his knife!