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Speedheater™ Standard vs. Cobra – Which is Better for My Project?

By December 6, 2017August 24th, 2022No Comments

Eco-strip offers products specially designed for safe and effective paint removal. The Speedheater™ Standard and Speedheater™ Cobra can both be used to remove paint and varnish quickly and easily. However, each product has its own unique characteristics and applications and customers often ask us what the difference is between the Speedheater™ Cobra and the Standard Speedheater™. Read on to learn which product is best for your next project.

Speedheater™ Standard

Standard Speedheater Paint StripperThe Speedheater™ Standard Kit can be used for a wide variety of large projects. This system removes paint and varnish quickly and easily from wood siding, porches, exterior wood trim, floors, baseboards, chair rails, wainscoting, doors, door frames, window frames, painted wood paneling, fireplace mantels, cabinets and stairs. The majority of these projects have long, flat surfaces to strip. By heating a 3” x 10” area in one application of infrared rays, this larger Speedheater™ makes thorough scraping with long strokes easier.

The Speedheater™ Standard works best on wood surfaces with oil-based paint, latex paint, varnish or polyurethane coatings. The Speedheater™ Standard can also be used on rain gutters, sheet metal and old plaster if they have smooth surfaces and several layers of coating. To complete the system, the addition of the Classic Arm to hold and move the Speedheater™ Standard hands-free doubles stripping productivity.

Speedheater™ Cobra 

Speedheater cobraFor heating smaller areas, the Speedheater™ Cobra works better. The concentrated infrared rays from 6 short bulbs heat a 3” x 3” area in less than 5 seconds. The Cobra has a smaller head and is much lighter allowing it to be used in tight spaces.  The Cobra is the right choice for hard-to-access painted surfaces such as wood stair spindles and posts that are lathe-turned and curved.

Furniture stripping is a common application of the Cobra. The Cobra removes paint and varnish quickly and easily from furniture with narrow spindles that are close together or with carved, narrow-grooved, or intricate designs. It can also be used to remove old window glazing without breaking the glass. The Cobra is popular for restoring windows with multiple, small panes of glass. Its small size makes it the ideal choice for close, fast heating of both the window glazing and paint in those smaller panes. On the other hand, the Speedheater™ Standard works better on windows with larger panes of glass and with longer pieces of wood.

Safe, Quick and Easy Paint Removal

Speedheater™ products are gentler on the wood and safer for people and our environment than any other paint removal method. These revolutionary products use infrared rays to gently warm paint so that the soft paint can be scraped away in large pieces. These pieces can be collected and disposed of more easily and quickly than with other methods of paint stripping. There are no toxic lead fumes released by the low temperature of the paint. The generation of flying paint waste chips and dust is minimized. These eliminate most of the risk associated with removing lead based paint.

Please contact us for more information about the Speedheater™ Standard and the Speedheater™ Cobra.