Painters Points

[Shogun]

Does any one know a good method for cleaning old paint off painters points without harming the plastic?

[Rapid Roger]

Why do you think you need to clean them?  That is called patina and it looks good to me.  Besides, the paint or finish adds weight to them for stability. 
But if you are seriously a neat/clean freak, I would use mineral spirits and a clean rag and wipe them down a time or two. 
Hope that helps.

Rog 

[BilltheDiver]

Sand it off with a belt sander.  They are cheap enough that if you burn them up after a few times it won't matter.  Otherwise it depends on what type of paint or finish got on them.  Use the solvent for the finish or oops for latex.

[dunk]

I use those little things they put on top of your pizza inside the cardboard box to keep the toppings from sticking to the lid.  They are free and work great.  Once they get messed up I just toss em.  If I wanted to keep em I'd use mineral spirits or lacquer thinner.

[tvman44]

I have started using the plastic bottle cap tops, free and pretty stable.

[mrsn]

I would worry about cleaning plastic with mineral spirits or lacquer thinner, I would think that it might start to eat the plastic.
What material are you trying to remove?
Acrylic usually peals nicely off of plastic, i just scratch with my finger nail to get it started and then it lifts right off. A water stream is also useful, but the paint clogs up the drain so be careful.

[woodcutter]

You could try using ( Goof off ) if they sell it in the USA.
It is made just for removing paint off of stuff.
It is safe on plastic and works great.

Jim

[Shogun]

Thank you for all the tips, I normally wouldn't care but I used some silver paint last week and it seems to keep making a mess. I don't know what it is but silver acrylic seems to be softer and I have never liked using it.

[puzzlemaker]

Woodcutter, they sold Goof Off several years ago here in the USA, back when we were in the furniture refinishing business. Gave that up as too labor intensive.

Pat