Painting in the Home Shop

W

wcunning

Registered
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2016
Messages
134
Hey guys,

Well, we've finally hit decent weather in the great state of Michigan, so it's time for me to get to repainting a lot of my machine shop accessories. I, like many of you, dearly hate painting, but I hate rust a bit more, so needs must and all that.

I have several mill accessories (rotary table, dividing head, spare vises, etc.), an old Logan shaper and a few major tools (Bux mag drill, Rockwell power throatless shear) that all need to be stripped and repainted. Keith Rucker has a few lathe painting videos showing Citristrip paint stripper taking paint off of old castings quite handily, so that and some wire brush work is my first order of business. Once that's done and everything is properly degreased and painter's taped, I intend to do a fairly thorough, "do it right, do it once" type of paint job. For that, I've chosen Valspar tractor alkyd enamel -- red oxide primer followed by Ford Gray top coat.

Now to my actual question: I'm planning to brush on this paint, and I have the Valspar brand hardener. What would you guys recommend for my ratio of paint to thinner to hardener to get a relatively fast drying and relatively durable finish? How many coats of primer, how many coats of hardened enamel? Does anyone have a strong opinion on brush style/manufacturer?

Thanks,
Will
 
Brushing the accessories is fine, but I really like how my mill turned out by just using a foam roller. I used the Valspar brand as well and just mixed the hardener per the instructions on the bottle. I did not use any thinner and I think it took a couple of coats. I did not strip the mill completely either, I just sanded everything smooth first. I plan on doing the same with the lathe.

Sounds like fun.
 
@RandyM what foam roller did you use? I did a quick search on painting on here, but I'll admit it wasn't thorough... Did you write up painting your mill?
 
I just used a hardware store foam roller. I think they were the 3 & 6 inch ones, nothing fancy. I think they were the 5/8 diameter. You can get them at any hardware or home improvement center, similar to these.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/FoamPRO...ars-Foam-Roller-Cover-2-Pack-156426/205037202

I assume you are asking about my rebuild? I don't think I went into much detail in the thread for painting, but here is the link.

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/1958-bridgeport-series-1-j-rebuild.1442/
 
Hrmmm... I'm almost tempted to tackle my mill as well, at least if I can get enough ventilation in the basement shop to not fume up the house. I think I would go to the effort to fully strip it, but if Citristrip lives up to the reviews, that could be done fairly easily...

I'll try the foam roller on the shaper where I'll have big enough open surfaces to really get some use out of it. I picked up a Purdy foam roller for rolling out bluing on the surface plate while scraping, so I'll start with it and see how things go.

Thanks!
 
wcunning said:
I intend to do a fairly thorough, "do it right, do it once" type of paint job.
Thanks,
Will
Click to expand...

that statement and brush/roller are not congruent. just say'n

you don't want to spray because......
 
I have been brush painting machines for many years .seems to work for me using oil based enamel.have several spray guns of different sizes and applications but prefer a brush for a machine.to each his own..image.jpeg
 
Brush painting avoids the issue of over-spray coating all horizontal surfaces and doesn't usually require an air fed mask but spraying allows the use of 2K paints which are more resistant to chipping than conventional machine coatings.
If I had nothing else to do I might strip and paint all my machines, they all carry age-appropriate battle scars on the paintwork, the working parts however are kept scrupulously clean and lubricated so it doesn't worry me that my work horses look like they've done work ;-)
 
@cg285 lots of reasons...

I don't have big open space to set up a spray booth. I don't need it to *look* pretty, just hold up to chips and coolant. I intend to brush any touch up, so it's not going to look sprayed in a year or two. I also don't have or intend to acquire a real spraying capable compressor, nor a quality HVLP setup, since I hate painting and intend to avoid it. The list could go on for a while...

That said, if you're volunteering to swing by and setup a serious spray rig, I could be open to that idea ... Or just a donation of a good Ingersoll or Kellogg compressor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top