Painting NEW Import Lathe?

wildo

wildo

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Well after two years of waiting (for finances) I finally have my dream lathe. My PM 1236-T arrived in seemingly good condition and now it's the long (confusing) road of VFD conversion, DRO install, and maybe an auto oiler (a la Keith Fenner). But I have to say, I kind of hate the color. This off white color is so boring and just... blah. Am I entirely crazy to be thinking about stripping it down and spraying it a nice machine grey?? Now would be a great time to do it before hauling it in to the "Bed & Boremill Machine Shop" (LOL!!) I mean, machine tools should be grey! (Unless they are green.) Has anyone done a respray on an import lathe (boxy ugly thing) like this? I resprayed my SB 9A and was very happy with the results, but that's a curvy looker of a lathe. haha

292416
 
Congrats! :eagerness:

I never bothered, I just wanted to use my lathe already. I don't mind the white so much but I'm not that big of a fan of my blue chip pan & stands. I would rather have my machines gray also. My mill stand was already gray but the inside was yellow so I did repaint that. If it's easy to do now, I say go for it!
 
If you would like it to be grey, by all means make it grey. If it’s your dream machine it sounds like you plan to keep it.
Go for it! I’m looking forward to the pics of the remake!
 
If "stripping it down" means removing the original paint I'd say no. Just clean and scotchbrite the factory paint, mask as necessary, and have at it. Make sure you use a quality paint that won't be affected by the lubricants it will be exposed to.
 
I agree with @Canus IF they used a good primer under the paint. Most Asian lathes just have a top coat on it that chips easily to reveal the cast iron underneath. If you find no primer then I would strip it down to bare metal and use a primer that is compatible with your top coat.

Where is @TerryH when you need him?
 
It will get that nice mottled coffee colur in no time with some excessive oiling and no clean up ;)

stu
 
That is exactly what David Best did....

www.flickr.com

New PM1340 Metal Lathe Upgrade

The lathe is brand new, but I decided to upgrade it considerably. This is that story. Click on individual photos to see more information. There are multiple pages in the album.
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
 
To paraphrase L. Francis Herreshoff, "There are only two colors to paint a machine tool, one is grey, athe other is green, and only a fool would choose green".
He was speaking of yachts, and the colors were white and black. He was the author of "The Common Sense of Yacht Design".
 
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