Painting old lathe questions

great white

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My old Atlas TH42 works well enough. I've had various pieces of it apart to replace worn parts and/or modify things.

I'm getting to the point where I'm getting a little tired of looking at that old, chipped green paint, not to mention the mess of other assorted colors:



So i'm looking at painting it a hammer-tone graphite color. You can see where I did a "test spray" on headstock cover.

The cabinet and the rest of it will go a Ford Blue, like the rest of the shop.

Color choices aside, If I pull the lathe to pieces but leave the Headstock bolted on the ways it should be a pretty simple strip/paint/reassemble process. Correct?

I don't mind doing a few setup things to get it all back into alignment, but I don't want to get into an endless chase of getting the damned thing back to cutting right.

Opinions?

On something besides the color choices that is.....LOL!
 
My only advice is to choose your paint wisely. Some paints don't hold up to the oils and solvents we use in our shops. I found out the hard way.

I have disassembled almost everything on my Craftsman (Atlas) lathe at one time or another and did not run into any re-alignment problems. I have not removed the headstock from the bed. I would worry about that.
 
I can attest to the difficulty in stripping the paint from the voids in the bottom of the main casting (the ways). If I had to do mine over again, I would spend a solid hour de-burring all the roughness before stripping. Scraping off the stripped paint from those rough surfaces was not fun.

I bought some good paint, recommended by Benjamin Moore (I think poly-alkyd enamel?) that I've been very happy with. Getting to the paint under the headstock step pulleys will mean removing the spindle, but I had mine out to replace the belt anyway.

2017-11-11 18.01.03.jpg

Are you sure I can't talk you into a nice machine gray? ;) JK, enjoy your machines!
 
I know you said no opinions on color choices, but... I painted my spare headstock in a dark graphite/metallic color, and quickly changed my mind to machine gray. The graphite color looked like dark cast iron, and it kind of ruined the visual contrast for me. Somehow, and I am not entirely sure why, but the mid-tone colors make work and tools easier to see. That is the reason you so often see green paint on machines, it's very neutral to the eyes (like an accountant's visor or green felt on a pool table). Just something to consider.
 
Sam's club grill cleaner is best buy for oven cleaner that will strip it to bare metal.

Smoke gray works

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
Very clean before paint is important. When you think it's clean, get some cotton rags and acetone, lacquer thinner, etc., and wipe down everywhere until rags come away clean. I'm a big fan of Ford blue also. Cheers, MikeCIMG3153.JPGP1000355.JPG
 
Over the yrs I have taken machines apart just about down to the last screw,but I enjoy doing this so labor of love.Not all machines were mine but belong to a friend,which time was not an issue.I guess that each project took me over several months working each afternoon and on weekends.Cleaning is very important but easy if the machine is taken apart clean one piece at a time,difficult if not.I use Purple Cleaner from HD purchase 5gals which can be mix as strong or as weak for the project at hand.The way I look at the machines that once I get it clean,painted and put back together if kinda forces me to do a very good tuneup.After that I know and have piece of mind that I know what parts were replace,all the wicks are new and bushing are a perfect fit and all oil ports on shafts,bushing all work as they should.So spending a month or more doing this will put things in my favor that it will last me for the rest of my life and looking good.Don't hurt to have little style in shop.So if your not looking forward to your project then it will show,so maybe just a minor rebuild is needed.Where I live if its not painted then it will rust or will need attention on regular bases.Post some pics as you progress with your project.
 
I know you said no opinions on color choices, but... I painted my spare headstock in a dark graphite/metallic color, and quickly changed my mind to machine gray. The graphite color looked like dark cast iron, and it kind of ruined the visual contrast for me. Somehow, and I am not entirely sure why, but the mid-tone colors make work and tools easier to see. That is the reason you so often see green paint on machines, it's very neutral to the eyes (like an accountant's visor or green felt on a pool table). Just something to consider.

That’s a good point on color choise and visibility. I saw a pic of a restored TH42 on the net somewhere (can’t find it right now) and it looked super sexy/clean in the graphite gray with the polished chrome/zamak parts. Thats where I got the color idea from.

May have to think about it a bit more. Ford blue on the lathe just seems like too much blue in the shop though...
 
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