Spray Or Brush Paint A Machine?

I'm just using a spray on (rattlecan) black hammer tone on my Atlas. It works fine for my use.

A good degreasing if the paint is still in good shape and then respray. For parts that are chipped and flaking, I use aircraft stripper and then degrease and spray.

I'm not overly worried about the durability/layer thickness of the paint, if it chips or wears its an easy touch up.

I use the hammer tone as the surface finish of the Atlas isn't smooth anyways. The hammer tone just works with the surface irregularities.

I just want my old lathe clean and usable. Had the old green paint been in good shape, I probably wouldn't have even bothered to repaint.

It isn't a show queen, but a nice coat of paint makes everything feel just that little bit nicer when you use it.

:)
 
Last edited:
I have always sprayed paint. Sometimes automotive paint, later industrial paint, through an HVLP gun. But now I only use Plastikote (Valspar) engine enamel. It is made to spray on bare cast iron, adheres well to aluminum, tolerates chemicals, and has a low-gloss appropriate to machine tools. Over time it has proven durable. Lately I mostly use #216 New Ford gray.
 
I am thinking about using bed liner for a machine coating, seems like it would be practically indestructible. Has anyone tried using it that way?
 
I am thinking about using bed liner for a machine coating, seems like it would be practically indestructible. Has anyone tried using it that way?
It adds a fair bit of thickness to parts. I'd take that into account for parts you have to fit back together once coated.

Personally, I wouldn't use it.

:)
 
Ack! Please don't do that to a nice machine!
I think if done carefully with the right product, one could achieve a reasonably nice finish. It is not only what the machine looks like when you are done painting it that matters, it's also what it looks like a few years later.
 
When you guys prepare a machine for paint, what do you do with the old surface? I have a mill that looks pretty rough and some of the paint, and filler underneath, is soft from the coolant and way oil that it has seen in its life. I don't have the time to go over it thoroughly to clean it down to bare and repaint. Will a bit of bondo over the seriously cratered areas stick? Will the paint stick to it?
Right now, if you don't have the time to prepare the machine to paint, just do what you have been doing. In other words keep it wiped off and oiled. You are just wasting your time if you don't properly prep before you paint. It does not matter what paint or/and filler that you use, that paint will not stick well at all to grease, oil, dirt, and whatever.
 
When you guys prepare a machine for paint, what do you do with the old surface? I have a mill that looks pretty rough and some of the paint, and filler underneath, is soft from the coolant and way oil that it has seen in its life. I don't have the time to go over it thoroughly to clean it down to bare and repaint. Will a bit of bondo over the seriously cratered areas stick? Will the paint stick to it?
As said above, unless the surface is TOTALLY oil free paint or bond won't stick. A simple test is to spray the surface with water, if it beads the paint won't stick, if it spreads and wets the entire surface your probably good to go. Wiping a surface with a solvent soaked rag just spreads the oil. I've had the best luck with citrus based water soluble degreasers. Scrub the surface with the solvent then rinse off with water.
_MG_3404.jpg

_MG_3404.jpg

_MG_3404.jpg

_MG_3404.jpg

_MG_3404.jpg

_MG_3404.jpg
 
My dad swore by porch & floor enamel. We painted everything with it including a crane truck.

I am using it on a Dake #2 arbor press I'm fixin' up in my gay-raj, alkylid enamel applied after a good scraping off of the old flaking paint with a acetone cleaner. I'm hoping multi coating will smooth out the poor casting on the frame, gawd it is rough.

I'd attach pictures but for some reason my tablet keeps losing internet connection when I try to attach photos.
 
Back
Top