cleaning and repainting

Hi guys,

Has anyone repainted their lathes, if so how did you clean it and as well what type of pint did you use. I'm thinking of getting some parts powder coated

Mineral Sprits works good for cleaning. Just don't be by a pilot lite or open flame. I would love to paint mine with the silver hammer finish by Rustoleum. But i know thats not a standard SB color...Bob

Jeepers......Are we gonna start having shows & judging ???

wellI wanna really fix mine up, I just got it from an uncle who passed away and left it to me. I wanna show some respect for it and bring it back to all her glory. Seeing as it's from the 30's its in need of some help.

Hi There,

Painting SBL's (or any machinery for that matter) is usually a contentious topic on most discussion boards. Everybody has their own experiences and preferences as to "what to use." It often breaks down to a person's abilities and access to equipment.

In my limited world of experience, I have used two types of paint. The first was good ol' Rustoleum. This is relatively cheap and readily available. But the colors available don't match exactly the original color. It is fairly durable and touch-up isn't a problem. It can be brushed on or sprayed. Spraying gives better results than brushing. The aerosol version dries the fasted.

On my next lathe, I when to the Duron paint store and bought some Duraclad industrial enamel. I had at that time an NOS faceplate and they were able to match the paint color on the back of it. It was nice to have a lathe that had the correct color but it was much more work to apply. The paint had to be thinned and sprayed using a spray gun. The hand wheels were difficult to mask off so I painted them with a small brush by hand.

Since that time, some better industrial paints have come onto the market. One I am interested in is made by Sherwin Williams and it is their Polane HS industrial paint. It is an epoxy type paint and it wears like iron. This kind of paint has very dangerous fumes and proper precautions must be undertaken (all paint have bad fumes but this stuff is real bad for you).

Matching the original color may be a problem. SBL used paint from various suppliers and the color varied from batch to batch. Machines made in the 40's and early 50's were a kind of grey-green color but as time went on, the amount of green in the paint became less. So, by the 70's, they were pretty much just grey. I personally liked the grey-green of the older lathes. But you should pick the color you like.

I hope this helps. Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb

Hi members,

just to let you know that I am currently in the process of repainting my SB 9A wih Sheet Metal Under Cabinet. Got my paint 'matched' at the local paint shop. Had the paint matched before stripping and boy was I in for a surprise. The color on my lathe was a Green/Gray sahde of green on all parts that I could see. (inside out) when I started to remove the old paint there was a bright type of grey underneath which is either the original paint or the primer for th Green/Grey that was found all over the machine. I am not sure whether SB delivered color as specified by end-user or dealers because it seems that someone had gone thru a awfull lot of trouble to paint it in the color that I've bought it in. Well I've bought the paint so I guess I'll press ahead and keep on painting. (Half way the project any way.)

P.S. still mindjugling whether to take the headstock apart or not. Can anyone advise me any special tips and tricks. Probably will continue with it any way as I really want to clean it up and change out the felt wicks etc.

Best regards,

Piet Butter

Hi Piet,

What vintage is your lathe? Was the green-grey under the ID tags like on the gearbox? If it is, it is a good chance that it is the original color. Some shops would repaint a lathe to match their "decor" when it first came into the shop. Some were meticulous enough to remove tags before repainting but most were not.

The lathe I am currently rebuilding is a Heavy Ten shipped in 6/13/52. The castings were first painted a dark reddish-brown color and then coated with a thick grey paint(?) to fill in the roughness of the castings. On some castings, this stuff was difficult to get off with paint stripper. Then there was the grey-green color on top.

I wish I knew what the grey filler paint is/was. I would like to get some for my project. On previous lathes, I just primed and painted the casting and didn't bother with filling. I don't think SBL bothered with the filler on the 9 inch models as much (or at least I haven't noticed it as much except on late models).

Keep us posted on your project. Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb

Hi Guys,
As I'm getting ready to paint my heavy ten, the above posts are really helpful. As for filler I expect to try auto body glazing putty. Frankly I'm not too picky about color matching, just so it's not an ugly mouse grey, is durable, and not an embarrassment to show to friends. After all,the purpose of this project is to have a good working lathe, not just a showpiece with a Ferrari paint job. I hope to have some before and after pics, but who knows when.
Chaz

Blue Chips,

Underneath the various tags there was indeed a very light shade of grey which was pretty difficult to remove using paint stripper. As mentioned earlier I will just press ahead with the green/grey (close to army green). Just put the QC Box back together, it had a bit of a knuckle sound and feel to it. Changed the gear levers from left to right seemed to have done the job although they seem identical to me but it could have to do with the way the gears are 'worn' although I could not see any wear on the gears. Decided to leave the headstock gretaly in tact as I do not want to mess up the bearings. Will just to a refinish of the paint (industrial type enamel, high gloss) which is pretty hard so wear resistant but also chips quite easily. Cant have it all I guess. After the headstock the carriage assembly will be the last item left to do plus the travelling and steady rest.All for now.

Best regards,

Piet Butter

Both my previous lathe (circa 1942) 10L and the (1926) American I'm overhauling now had some kind of black goop as filler. The paint stripper liquified it enough to scrape off, but enough remained to at least mitigate the rough surface. After a wipedown with diesel fuel soaked paper towels and letting it sit for a couple days, the remaining filler dried nice and hard so I started with the primer directly. No trouble since and the paint's sticking just fine.

Gregm

I am also in the process of striping and repainting. having tried the rust-olem hammertone finish before it looke great at first but dosent wear well. I am going to try a "new ford gray" engine paint it is a good machine gray color and holds up well under oils and solvents and has much better durability to chip abrasion than rust-olem or other aresol sprays.

I THINK POWDER COATING IS A BAD IDEA while it has superior durability to abrasion and chemicals the heat required for it's application may distort your machine componets and alter their metalurgical properties through diffusion (look in a material science textbook to see how this can happen at even as low as 150 deg.)

Webb,

as far as the vintage of my 9A is concerned I do not have a clue as the formula given on tonylathes.co.uk comes up with 1928 which I think is unrealistic given the underdrive sheetmetal cabinet etc. The serial number is 40070NKX9 and ct. no. is CL344Z. Bed length is 3-1/2'. It has a dual motor pulley as well as a multi voltage motor. (110/220/400 3 phase). People are right by saying that these contraptions are lathes and are made for cutting steel on. No way I intend to join a 'show & shine' but the lathe I bought was cosmetically in a deplorable state and I would to have it look ok before putting it to work. The other advantage, by taking yoyur lathe apart, that you learn how the lathe is built and allows you to check for wear in place you would normally never reach by standard maintenance.

All for now.

Piet Butter

Hi Piet,

From your Serial Number, 40700NKX9, I get the following information:

Nine Inch Swing,
Quick Change Gearbox,
Underneath Drive,
With "Special" order feature,
Shipped 1957 +/- a year.

From the Catalogue Number, CL344Z, I get:

Threaded Spindle,
Underneath Motor Drive on Metal Cabinet,
3-1/2 ft. Bed

If you want to get the specific shipment date and any other information, contact Leblond Lathe or Rose at Partsworks. They can look up the information in their files.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb

I am starting the same project with a 1984 Heavy 10 over a metal cabnet. I am looking at two way to go about paint color. First option is to use Ford tractor grey paint. The color is very, very close. The outside looks like it has been repainted but the underside of the covers have not. I may opt to take one of the covers to a paint store and see if they can match it. At that point, I have know idea about what paint to use.

As far as getting the old stuff off, following is how I stripped my Series One BP mill. I brushed aircraft stripper to the various components, let it work for no more than forty five minutes, and used a steam cleaner to remove what wants to come off. I would repeat the process unitl I had it to bare metal. Some areas were stripped bare with one application, most in two, and a few took three. The steam heated the metal enough to dry it almost instantly.

Prior to priming, I used auto body filler to smooth it out. I would also like to find a building type primer to replace the bondo step as much as possible. What is it?

I sprayed industrial Rustolem primer and paint. It looks good but it has recently been finished. We will know how well it worked in a few years.

I am open to any sugestions ya'll may have.

Have a good day,

Grits