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South Bend Heavy 10 REFINISH...

LoveAluminum

Aluminum
Joined
May 20, 2011
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
I am in the process of putting the lathe back together, and have completed the painting etc. And rather than paint the doors of the lathe, I swirl sanded them and clear coated them with three coats. Not knowing what would happen to the metal beneath, I left them off the lathe while I mounted the motor and finished the below cabinet refinishing.

After three days of curing, I noticed one of the doors looked fantastic. However, the other had spots of rust forming "under" the clear coat. Now I'm willing to bet the one door that turned out fine was the last once completed as it was coated that day. The other door had sat for two days. And, I had completely removed any sign of rust, or paint for that matter. As you can see, I got down to bare metal, period. Gosh, I love the way it looks.

Sadly, I stripped them back to the metal this morning fearing the second one would start rusting as well. Has anyone been able to clear coat the doors? I believe this type of steel is very vulnerable to rust.

Thoughts appreciated...

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Bill
 
Water or oil-based clear coat?

I would think and oil-based clear coat would work ok. As I understand it, it's all about keeping moisture from getting to the metal.

Ken
 
Oil based.

I used Acetone prior to painting, always have, with great results. The doors are sitting in the garage waiting for me to make a decision. Meanwhile, I have moved on to the electrical.

I may just prime them and call it day. Those doors, if painted will just get banged up with me working in front of the machine, that's why I wanted to just clear them. Hmm.

Water or oil-based clear coat?

I would think and oil-based clear coat would work ok. As I understand it, it's all about keeping moisture from getting to the metal.

Ken
 
I am very surprised how that metal looks(or was going to look). I will have to agree that letting the door set caused your problem. In fact I think you would need to apply the clear instantly after sanding and cleaning with thinner to keep it from rusting. One at a time, and with low moisture in the air and good temps. We use to use acetone to prep metal for painting, but then we would use a automotive type lacquer thinner to clean before spraying. The acetone is more for removing old paint and oily coatings that where used to keep the metal from rusting and it will start rusting as soon as it dries off. The lacquer thinner evaporates slower. This does not really make a real big difference, but I have never had a problem when I used it so I just do. I think the biggest thing is to get it sprayed right then, as soon as it dries from cleaning, and not 30 minutes later. Heck not even 5 minutes later, right then, hot temp, low moisture day. It should work out for you then.


It will be interesting to see this if you finish it this way.


Jess
 
I have some tractor clear coat I may thin and spray with my gun instead of the rattle can. I may try again tomorrow. Sanding in this way is no fast task, and I may toss in the towel if it's seriously rusted on me. Something else I noticed; small (1/16 inch) cracks everywhere, all running horizontally. You couldn't see them unless the light hit it just right. Very strange. Perhaps it dried too fast--I don't know.
 
It should not cause any problems with the paint sticking ( it always sticks better when I use it). The cracks sound odd, but if you can get them to look as good as the best parts of the one you to pics off I think it will be great. Of course it will look good painted also, but I really like the look of bear metal when it shines up. When I get a good surface finish on metal there is just something about it I love, and when it will polish up even move, all the better. I am a person that would prefer metal polished over it being chromed or plated most of he time. Its the kind off thing that can be over done though, but the right blend of polished metal and painted parts really look good.

Anyway like I said before I think your biggest problem is not getting it sealed up just as soon as you sand and wipe it down. Its already clean of any oils and such now so I would just go with the lacquer thinner and not worry with the acetone. The acetone is great when getting the grim out though when its been getting soaked for years with oils and grease. Its also great for new metal that comes shipped with a protective coating of what ever they use.

I also use the lacquer thinner in a spray gun and air dry it. As soon as it goes dry start the clear spraying. You can honestly see some types of metal start to rust in minutes of cleaning. I guess the truth is it starts as soon as it is dry, then it depends on moisture and temp as to how bad it does rust (and metal type).


Have you ever used linseed oil & bee's wax mixed together to protect bear metal? If the clear doesn't work out that may be another way of keeping them natural looking. A lot of knife & axe guys use this on there blades. I think you will get the clear to work but that's a good thing to learn about and use on different stuff.


Jess
 
I did bring the doors to an almost chrome appearance, however there were too many minor surface pings and imperfections that were made obvious to leave it. So I immediately scuff finished it.

I'll look closely at the surface today and make a call on it. Using linseed oil would certainly keep it from rusting, and is an excellent option, but would attract grime I'm sure. I will update you later today. Thanks for your help...

Bill
 
Ok. This is comical; I quickly resanded the scuff appearance with my pneumatic mini-sander, blew off the dust, wiped the residual with thinner, and immediately sprayed. I kicked the pressure up to 35 PSI, lightly dilluted and added hardner. The results are stunning. It looks like a mirror. Man spray gun is the way to go. I get lazy sometimes and use rattle cans, but you just can't touch the finish of a gun.

Let's see what happens over the next few days.

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Ya know I really like that. Plus the fact that its a SB it already looks like it was built in the 50's. Maybe you could do a whole rockabilly/50's theme in your shop. I will by default because used equipment from the 50-60's is all I can afford.
 








 
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