Machine enamels - any recommendations?

Knowing what practical sorts are likely to visit this group, I'd like recommendations for paint for my new project, a Holbrook Model C lathe - originally it was a shade of Institutional Green, which I may choose not to repeat on grounds of taste (or lack thereof)...

At present my plan is to strip the original paint back to bare metal (apparently Mr Muscle oven cleaner is a good choice for this, with less health risks than Nitromors etc.) and clean with thinners, apply a coat of bare-metal primer, fill any obvious pits (Isopon or similar) and sand, before applying further primer and the top (colour) coats with further sanding in between.

I've heard scary stories about 2-pack (e.g. epoxy and other) paints and hazardous chemicals, although I'd be brushing rather than spraying if I were to go for such, on the assuption that it's the vapourisation of the catalysts etc. that leads to problems - Ideally I'd avoid them if there's something else that's suitable.

I've seen a few favourable comments on "Combi Color" enamels and associated primers, some quite negative ones on Smoothrite etc. and not many on Tekaloid (most of the sites that discuss machine painting seem to be transpondian, with different brand names!), has anyone any opinions on which would be most suitable? The poor thing's likely to have spanners and chuck-keys etc. dropped on it from time to time, coolant (probably neat cutting oil rather than soluble) and smoking swarf all over it, so durability's a major factor (I'd quite like it to look good too, though!)

Any rebuilders or restorers of old iron have any suggestions?

Thanks, Dave H.

Reply to
Dave H.
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I've had good results with this:

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chosen because I was already buying =A340 quid of stuff from them and wanted something to take it over the =A350 free shipping. Good range of colours and it's around half the price of comparable products. Use their magic thinners with it.

Johnstones machine paint is good too, and reasonably easy to find. I've bought it from our local farmer's merchant.

The stuff's never cheap, and often comes in 5l cans that are more than you want and one hell of a price! It makes the regular eBay trade in Myford touch-up cans of 250ml look affordable, and at least the stuff's good.

For lathes you can get away with nearly anything. Mills that are spraying cutting fluid around are a much more severe test of paint.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Truck Enamel, purchased from any good refinishing products company. Sprays on in one coat, multitude of colours, glass like finish and hard wearing. Probably cheaper than most other products "Designed" for machinery and the like AKA Tractor Enamel... Like

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Reply to
Me Here

This page has some stuff:

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scroll down to "Finishing the Castings"

I don't suppose there's a lot of practical difference between a new casting and a newly stripped casting.

BugBear

Reply to
bugbear

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I've never heard of Mr.Muscle being used as a paint stripper but a bit of 'googling' suggests that it works best if the item is wrapped in plastic which might not be practicable for your purpose.

I recently discovered this company:

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and tried their paint stripper. It works well (a bit slowly) and is very clean, fume-free and odourless. I found it a good alternative to Nitromors - works as well and is much safer.

I've used 'Tekaloid' for brush painting cars and it really is an excellent, durable finish so it would probably give the deep solid finish you want.

Cic.

Reply to
Cicero

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I can endorse the use of "tractor enamels". I've used one called Tractol (made by Ameron International) which was recommended to me, and which is available from some farm equipment retailers. I bought mine from a local distributor found using Googol. The last time I bought some (3 or 4 years ago) it was about =A38/litre. It's quite slow drying, so you need to find somewhere reasonably dust-free to work. You also need to leave it for a few days to fully harden. It gives a high gloss finish which is tough and oil resistant. Can be brush- painted or thinned and sprayed. If you brush-apply with a decent brush, then because it's slow-drying the brush marks pretty much disappear. Ferguson Grey is a close match to the grey used on older Myford lathes.

Another tip is to use automotive spray putty as undercoat. You can buy this in large aerosols from the bigger car accessory shops (but don't confuse it with ordinairy spray primer or spray filler, which are not the same thing at all). Spray putty goes on in thick coats, sticks really well to most surfaces including bare metal, and is good for covering up surface imperfections, small casting marks etc. Very easy to rub down with wet and dry paper (used wet) to give a smooth surface for gloss paint. Not that it matters particularly, but the product I use is bright yellow!

HTH Mike

Reply to
mikecb1

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Tractol is/was made by the same company that made Tekaloid, Tekaloid coach enamel is a durable slow drying coach enamel whereas Tractol is a hard wearing faster drying machine enamel. Tractol is also used for Tractors hence the name.

Years ago when I asked what the difference was between the two paints the paint rep said Tractol is more brittle and harder than Tekaloid enamel which is why it is idealy suited on machinery and the softer Tekaloid enamel suitable for coach work.

Originally made by Thornley and Knight, then Croda and now Ameron.

Stephen.

Reply to
stephen.hull

Never came across it previously but the stuff was going really cheap (the cans were rusty) so I bought a bootload of ex-military, 2 pack, white epoxy, from Anchor Surplus in Nottingham. Turned out to be the bees knees for coating just about everything from kitchen woodwork to tooling to cars and to outdoor use. The paint mixes up like thin cream so minimum prep' is needed and one painted coat does the job. It self levels with no sinking due to solvent evaporation, is extremely durable and areas I did ten years ago still haven't yellowed. Had been willy-nilly using the stuff for 5 years before reading that the nice Almond smell it gave off was actually Cyanide and according to elf and safety I should be dead as I didn't use certified distance breathing kit, gloves, disposable overalls, blah, blah, ect, ect, ect ect. Bollocks to 'em. It's all used up now now and I'm looking for some more. I would have suggested using a basecoat colour of your choice and finish with a hard 2 pack Polyester lacquer (for cars, Ebay) but it's pricey and yet again elf and safety are determined to scare the hell out of casual users.

Reply to
john

Dave

We recently spent too much time/money trying different paint strippers to get all the chipped gloss paint off all the internal woodwork in the house. Most of them are rubbish, except Wickes own brand Paint and Varnish Stripper. Much better than all the other more expensive products. Needs to be used with care - burns a bit on skin and the fumes are a bit strong but really does wonders on the paint. Comes in a screw top tin and can be applied with a brush.

Somehow some got splashed on a commercially painted small petrol tank which you'd expect to have a pretty tough paint and it took that off far too easily.

Might be worth a try,

cheers

Toby

Reply to
Toby

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave H." saying something like:

Use Tractor Enamel or Highway paint (not the stuff that's used in lines, but for plant and equipment).

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

It would be OK if he wants it red, yellow or white!

Reply to
1501

A red lathe won't show the blood! :)

Steve R.

Reply to
Steve R.

In message ,

1501 writes

Ford do a fetching shade of blue or perhaps Claas green? Oh no. That's what he is covering up!

regards

Reply to
Tim Lamb

My thoughts exactly - Fire Engine Red (RAL 3020) appeals to me, the base will be in dark (holly leaf?) green though, so *serious* bloodflow will be noticeable by contrast...

As it looks like I'll need to fill the castings a bit (a few blowholes, some "cleaning up" scrapes and snipes from when it came out of the sand), what would be a suitable filler to take Tractol / Tekaloid metal primer over the top? I don't want to have to scrape it all off again if the paint and primer bubble after a reaction to the filler!

Thanks all for the input,

Dave H.

Reply to
Dave H.

The factory solution was basically autobody filler aka Bondo (tm) The Burkes had a deep layer of it all over the castings Pinhole filler in the tube unless it's got big voids.

Reply to
RBnDFW

For biggish flaws I use car body filler (P38), rubbed down with production paper. Follow up with spray putty, then rub down with wet and dry paper used wet. Apply Tractol, and your final finish will be A1.

Mike

Reply to
mikecb1

That's

No, it has to be RAL 1007 JCB Yellow.

Hearty endorsement for tractor paint. I made a riddle bucket for the JCB 3CX and gave it a single coat of tractor paint with no undercoat - sieved about 300 tons of mixed earth and rubble, and the vast majority of the paint is still on - only the paint on the central bars having been erroded.

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

In message , Andrew Mawson writes

Photo or full description, please.

regards

Reply to
Tim Lamb

Anyone red/green colour blind wouldn't notice it though :-) And there are a lot of us about :-(

Dave

Reply to
Dave

undercoat -

majority

having

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AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

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