Has anyone ever painted the inner compartment?

[BryanH]

The inside of my machine is a little worn. I don't want to go to the bother or expense of replacing it but I want it to look good when I'm done. And I don't think I'll get that polished look by just cleaning and scrubbing.

Has anyone had any experience with painting the inside?  My shell is <<galvanized>> steel so I'm assuming that I'd need some kind of special paint?

Any recommendations or random thoughts?

[Kevin C]

Hello

Looks like galvinized metal to me but anyways go to you local store (Lowe's or HD) and purchase the stainless steel (grey) paint a color of the rustolium brand. After cleaning & allowing to dry the paint works good to cover the old look. I also spray paint the upper evaporator coil case to make it look good.

Kevin

[BryanH]

Kevin - you're right it is galvanized metal... don't know where the stainless thought came from.  Does rustoleum have a special kind of paint for galvanized metal or can I buy any kind?

[MoonDawg]

Hey Bryan. How about scrubbing the inside, then use rust inhibitor on the floor and rinse.  You'll have a clean interior. Then fill the rust pits in the floor and paint.   Save yourself a lot time and money.
       Also, hammertome paints have been holding up well under extreme temperature applications such as this

[BrianB]

Yeah, Hammertone paint would look cool. I guess I went overboard, I had my liner for my VF117 powdercoated gray. It was justified though.

I originally brought the guy a bottle shelf to have it powdercoated more to check and see what kind of work he did. Well, when I came to pick it up he asked if it was for a soda pop machine and I said it was. He mentioned to me that when he moved into the building it came with a Pop machine! It's and old Choice Vend bottle/can vendor with the can sanitizer. He asked If I'd take a look at it and see if I could fix it. Well I ended up fixing it for him and now we trade work for work! I've had to go back for a couple of "service calls" to fix things when they "break" (popped breaker, dirty coin mech).

I was originally going to use Cold Galvanizing and clearcoat for all of my zinc coated parts. I used that combo on my evaporator housing and condensor fan housing and it looks great!

[Eric]

I'm getting the inside of my 39 powder coated front and back
Heard it's about the best finish to do!!! It last and is
tough! TOUGH! It's a baking process BITW does it to their machines. Could also have it zinc plated then sealed. That would look closer to the galvanized. But can scratch and if it's not sealed it will oxidize like galvanized.

I know you can't re-galvanize that a hot process and it will warp the crap out of it!
Powder coating isn't that expensive (at least not where I'm at...Missouri) Look under painting. That has my vote!

Eric

[loman4ec]

They also sell zink paint. I have never used it but I have always wondered if it would look good.

[Paul M.]

I did a Google search the other day on "cleaning galvinized metal" and got a lot of info on prepping for painting and what kind of paints to use.

[MoonDawg]

Brian...What is cold galvanizing ?

[Jim]

Glen,

"Cold Galvanizing" refers to painting with a semi-galvanized product. Since the galvanizing process is performed in a very hot solution, and in many cases cannot be duplicated after parts are fabricated due to warpage, a type of paint called cold galvanizing spray is used to touch up areas that may have become scratched/scuffed during assembly.

I personally don't think it holds up as well as the original process but is necessary to prevent rust forming in the damaged locations.

HammeRite (aka Hammer Tone) paint is nice and durable but takes some practice to spray properly. I also think you'll get better results if you spray with a traditional paint gun setup instead of spray bomb cans! Another note about this technique is that the total curring process is approx. 4 - 6 weeks, but once curred, it is a very durable and slick surface. The other nice thing is that this paint is forgiving for hiding flaws such as pits and imperfections.

If you can afford to, my recommendation would be to go the powder-coat method...

[MoonDawg]

Wanted to avoid removing the liner to take to the powdercoater. Looking for a quick fix for all those rusty floors. Cold Galvanize sounded like what I was looking for.
        Could a liner be powdercoated in place?

[joesquid]

Jim,
  Where can you find hammer-tone paint for spray gun use?  I've used ALOT of hammertone spray-bomb cans and would love to use the stuff in a sprayer.  I'll bet it lays alot more easily, probably cheaper in the long run too.

Also, out of curiosity, what do you pay (on average) for powder-coating?

[BrianB]

Glen -

The problem with attempting to powdercoat the liner in place is this: #1 - The liner has to be prepped/sprayed with an acid solution to make it grease free and powdercoat friendly. #2 - You would have to mask off the entire machine just so you wouldn't get any of the powder in the nooks and crannies. #3 - (the worst part) You would have to submit your ENTIRE machine to 400 Degrees for about 10 - 20 minutes during the bake phase of the powdercoating, that means any powdercoat that didn't adhere and got in any nooks and crannies will have melted and messed stuff up. Not to mention it probably would be to good for all of your wiring and other "guts".

The excess powder won't actually adhere like it would to the liner due to a bunch of reasons such as, When you powdercoat, the peice being coated has an electrical bond hooked to it to enable the powder to "stick" to it. Plus, the rest of the machine isn't prepped properly to allow the powder to stick per say. I am fairly sure that this isn't the best way to go.

[BrianB]

Oh yeah! I almost forgot. Glen - The largest peice that I used the "Cold Galvanizing" spray on was the eveporator fan shroud, thermostat bracket and the condensor fan shroud. I tell you what though, I thought that I was screwed after I sprayed it! I let it cure/dry for about 2 days and it semmed to come off really easy. I was livid   !!!! So....I stripped the part really well and cleaned it again with CLR and sprayed it again. Once it dried this time, I gave it 2 coats of diamond gloss clearcoat (came from a can, I'm pretty sure any clearcoat will work though).

I let the peices dry for a couple of days before I messed with them and.............TA DA!! They came out AWESOME!! The were rock hard and very scratch resistant. This won't make the unit look original but it does look very nice.

Cold galvanizing compound is used alot in the fencing and sign business for touch-up's as mentioned by Johnnie. You can purchase it at Lowes, Menards, Home Depot....The usual suspects!