Repainting a CSS-64

[Skeleton Man]

Hi guys,

I bought a CSS-64 back in September last year and it's sat in my garage since. I decided now the warm weather is here I should look into getting it painted, but I don't even own a compressor!

I was thinking rather than spend like $600 on a compressor and another $300 on gun and paint, I should just pay someone to paint it for me - problem is I dunno who or where!

Is it worth approaching auto body shops ? Are there businesses that specialize in this kinda thing ? I'm in a small town (the entire town is only 5 square miles) so my options locally are limited - I can drive 45 mins to the nearest city (100,000 ppl) or 3 hours to Toronto (population 3 million).

Any suggestions appreciated.

Chris

[loman4ec]

Chris,

It depends on what quality you want from it and how much you are willing to spend as well as what you want to do with the machine. Going to a body shop will probably be expensive but the quality will most likely be very good. However you will have way more into the machine than it is worth so selling for a profit is out of the question. Can you do your own body work? Do you know how to sand a machine, knock out dents, and fill dents? This is assuming that there are no rust holes then you must cut out the old metal and weld in mew. If you can do the prep work and strip the machine down to a bare shell and make sure the body work is good you can take the machine to Maacco and they do a descent job. Their problem is that they don't spend any time on body work. If you can go this route you can have the machine painted for about $100. I have done this twice for cheep restorations and both machines turned out great. I did all of the body work and had it cleaned and ready to go. When I dropped it off I wiped it down with paint prep and they shot the paint. It had a little orange peal to it but some 1200 then 1500 sand paper and a buffer took care of that.

I guess the main question is what do you want from the machine? Is the machine for you or for resale? And what are you willing to spend?

[Skeleton Man]

This will be a keeper, so I don't mind spending a bit to make it look good.

Someone else on SMC has a nice one painted in like a dark red in their living room, it looks amazing so I'm aiming for something close to that look, but just "good" will suffice. I really like the darker red vs the original bright red.

I've never sanded (other than wood), filled, or kicked out dents - but I could probably manage that with some pointers.

I haven't pulled the liner to check for rust under/behind it, but I don't see any rust or holes elsewhere on the machine (just a lot of nasty scrapes in the paintwork and a few small dents). I would need to find someone locally to do cutting and welding - no experience with that myself.

Chris

[Pat Pixley]

I've always sent my machines to the body shop it works best for me plus there is no clean up after wards  and I write the this body shops insurance .
So yes find the a body shop that you feel good about and make sure that they can do the
work .

[loman4ec]

I believe the darker red was my USS-64. It is just the light. Its really bright red. It was my first machine and it was pained by a local body shop. I did the major body work and they pained it cheep. Was this the machine?

[MoonDawg]

         I just bought a gallon of red automotive finish for $380.00 for my Coke machines.
Although most machines use only a little over a quart of color, I'm at a loss how Macco can  mask off and shoot a complete machine with good quality paint for $100.00?

[loman4ec]

Its not very good quality. They use the base line of the Sherwin Williams paint. Its cheap but it works. Especially for Coke machines that will not be in direct sunlight. That is the problem with their paint it fades quickly especially red. But I bet Maacco buys in such huge quantity that they get a great discount.

[Skeleton Man]

Josh, yes that is the machine 

Do the body work myself and have an auto shop paint it sounds good. I guess I can either learn to weld or find someone that can (if it comes to that).

Do you have any shots of the interior ? (shelves/liner/compressor)

How much work is involved in pulling the liner ? (or perhaps the better question is how much work to put it back in ?)

Can I just use an electric sander to strip the paint ? I don't have access to sand blasting or bead blasting equipment - unless you can convert a pressure washer to do the job ?

Also, what about clear coating ? Did you have them do that also?

Chris

[loman4ec]

This machine was basically a cosmetic refurbishment. It was my first machine and I did not remove the liner and left the insides as is. It was just for use in my apartment which at that time I was in college and our apartment was basically the local hangout. The machine was really a hit as it vended both cans and bottles and everyone could just load their beer into the machine when they arrived. I had it on free vend. It sounds like you don't have any prior knowledge in body work. I grew up restoring cars so I had a lot of experience. You can always give it a try but don't start something you cant finish. Maybe buy a book on auto body work. If there is no rust issues a standard orbital sander from Home depot will do. However I think your best bet may be to take the machine to a shop and have them do all of the work. That may be the easiest route.

[Skeleton Man]

You're correct, I don't know a thing about body work. I'm thinking maybe ur right, leave the bodywork and painting to someone else.