SMC Discussion Areas

Does any one use paint stripper? seems this would be a much more reasonable way to go cost wise. I used to refinish motion picture lights they had a baked on Maroon finish I used this really nasty paint stripper but it was very effective I then hit it with a power washer and the paint came right off a little sanding and I had bare metal.

Also Hammer tone on the tubs and shelves is this the krylon or rustoleum stuff you get in home centers? does this stuff start to come off when it gets condensation on it? I really do not want to pay for powder coating seems real expensive and my budget is low so I will opt for the Hammer tone if people have had success with it.

I always sandblast my machines because of rust.  You really need to get down to bare metal when restoring one of these and paint striper won’t help if the machine is rusty inside.  And, I have a place that does it cheap enough that I’d rather pay them to blast it for me than to spend all weekend in the garage with paint stripper.

Yep, the hammertone is just off the shelf stuff you can get anywhere.  Seems to hold up very well and it’s easy to touch up if something happens to it.  Some of my machines are powder coated and some painted.  I really don’t see much of a difference yet but they don’t used very much.

Thanks for the tips I am going to have to find a sand blaster in the area I dont want to mess with that. Also I may have a body shop do the painting after I totally strip down the machine. I have the compressor and the paint sprayer never used the sprayer I am afraid of getting paint dust all over the place and am not sure how to set up a paint booth that I can work in with out doing damage to me and my garage.

I always use paint stripper myself and have a small sandblaster to do the small areas of rust. If you dont have a sandblaster you can alway use a wire brush on the rust to get the scale off and use POR15 or Rustmort or another rust inhibitor and then pant over it. As for the insides I always use hammertone. For me it is by far the best product. I have found on other products that powdercoat it very prone to chipping and then touching it up is almost impossible. Hammertone seems to hold up very well and if you get a chip $4.99 at home depot or lowes and you can easily sand and fix the chip. This is just my experience.

Where do you live. Someone here may be able to spray the paint for you or even do a restoration if that is what you are looking for.

Hi I live in New Jersey what brand paint stripper do you use? I do not mind doing the work I was thinking about doing this as a hobby and maybe making a few bucks on it. This is my first machine that I am renovating I have a couple of choice vends but have not really done much with them since they are really never going to be worth much. This is a CSS64 and I know they are some what sought after due to there size I am planning on keeping it and putting it in my home theater. I may go ahead and do some work on the choice vend after but not sure if any one will be interested in buying it so I do not want to put a lot of money into it. I will see if I can find some more Cavaliers or Vendos in the rough and restore them if  I am successful with this CSS64. If any one reading this lives in the New Jersey area and knows a reasonably priced Chrome re finisher that would be helpful.

Thanks
Michael