Counterweight paint job

[deanm (Dean)]

Advice sought: we all have counterweights with chipped paint (don't we?!).

Would just over-painting with an enamel paint fix this (I'm concerned about exposed metal & eventual rust).

I guess if I sand back to the metal, I'd need to use primer first.

Any paint recommendations?!

Dean

[inertia8 (Australia)]

Hmm, powdercoating might be an option.

I've been painting engine and gearbox parts the past month and I've been cleaning with a wire brush or grinder/drill/dremel and then primer and paint with an engine enamel or epoxy enamel.

I've yet to complete the final stage which is to cure via heating it for an hour at 92deg Celsius and so I cannot comment on durability or chip resistance, which is touted on the cans of the clear coat that I have...

I'd guess just do it in a kill rust type product to avoid curing via an oven? I plan to use my bbq with hood for smaller parts and leave the engine idling for the bigger bits

[inertia8 (Australia)]

If you do use a wire brush, wear goggles and a face protector over that as the wires do break off and make a beeline for your eyes!

[daine042 (Daine)]

Powder coating is the way to go but for best results i do recommend getting the parts sand blasted first you can literally hit the powder coating with a hammer and not chip it if its sand blasted first. Im in the process of trying to talk the boss into getting a sandblaster when he gets our powder coating stuff installed.

[glend (Glen)]

Originally Posted by deanm

Advice sought: we all have counterweights with chipped paint (don't we?!).

Would just over-painting with an enamel paint fix this (I'm concerned about exposed metal & eventual rust).

I guess if I sand back to the metal, I'd need to use primer first.

Any paint recommendations?!

Dean

Well dean, how much money do you want to spend? If you send them out to be sand blasted and then powder coated its going to cost significantly more than a touch-up with a artist brush. In between, there are excellent boat building 2-part epoxy primers that will last for decades. Personally I just dab some rust converter on any rusty spots and when I get enough to justify the work I will respray them with normal enamel. If your really keen and can afford it, get some stainless steel ones , then you never need worry about the finish.

[deanm (Dean)]

Many thanks to each of you for your suggestions!

IIS really is a terrific info resource (well, the folk who populate it are...)

Cheers,

Dean

[Jen]

Yeah I sanded mine right back to the metal and just re-painted them with enamel paint and 8 months later they were all rusty again I didn't primer them first though oops

[LewisM]

Hammertone paints are great. Self=priming, hide a multitude of sins and VERY durable.

I redid many SW counterweights, usually in either hammertone white (only available from Masters in my experience) or went with blue. For some reason, hammertone blue always looks good.

Or use any of the quality enamels or epoxy enamels - Dulux Appliance white is good, but I found the Krylon version better (stays tacky a LONG time though)