Author Topic: Versatool Cabinets (Read 60184 times)

awemawson · « **on:** July 16, 2013, 07:05:27 AM »

I acquired these two Versatool cabinets a year or so ago, and now I am tooling up for my big CNC Lathe the time has come to put them into service. They are rather tatty, dented and rusty. The intention is to clean them up, knock the bigger dents out, then re-spray them.

awemawson · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2013, 07:08:46 AM »

First I stripped out all the nice rotating shelves, drawers etc and went at them with a few gentle taps from a hammer

awemawson · « **Reply #2 on:** July 16, 2013, 07:16:11 AM »

Checking the paint department, I had enough primer, and enough 'Iron Grey' top coat left over from spraying my 60 ton garage press when I re-built that, but I lacked the KPT04 thinners and only had one 'strip and clean' disk left. Suitable orders placed on eBay and I'll just have to be patient and wait for them to arrive.

If the weather holds I'm tempted to sand blast the cabinets - my 'portable' sand blaster is a Hodge Clemco biggy of the sort they use for motorway bridges and is a bit of a pain to pull out from where I store it - however a friend wants to blast some sandstone in his cottage wall so maybe we can kill two birds with one stone!

awemawson · « **Reply #3 on:** July 16, 2013, 12:44:30 PM »

So of course I got impatient and dragged out the sand blaster anyway! This was 'a good thing' as it forced me to re-arrange the room I had it stored in, and tidy away some crates of machine spares into my container.

Anyway, have a sand blaster and the compressor that I use with it:

awemawson · « **Reply #4 on:** July 16, 2013, 12:45:30 PM »

After using two bags of this grit - that's of the order of 60 kgs as the bags are approx 30 kg a piece for some reason:

awemawson · « **Reply #5 on:** July 16, 2013, 12:46:41 PM »

We end up with this result:

awemawson · « **Reply #6 on:** July 16, 2013, 12:48:47 PM »

I've moved them into my insulated and dry workshop over night as otherwise they will rust very rapidly being really bare steel. If the weather holds tomorrow I reckon I've just about got enough thinners to blow a thin primer coat on to keep them safe

micktoon · « **Reply #7 on:** July 16, 2013, 04:10:42 PM »

Nice Cabinets ....proper heavy duty stuff

, Looks like you are going about doing them the quickest and best way providing you have the gear to do it

, dam well beats an old chisel scraping paint off then allsorts of grinding sanding........but I will just keep telling myself it keeps me fit

Looking forward to seeing them finished they should be as good as new , keep up the good work

Cheers Mick.

awemawson · « **Reply #8 on:** July 16, 2013, 04:42:01 PM »

Often using a striping disk is quicker than blasting if you take into account the getting out, putting away and clearing up, but the surface is usually a bit too smooth. The blaster leaves a slightly rough surface that gives a good 'key' for the paint to hang on to.

Arbalist · « **Reply #9 on:** July 16, 2013, 04:44:26 PM »

Nice looking cabinets, look forward to seeing them completely refurbed.

On the subject of sandblasters, I saw a prog on TV a while back where they were reconditioning M1 Abrahms tanks. Stripped of all parts they are hung up inside the biggest blasting cabinet I've ever seen. Fully automatic of course!

awemawson · « **Reply #10 on:** July 16, 2013, 04:46:03 PM »

My ears are still ringing now several hours later - could do with an automated blasting line !

chipenter · « **Reply #11 on:** July 16, 2013, 05:15:10 PM »

Is that motor paint factors still at Rovenden steam yard ?

awemawson · « **Reply #12 on:** July 16, 2013, 05:19:52 PM »

Tell me more - never heard of it, but I'm an incomer here - only been here 6 years

awemawson · « **Reply #13 on:** July 17, 2013, 03:43:17 AM »

I always like to get something constructive done after I've fed & mucked out the animals and before breakfast, so here we have the Versatool cabinets set out ready for painting:

awemawson · « **Reply #14 on:** July 17, 2013, 03:46:02 AM »

And here they are after the first coat of primer, which I just squeezed out of my remaining thinners - I had to clean the gun with Zylene rather than the KPT04 that the paint is based on, but it worked ok:

Arbalist · « **Reply #15 on:** July 17, 2013, 09:20:51 AM »

Nice job. I know naff all about spray painting so hows's about some more info just in case any of us want to copy you! - what type of spray gun are you using and what primer? I've seen stuff like etching primer or primer filler offered.

awemawson · « **Reply #16 on:** July 17, 2013, 10:09:50 AM »

Well I'm certainly no expert spray painting!

The spray gun is a Binks Bullows '230' which I have had for probably over 30 years - as you can see it's sprayed a few colours in it's life. My 'method' of cleaning is:

a/ Pour out any remaining diluted paint - (I save it in a clean sealed plastic milk bottle if I have more to do later )

b/ Wipe out the reservoir, nozzle face, dip pipe etc with workshop tissue

c/ Put in about 50 ccs of thinners, shake it around, and spray into a wad of tissue - discard remnant

d/ Repeat c/ above

e/ Again put 50 ccs in the reservoir, swill it around then leave it in the gun

This seems to keep the workings clean and not clog up ensuring it's ready for next time

awemawson · « **Reply #17 on:** July 17, 2013, 10:16:04 AM »

The paint system is one I originally came across advertised on eBay as 'Tractor Enamel' It's a synthetic enamel that produces a very tough coat if you put it on thin enough to thoroughly dry between coats. The primer includes corrosion inhibitors. As you can see I've had this can of primer for a year or two.

I use about 10% thinners in both the primer and the top coat, which is the max they recommend, and I put it on quite thinly. I want pretty quick drying as most of my spraying has to be done out doors.

You can get primers that are loaded with a filler - called primer / surfacers - they put a significant thickness on that you can flat down with wet and dry paper. These are good when you are trying to get a mirror finish on a car or something of that ilk, but kit in the workshop really doesn't justify that sort of approach in my way of thinking.

awemawson · « **Reply #18 on:** July 17, 2013, 10:17:32 AM »

The paint came from a very helpful company called 'Fascinating Finishes' who hail from Hull - they will mix it to any colour you choose from the 'RAL Chart' - details on this can:

Pete. · « **Reply #19 on:** July 17, 2013, 11:07:56 AM »

I can see that you've had that tin of corosion-inhibiting primer a long time - the tin's started going rusty

Arbalist · « **Reply #20 on:** July 17, 2013, 11:08:37 AM »

Thanks for the info, I'm sure many of us will find it useful

hermetic · « **Reply #21 on:** July 17, 2013, 03:13:47 PM »

handy tip for cleaning your spraygun, when you are spraying into the wadding, hold the wadding onto the gun nozzle for a few seconds till you hear the air bubbling into the pot, then remove and spray into the wadding again, cleans out the passageways in both directions!
Phil

chipenter · « **Reply #22 on:** July 17, 2013, 04:48:12 PM »

Found them paint factors are called Britcon and are in Northiam just by the East Kent Steam line , they movede fron Rovenden over 20 years ago , sorry for any confusion .

awemawson · « **Reply #23 on:** July 18, 2013, 03:50:03 AM »

Top coat on - time for breakfast !

Not perfect, but a dramatic improvement on their previous state. Not enough paint left for another coat so I'm sure this will do fine. These will need to be left for a few days to fully harden before re-assembling the door and drawer furniture. I've even bought some new green baize for the shelves. Need to cut new plywood boards for the tops and those shelves with holes other than where I want them

geoff_p · « **Reply #24 on:** July 19, 2013, 12:31:04 PM »

A while ago I wanted some green baize. Couldn't find any, of course, But ...

Just down the road is a small company who refurbish pool/billiard/snooker tables and they were happy to sell me an old cloth - for about 50 pence I got a sheet the size of a pool table.

Upside - very cheap!
Downside - dusty (no problem because by the time you've done handling it, cutting to size etc, all the chalk-dust has fallen out)
Downside 2 - it's thinner than a baize cloth, though that didn't matter for my purposes.

Geoff

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Author Topic: Versatool Cabinets (Read 60184 times)