Holes, Holes, and More Holes!

Ms. Rusty has moved from my workbench in the garage to my kitchen table.  Partly because I felt guilty for neglecting her for so long, partly because the garage is still full of stuff from the kitchen remodel that is destined for a huge garage sale, but mostly because of comfort.  This time of year it is MUCH warmer in the house than out in the garage!

Ms. Rusty looks happy, don’t you think?

The next step in Ms. Rusty’s make-over is prepping her for bead blasting.  The good thing about bead blasting is that it is a fast way to remove paint and surface rust.  The bad thing is that it removes the paint using an abrasive powder that can get into all the nooks and crannies and it isn’t selective to just paint.  This means you need to protect surfaces that require tight tolerances, like smooth machined surfaces and threaded holes. 

Chrome Powder Coat

I recently tried out my chrome powder coating material.  Here is a picture of the parts that I’d like to refurbish.

I decided to tackle the needle plate first.  The reason for choosing this piece is because a) I can easily find a replacement part if I mess things up too bad, and b) it’s pretty scratched up and could use a facelift. 

The first step was to bead blast it and rough up the surface so the powder coating would adhere better.  Also, I wanted to smooth the plate out as much as possible.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this step.  Blasting this part was not very easy, but I’m not sure if it’s because the blasting media needs to be changed, or if this part is just really tough.  Eventually I was able to scuff up the surface enough to do some powder coating on it.  Here is the after photo -

I can’t say that I’m thrilled with the results.  After thinking things through more, I think the chrome powder coat may work better on the nickel parts better than the polished steel.  I think I’m going to try one of those parts next, like perhaps the bobbin winder lever. 

Now I’m debating with myself what to do with the needle plate.  The way I see it I have three options, live with chrome powder coat as-is, buy a new needle plate, or take off the powder coating and try polishing the surface.  Right now I’m leaning towards the last option, but I need to change out my blast media first so I can cut through the powder coating easier.  I’m also going to get a polishing wheel attachment for my drill so I don’t have to polish the surface with just elbow grease (not my idea of fun!).

I’ll think about this more while I prep Ms. Rusty for her final stripping.