Touch-ups

This past week I removed all the plugs and tape from Ms. Rusty and was surprised how well they worked.  Not only did they (the plugs and tape) do a good job of preventing powder coating from going where it shouldn’t, but they were also very easy to remove.  Here is a photo of the interior of the needle area after all the plugs/tape/etc. have been removed:

However, there were a few areas that needed some touching up.  One area was the serial number plate.  I had forgotten to cover it with tape so it was completely covered with powder coating and clearcoat.  I tried using an razor knife to scrape it clean, but I ended up putting a gouge in Ms. Rusty’s new skin and I nearly cried.

Bubble Repair

As I mentioned in the previous post, the powder coating process was mostly successful.  The problem was that bubbles appeared on the bed surface. 

   

I discussed possible causes of the bubbles with my husband, who has much more experience in powder coating than I do.  He said it could be due to any number of reasons, including either porous metal or contaminants trapped in the metal.  The air or contaminants (such as oil) trapped in the metal would start to expand as the metal is heated in the oven at temperatures up to the 400°F that is required to liquefy and cure the powder coating.  The bubbles then form as the contaminants escape through the powder coating.  However, he points out that this is all speculation on his part and the true cause remains unknown.  All I know is that Ms. Rusty looks like she has a bad case of acne and I need to fix it!

Blasting and Coating

Now that Ms. Rusty is all plugged up and protected, I sent her into the blast cabinet.  Here are pictures of her viewed from the door of the blast cabinet and through the window.

At first I was a bit scared to start taking off her paint, wondering how hard it was going to be and having second thoughts about this whole crazy plan of powder coating her.  But I reminded myself that she REALLY needed a new coat of paint at the very minimum, and bead blasting her was going to be easier, and more thorough, than trying to use paint stripper.

Plugging Holes

The last step before removing all of Ms. Rusty’s paint by bead blasting is to protect threaded and machined areas.  I’m choosing to use heat resistant tape and silicone plugs so they can stay in place during the powder coating step, which requires Ms. Rusty to bake in an oven at high temps to cure.

The flat areas are best covered by the heat resistant tape, as shown in the photo below.

One particular area that was tough to cover was the exposed surface in the bobbin area.

To cover this I cut a piece of tape larger than the area to be covered and placed in over the hole.

Then using an Exacto knife, the excess tape is cut away

 

All other flat/rounded areas were covered in this way 

Plugging holes was relatively easy using the variety of plugs I recently purchased (see previous post).  I used the caps to fill in longer holes like the one shown here: 

However, some longer holes were an odd size and instead required the use of two plugs.  This next photo shows how one plug was the right size in diameter, but wasn’t long enough to completely fill the hole.

So I took two identical plugs and cut them in half so I had two shorter plugs of the same diameter.

The two shorter plugs covered both ends and protected the interior from bead blasting & coating. 

For added protection, I covered/plugged several of the interior holes. I’m not sure these will be actually exposed to sand blasting or powder, but I figure it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Photo inside of arm:

For those of you interested, here are 12 photos of Ms. Rusty from multiple angles so you can see what holes were plugged and/or covered.

Top on my agenda for tomorrow – blast and coat Ms. Rusty!!

Plugs and Caps for Blasting and Coating

My plugs have arrived!  I ordered the 110 piece silicone plug and cap kit from Eastwood.com to finish prepping Ms. Rusty for bead blasting and powder coating.  This post will cover the contents of the kit and the sizes of each plug/cap, since the Eastwood site doesn’t provide this information.
Here is the complete kit contents as it arrived from Eastwood:

Here are some photos of all the plugs and caps in the kit for comparison purposes.

All the plugs in the kit are tapered so they can fill a range of hole sizes. The smallest plugs (green) have a diameter of 1/8” at the smallest end and taper to 1/4” at the long end and are 3/4” long.  All the other plugs are 1” long.  Here is a table of all the plug sizes

Color	Small End	Large End
Green	1/8”	1/4”
Red	1/4”	3/8”
Black	3/8”	9/16”
White	1/2”	21/32”
White	13/16”	1”

Next are the caps. They differ from the plugs in that they are the same diameter their entire length, and they are hollow on the inside. For each of the caps I’ll list the inner diameter (ID), outer diameter (OD), and length (L).

Color	ID	OD	L
Gray	1/8”	3/16”	13/16”
White	5/32”	1/4”	1 1/8”
Blue	3/16”	9/32”	1 5/32”
Green	1/4”	11/32”	1 3/16”
Yellow	3/8”	1/2”	1 1/4”
Green	1/2”	9/32”	1 3/4”

There were 10 pieces of each size plug and cap, so hopefully this will give me enough variety to protect most the smooth machined holes and screw holes in Ms. Rusty.  I already know there are a few holes that are smaller than 1/8” diameter, so I plan on using some wood and/or bamboo skewers for those holes. 

The next post will finish up the protection of Ms. Rusty’s delecate surfaces.  Unfortunately, this prep work is taking much longer than I anticipated, but it should be worth it in the end.  I guess we’ll find out soon enough :)

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.

Another lesson learned

With the touch-up paint task behind me, I thought “why not use the silver paint on some of the parts that lost their chrome”.  Sounded good at the time, so I tried it out on a small piece, like the bobbin winder lever.  Here is what it looked like before I attempted to apply the silver paint:

Putting the paint on made the lever look better, in my opinion. Certainly not back to it’s original condition, but more aesthetically pleasing.

The next day I decided to check out how the painted piece would hold up to cleaning and oiling that Ms. Rusty would endure after she is back in operation (assuming I can get her there!).  So, I took a cotton swab and dipped one end in kerosene and the other end in oil.  Unfortunately, the paint DID NOT HOLD UP!

Testing out decals

Today I did a test run of applying decals and experimenting with clear overcoat on the powder coating. 

In a typical restoration, like a featherweight, it is my understanding that you first apply the decals to the painted surface and then apply a clear coat finish over the top of the decals.  The clear coat adds a protective layer over the decals so you don’t have to worry about fabric, zippers, etc. rubbing them off when you are sewing.

However, my restoration is not very typical (as you have probably figured out by now).  I’m planning on powder coating Ms. Rusty and applying decals to the powder coated surface.  The problem is that you cannot apply standard clear coat paint on top of a powder coated surface.  It is just too slick for the clear coat to adhere.  In fact, I’m not entirely sure the decals themselves will even adhere to the surface – which is why I am doing a test run using scrap decals and scrap powder coated metal.

In a previous post I powder coated a scrap hinge to practice my powder coating skills.  I’m using that piece and a single straight line of gold decal for my test.  The first step is to place the decal in some water to help loosen the decal from the background paper (see photo below).

Motor Cover

After I completed all my bead blasting and powder coating this past weekend, I then remembered my poor rusty motor cover.   Luckily, it didn’t take much to set things up again, but it was annoying that I didn’t remember it before now.
Here are a few photos of the motor cover fresh off of Ms. Rusty.

I soaked the cover in Evapo-rust overnight to get rid of as much surface rust as possible. I then took a stiff bristled brush to it to remove all the loose paint on the surface.  Surprisingly, the Evapo-rust removed quite a bit of the paint from the outside but left the inside surface completely intact.  I have been a bit concerned that the Evapo-rust was eating away at some of the paint, but this piece showed me it is just eliminating the rust that the paint was stuck to.  If there is no rust, the paint is unaffected.

Because the inside of the motor cover is in such good shape, I bead blasted only the outer surface.  The piece was then put through the powder coating process and here is the result.

Powder Coating–Part 2

In the last post I covered the equipment and set-up for powder coating so I’ll jump right into the powder coating itself!
The gun is connected to electricity and to an air compressor.  First one has to push the electrical button, and while holding it down, pull the trigger on the powder coating gun.  The air compressor feeds the powder out of the gun in a soft cloud or “dry mist”.  Through the magic of electricity, the charged powder is electrostatically drawn to the charged metal parts.  As a result, the powder sticks to the part and the excess falls harmlessly to the ground.
The photo below shows my husband demonstrating proper powder coating technique by coating the lamp cover. The close-up shows the texture of the powder “stuck” to the lamp shade.