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.

New Kitchen

Well this is my last post of 2011. Can you believe this year is already over? It just flew by! Thank you tagging along on my journey – you’ve helped make this past year more interesting and enjoyable than I could have imagined.

So, before we go on, I want to wish each and every one of you a very Happy New Year!!!!

Now for the warning - This is way off topic, but I’m posting pictures of my new kitchen since several of you are interested.

 

Miss Wilson

I’d like you to meet the latest addition to my sewing machine family.  I’ve named her Miss Wilson.  She is a Wheeler & Wilson model 9 treadle sewing machine.  She was a birthday/Christmas gift from my mother and father in-law who purchased her at a yard sale near Redmond, Oregon. 

  

There were several things that made me fall in love with her at first sight.  One was the very ornate carvings on the cabinet.  You just don’t see wood work like that these days.  There is detail scroll work even on the sides of the cabinet!  This cabinet is a piece of art in my opinion, which is why it is now the first thing you see when you walk through my front door.