Thread: Machinery Paint recommendations

I'm a Hammerite man, stuff is really hard wearing once it's set. I love not having to prep as much with it too, just get rid of as much old paint as possible and then wipe down with wax and grease remover. No priming needed either! It is somewhat limiting from a color perspective but I don't color match so not a big deal.

+1 for Hammerite. It is extremely popular in the UK where it's been around since the 70"s at least. Don't bother with buying the special EXPENSIVE(!) thinners/cleaner; just buy cheap brushes or rollers and throw them away afterwards.

The spray on smooth Hammerite (or "Smoothrite" as it was called in the UK) had an interesting property; after you put your first coat on you could only reapply withing 3 hours, and all subsequent coats likewise. If you left it any longer you couldn't add another coat for THREE WEEKS!!! If you decided after a week that the coating must be cured and the warning is purely for administrative purposes and throw another layer on; within 10 minutes the whole coating then turns into an old fashioned crackle finish like what you used to get on electrical instruments. DAMHIK...

Lastly; to me any machinery made before 1980 DEMANDS to be coated in a pastel coloured hammered enamel finish; preferably pale green or pale blue. The green and blue coloured Hammerite available in Aus are too vividly coloured for my taste, but I'd happily experiment by mixing a bit of white and maybe yellow into them to get those 1970's shades.

I have used Por-15 for a couple of benches, not as hard as might have expected. The hardware epoxies are too soft, but easy to touch up. I got some Hammerite grey just before Christmas, to paint a cold saw, pleased with the finish off a roller surprisingly, gives a nice stipple. Prior preference was to spray, but for cast iron in particular, I am a convert to roller; 20mm diameter textured not too much pile el cheapos (c. $6) from one of those 'dollar' places.

A light scuff with a 3M 'Scotch-brite' non woven nylon pad between coats works wonders for keying the final coat.

As far as prep goes, I like to get things caustic tanked, saves lots of elbow and grunge, and super clean surface.

When time is not so much of an issue, a 2K primer is the go. 2K topcoat is great too, but touch up is an issue for chips and scratches.

Hammerite has got a fair bit of negative forum action since the formula apparently changed, but it seems ok. Will never be as hard as a 2K of course.

Agree on the Hammerite brush cleaner, if you're using the hammered finish theres no need for nice brushes as it's very forgiving with brush marks. Just buy 2 dollar cheapies and chuck them after each coat.

I'm a bit more tight fisted and learned how to clean small brushes with less than a 50c worth of turps.

1) The first step is not to let the brush get overloaded with paint during the painting process.
2) To clean start by wiping off as much paint as possible back into the can using the can lip and at the same time use a piece of wood to press down the bristles on the front.
3) Then wrap toilet paper about 10 times around the brush and squeeze out any more paint, repeat this with successively less paper until minimal paint shows - 3 times is usually enough.
4) Dip and work brush in about 100 ml of solvent - wipe of excess back into container, flick of as much of remainder and the use ~5 wraps of toilet paper, repeat a couple of times or until you run out of solvent.
5) Repeat previous step with another 100 ml of solvent.

If you do it right there will also be very little solvent left over to dispose of, any left can be used in step 4) of the next cleanup.

It's not a total clean but the brush easily lasts for the multiple coats required for the same job.

For enamel, the cost works out about the same price as a cheap brush but this method allows for the use of a better brush..
For hammer finish I use this clean up method if it saves a special trip to the hardware just to get more brushes.

I'm not fussy about colour matching too much.
I've used wattyl industrial coatings a few times as they have some of the old machine colours and these coatings are very good quality..
Wattyl Industrial Coatings
These coatings are not available at paint retail outlets but specialty industrial coatings places.
Robayne is where I get mine.
Optimum coating solutions | Robayne

As per Bob's description reusing turps to clean brushes is economical. I seldom have to decant fresh turps when cleaning the occasional use small brush and when doing a lot of painting over consecutive days with larger brushes only minimal fresh turps is required. Just hold your used turps in a jam jar, most of the gunk settles out in a day or so and almost all if left settle for some weeks between projects. I usually have two jars going and always start the first rinse with the dirtiest turps, move to the cleaner one for the next wash and finish with a fresh turps wash if necessary. A brush spinner is also very useful instead of trying to blot it all out.

The key to using minimal solvent is removing as much paint from the brush as you can before it goes into the solvent.
I had even thought of setting up a pair of rollers to squeeze the brush.
Something like an old washing mangle.

Bob - do you use one of the primers in the industrial range too?

Originally Posted by Moo73

Bob - do you use one of the primers in the industrial range too?

Originally Posted by Moo73

Bob - do you use one of the primers in the industrial range too?

I haven't used any of their primers.

In my shed I have only used the Wattyl industrial hammer finishes, a gunmetal grey and a silver green (haven't seen the green at any of the big hardware stores) because they were close in colour to machines I was doing up.
http://www.wattylindustrial.com.au/d...%20Card_v7.pdf
As I was painting mainly over existing paint I didn't bother with a primer.
The paint is not cheap but its a quality product.
From memory the enamel thinners in a 4L can was cheaper than 4L of the Diggers stuff at Bunnings.

I've also bought 4 litres of the silver green for the mens shed and the blokes there have used it on everything bar the kitchen sink.
I don't think they have used any primers either.

I've used the hammer finish on a couple of small Al and galv steel bits and pieces and used 3rd party SLS etch primer out of a can.

This was a custom guard I made from galv for a 3p grinder holding CBN and diamond wheels.
I also made all the tool rests for that side of the grinder and repainted the ones on the other side.
The post that goes up behind the gender goes to a VFD that runs this and another 3P grinder.
I wouldn't class this as a proper paint job.
TP1.jpg