Thread: How to darken paint on a lathe?

Well, from the hundreds of replies, looks like a new application of paint is called for.

Damn, all that meticulous masking gone to waste.

A sensible question for a change, can an existing colour be electronically matched, I don't have a lot of faith in the young kid behind the jump, to do an eye match.

That's basically what I did armed with a paint chart, and lost.

Ken

Hi Ken,

I haven't ever heard of a way of darkening dry enamel, and I searched on google earlier today with no luck.

All your prep work was well done, and that is the hard part of a re-painting job.
I think another coat of a slightly darker colour wouldn't be too much work, especially since the colour you have now is really annoying you. I bet that once you get it done to your satisafaction, you will be glad that you did it.

If it were me, I would rub the whole lot down with steel wool, then blow it all down before wiping over with turps. When all parts are really cleaned up, I would then give it all a light wipe with thinners, before re-painting with one coat of the darker colour. By wiping down just before painting, with the thinners, you won't need another undercaot.

I am really looking forward to when you get it finished. You have shown that you have the skill to turn out nice work, which is something that I am only just acheiving, with a lot of practice over the past years.

Have fun

Originally Posted by neksmerj

Well, from the hundreds of replies, looks like a new application of paint is called for.

Damn, all that meticulous masking gone to waste.

A sensible question for a change, can an existing colour be electronically matched, I don't have a lot of faith in the young kid behind the jump, to do an eye match.

That's basically what I did armed with a paint chart, and lost.

Ken

Hi Ken, the modern computer matching is very good. I had some paint cpomuter matched from a bit of gyprock where I had closed a door opening in a wall. The match was so good I didn't have to repaint the whole wall I could just blend in.

Your (faint) hope of "darkening" paint after it has dried was never going to fly, but I suppose we can always hope!

Fossil,

I'm responding not just to see my name in print, but to thank you for your words of wisdom and support. I knew in my heart of hearts, there would be no quick fix, but the question had to be asked, just in case.

"You wanna see my lathe finished", mate, so do I!. Struth at the rate I'm going, I'll be six feet under. If the weather is not against me, it's not having a workshop or having to work weekends.

Bring on the summer.

Big Shed,

I'll get in touch with Dulux to see if they can come up with a computer aided recipe, something I should have considered in the first place instead of trusting my aging eyesight.

Thanks guys, nuff time wasted, I know what I must to do.

"Now what did I do with that bloody roll of masking tape?"

Ken

Hi Neksmej

when you go to get the paint matched be aware there are 2 systems, one reads your sample and matches it to a known colour the other reads your sample and builds a match for it, this is the way to have it matched. Ask where they do it, bunnings had both systems when I last had this done about 2 years ago

Doug

When I enquired at Bunnings about paint matching a part off my mill they told me that if it's gloss paint on it then they can do better matching by eye as the gloss upsets things.
That said, I think I'd be going to a paint specialist rather than Bunnings to try and get some sort of a reliable match. Don't trust Bunnings. Once asked a kid there what size sheets of Gyproc they had and he asked what Gyproc was.

The original coluor was "Crowhurst green" the get it tinted at Solver they should be able to match one of there own colours

Ken, how sure are you that the "original" colour was Crowhurst green. That colour was only ever used on the machines in the Crowhurst factory (religiously repainted every time before Xmas breakup).

Crowhurst did supply Hercus with their machinery enamel, but as far as I know it was always Hercus Grey, which in turn was based on one of the original series Bristish Standard greys.

Big Shed,

Very good question.

I would like to share a little bit of history with you. This is the context of a telex sent to Hercus many years ago.

25.10.85 MGB/2

ATTN: SALES MGR

I RECENTLY PURCHASED A SECOND HAND 9 IN. HERCUS LATHE. MODEL AR. SERIAL NO. 13328 AND WLD GREATLY APPRECIATE THE FOLLOWING INFO IF AVAILABLE:

1. DATE AND PLACE OF MANUFACTURE
2. ORIGINAL PAINT TYPE AND COLOUR SCHEME
3. AVAILABILITY OF AN OPERATOR'S HAND BOOK
4. MELB. AGENTS FOR HERCUS
5. AVAILABILITY OF ACCESSORIES AND SPARE PARTS CATALOGUE

THANK YOU

etc

Their response was as follows.

ATT...K.JERREMS

1. 1973 ADELAIDE
2. CROWHURST GREEN
3. NEW MODEL LATHE HAND BOOK AVAILABLE
4. NEWMAC EQUIPMENT BAYSWATER
5. EX STOCK

REGARDS
JOHN BENTON
SENT 25/10/85

I later learned that Crowhurst green was the name given to paint supplied to Hercus, by the Crowhurst Paint company, now Solver.

What's really sad, is that the history of Hercus is virtually lost, there are no records available. I've been in regular touch with Steve Durden at Hercus trying to learn what ever I can. Below is a recent email from him.

Dear Ken,

Thank you for your enquiry. Unfortunately the particular parts you are looking for are no longer available.

Unfortunately there is no detailed history of the company. The name Axmell was used during the 1990's for various reasons however the company has always been known as Hercus.

Hercus stopped making the 260 lathe in 1998.

Ken unfortunately these days there is no body left from there era when the company made machine tools so most of that history left with those people.

Best Regards

Steve Durden

My opologies for getting side tracked and nostalgic,

Ken

I thought they had three main color eras and also did special colors for clients ?

Grey to the late 50's, a slightly different gray to the late 60's then green. I believe some tech colleges and other clients ordering big batches of machines were able to specify color. Could be wrong.

Are you sure it doesn't look lighter because the old paint was stained by decades of oil ? Or did you match by eye ? Have you written to solver to see if anyone knows what the original shade was ? You never know.

Ken, bit of background on Solver Paints - W.P Crowhurst Pty. Ltd. Started in 1920 in Gouger St Adelaide by W(ally) P Crowhust, initially manufacturing soldering fluid under the name Solver. Later joined by his brother in law John Fisher.
Wally had made a bit of money in the gold mines in WA and with that money started the business.

They built a factory in Belford Ave Devon Park (close to the Simpson Pope plant) in the late 40s.
They also had a varnish cooking plant at Wingfield.

How do I now all this? I started working for Wally's son, Trevor Crowhurst, in 1965 as a bright eyed and bushy tailed young paint chemist and Wally used to come around on Friday arvos to hand out the pay.

Hercus was one of our clients at the time and we made 119 Lathe Enamel Hercus Grey for them. I remember visiting the plant a few times in that time. Remember it as a very out of date manfacturing plant, one of those companies that really never invested in new plant and equipment and eventually paid the price when Australia's high tariff wall was dismantled and they had to compete in the real world.

If Crowhurst supplied a green colour to them in the eighties, it would not have been called Crowhurst Green, but would have been called Hercus Green.

Crowhurst Green was only ever used for painting the machinery in the factory.

Your best bet would be to go to a Solver Paints store, there are several in Melbourne, and have your green computer matched by them, although I am sure Dulux will be able to do it as well. As already mentioned above, computer matching of gloss enamels is a bit more difficult but is done all the time in the automotive/industrial area. It just means that sometimes you need to do a bit of manual tinting for a final adjustment.

Never judge a gloss enamel colour, particularly greens, until they have dried at least overnight. Some of these greens can also be metameric colours, ie they change under different light sources. They can look totally different under tungsten, daylight and fluoro light sources.

Fred

Damian,

Thanks for your comments.

The sample I used to colour match, came from an area of the lathe where the little darlings at school had not thrown blue paint on, and had survived the rigors of time and tarnish.

Seeking help from Solvers 12 months ago, their chemist was unable to find the formula for Crowhurst green on their records, lost over time.

They did say however, that they would be able to match it, something I now regret not doing.

Fred,

Thanks for the info re the Crowhurst Paint Co. I shall print this out and keep it in my Hercus info folder.

When you think back, visiting the Hercus factory must have been an eye opener in those days. I presume the actual factory no longer exists.

I've long suspected that things were not as efficient as they could have been in the Hercus camp, judging on replies I have had from them, and the lack of forthcoming info.

I appreciate the time you've spent to fill me in.

I think a new thread is in order to ask other members about F.W.Hercus.

Ken

F W Hercus were in my opinion one of the best companies to deal with, nothing was to mutch trouble, plus there was nothing they did not know. They not only made machines they wre probably more well known for producing gears. Many years ago they were taken over by Durden wood machinery, I beleive that is when things went downhill, it seems nobody cared much about preserving their history, Durden has the same problem. Don't get me wrong I do not think this was intensional, it's the way thilngs have happend, I am in process of restoring a old Durden thicknesser and Steve has been most helpfull, he just does not have informaton avaliable to him