Restoring a WECo white 500U

[HarrySmith]

I agree, looks awesome! Especially the base, whatever Jorge told you was right on, that was the worst part and it looks great, is the inside of the corners as nice?

[cihensley@aol.com]

HarrySmith - yes, I used the Dremel wire brush on them also

[JorgeAmely]

Chuck, you did a wonderful job on that 500U, and especially covering/removing the rusty spots on the bottom. How did you do that? I think it's plenty white enough.

Do you have a 4-conductor mounting cord for it? I bet that would be hard to find.

Chuck:
I think I have a four conductor white cord from the early 60s. Let me know if you need it.

[HarrySmith]

How did you paint the base? Obviously you did not paint the entire thing and I do not see any lines from painting just the corners. It looks like original paint, just cleaner. Does not look like new paint, I like it a lot.

[cihensley@aol.com]

Yes. I painted the entire base. I placed a small piece of tape (I use the blue 3M painters tape) over the LOUD and the phone type and date stamps. I used an Iwata airbrush and RustOleum flat black thinned with naptha (2 paint : 1 naptha). I sprayed the corners first and let them dry (this is where you want the paint thickest because of bare metal from wire wheeling) Then I sprayed the entire base. To avoid a sharp demarcation at the tape, I diffused the spray with a piece of cardboard I used the cardboard from the back of a writing tablet) held slightly above the surface of the base. A picture better explains it.

Chuck

[Dennis Markham]

Chuck, I'm not familiar with the file extension of that photo but I was unable to open it with PhotoShop.  Probably pilot error on my part.

[cihensley@aol.com]

I tried to save a couple of steps. Here is a JPEG of the drawing, hopefully.

Chuck

[bingster]

Excellent tip, Chuck.