News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

Telephone painting techniques/results

Started by BDM, October 22, 2008, 12:24:07 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Greg G.

#75
Quote from: LarryInMichigan on March 19, 2013, 05:13:36 PM
Greg,

I have had that sort of thing happen when the metal surface was too cold.  I painted a candlestick outside once and wanted to scream as I watched the paint crumbling like that.  You could always sell the finger wheel as artwork ;D

Larry

Nah, I'll just slap it with paint stripper again and start over.  I guess it never really warmed up enough when I brought it inside last night.  It was frosty out when I got off work last night and the house heat is turned off when Anita goes to bed, so the house was chilly too.  Maybe I'll bake it at a low temp after I prime it next time.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

Greg G.

Quote from: cello973 on March 19, 2013, 05:30:20 PM
If anyone here wants their metal glass bead blasted contact me and I will do it for the cost of postage. I blasted an AE type 43 and the finish was better than the 302 I sanded. I am thinking about blasting the 302 and re spraying it....

Glass bead blasting means no tedious stripping and sanding?  I may take you up on that.  I have a few metal phones could possibly need that.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

cello973

Quote from: Brinybay on March 19, 2013, 05:43:10 PM
Quote from: cello973 on March 19, 2013, 05:30:20 PM
If anyone here wants their metal glass bead blasted contact me and I will do it for the cost of postage. I blasted an AE type 43 and the finish was better than the 302 I sanded. I am thinking about blasting the 302 and re spraying it....

Glass bead blasting means no tedious stripping and sanding?  I may take you up on that.  I have a few metal phones could possibly need that.


Anytime.... Also no crazy priming.
Vince

Doug Rose

Vince...is this something you do professionally? ...thanks...Doug
Kidphone

baldopeacock

Harbor Freight has a pretty reasonably-priced media blasting cabinet and a blaster, should be more than adequate for hobbyist use.    It would be a nice addition to the shop inventory if stripping and painting phone cases was a frequent task.   Besides, blasting's kinda fun.

cello973

Doug, Not for a living, just for hobby. i purchased the blast cabinet at harbor freight last year just to use it for my ailment commonly known as antique telephonitis. ;D

Professionally i'm in telecom since 1982
Vince

Greg G.

Quote from: baldopeacock on March 20, 2013, 10:10:31 PM
Harbor Freight has a pretty reasonably-priced media blasting cabinet and a blaster, should be more than adequate for hobbyist use.    It would be a nice addition to the shop inventory if stripping and painting phone cases was a frequent task.   Besides, blasting's kinda fun.

Is this what you use? http://tinyurl.com/bt5wkoe
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

baldopeacock

#82
There's a smaller blast cabinet @ Harbor Freight, which is the one I thought would be large enough for phone work.

http://www.harborfreight.com/abrasive-blast-cabinet-42202.html

My father and I built one (on a budget) out of plywood, lined with sheet steel - mostly scrap materials - in the main work area, when I was a kid.    Bought the gravity-flow blaster and designed the home-brew cabinet to sit on top of the hopper, with a screen in it to sift out the major chunks of debris before they could fall into the hopper with the rest of the sand.   It worked just fine.   He used it for years.  

wrangler64

Wanted to ask a few questions about painting metal phones. I have the paint stripped off a 302 phone, it's down to a gun metal color. I used paint stripper and it took off most of the paint but where I wet sanded lightly with 600 grain paper it's a silvery color, does the whole phone need to be sanded to the shiny metal? Also other than hot water do I need to clean phone with anything else before I prime it? And from what I gathered reading the posts previously you prime it sand rough spots and prime again if needed, then apply coats of paint and then bake it in oven at about 220 for 2 hrs? And hope it turns out as nice as the other phones posted here. Anything else I should know or try? Thanks for the advice.

N8N

600 grit may be overkill for surface prep even if you are using lacquer.  Paints like some "tooth" to stick to, for an enamel paint I would use 320 and 400 should be good for a lacquer.  Also use a primer in the same color as the paint you are going to use if possible if not try to get as close as possible (e.g. use black primer for a black paint job, use black or dark red primer for a dark blue paint etc.) 

I would probably prep with 320 grit, clean with Windex, wipe with tack rag, prime and then paint with black lacquer for something like a typical metal 302 case - should look fine when done and honestly most of the imperfections are going to come from painting technique.  (I ASSume that the cases were originally painted with lacquer, but I don't have any actual knowledge - my knowledge of spray bomb technique comes from fixing up rusty old car parts.  They might have been some kind of enamel; hopefully someone else will chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.)

wrangler64

Well luckily I didn't use the sandpaper a whole lot and this is why I'm using a $10 phone as my first project haha. Thanks for the info and I agree paint techniques will tell the story. If all else fails buy more paint stripper and start again right.   :D

Matilo Telephones

I´ve been wading through this topic, because of a question that has been nagging at me for a while now. I Always try to avoid repainting. I´d rather leave the old paint on. Resprayed phones look too new to me. Too good, IMHO.

Furthermore, a lot of the metal phones I have are handpainted, not sprayed. To correctly restore such I Phone, I would have to handpaint it, not spray it. I didn´t see any comment on handpainting in this thread (or did I miss it).

Does anybody have experience with that? What paints do you use for handpainting? Hammerite?

Does anybody have any thoughts on handpainting vs spraying?
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

TelePlay

Quote from: Matilo Telephones on November 17, 2013, 08:58:59 AM
I've been wading through this topic, because of a question that has been nagging at me for a while now. I Always try to avoid repainting. I'd rather leave the old paint on. Resprayed phones look too new to me. Too good, IMHO.

Furthermore, a lot of the metal phones I have are handpainted, not sprayed. To correctly restore such I Phone, I would have to handpaint it, not spray it. I didn't see any comment on handpainting in this thread (or did I miss it).

Does anybody have experience with that? What paints do you use for handpainting? Hammerite?

Does anybody have any thoughts on handpainting vs spraying?

I have not seen any threads about hand painting but I haven't real all the topics on the forum. A quick search found this post about hand painting leaving brush marks.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3140.msg42031#msg42031

Have you painted any phones by hand and if so, what did you use, what kind of brush or applicator, and how did you thin the paint to get away from brush marks? Or did you sand them out after painting? Most people use rattle can or compressed air sprayers to paint, that or powder coating. I'm interested in knowing how you do it.

Matilo Telephones

I haven´t painted whole phones yet, but I did paint small parts. Used hamerite with a little thinner (I think, or terpentine).

I did paint other metal things with hammerite. Using it fresh out of the tin, without any thinner, is a little to thick for my liking. It leaves very thick brush strokes.

I used to do model building and had good smooth results with enamel paints, like humbrol. Used the softest brushes I could find and thinned the paint only slightly. It musn´t get too runny.

But for a metal Phone I do not want it too smooth. On orignal paint coats you can see very slight undulations in the paint of the brush strokes. That would be the effect I was looking for.

Plastic phones would be another matter. They should be very smooth. Those I would spraypaint. But I have net spraypainted a Phone.

I did spraypaint some older metal phones. Just stripped the paint with a painstripper, then smoothed down some of the oxidation spots with a brass wire brush. No sanding or something. Blemishes in the metal that were there when the Phone left the factory I left in place. Primer and carpaint (black) from a can.
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

Greg G.

Quote from: Matilo Telephones on November 17, 2013, 08:58:59 AM


Furthermore, a lot of the metal phones I have are handpainted, not sprayed.


Which ones are those? 
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e