Paint and rust removal on Vintage equipment

[UpstateNYdude]

So I've got a few machines (Powermatic 1150, Power King Belt/Disc Sander and a DeWalt GWI RAS) I'm going to be disassembling and restoring and I was wondering what people that have done this on here use to do so.

PLEASE READ THIS! - I do not have a large enough air compressor nor do I have a sandblasting setup and no I don't have the space for one currently, so while I realize it would be the the best and easiest and fastest option, it is not possible for me.

With that said and out of the way I also have asked on OWWM and VM for their suggestions as well. Just looking for different ways that people found to work best or easiest to strip rust and old paint off without damaging the parts.

[fredhargis]

I stripped my Dewalt MBF with a wire brush on a side grinder. It was plenty messy, but seemed to do a pretty good job. It did take a while. I do have a small sandblasting setup and tried it, but it didn't help much. I considered taking the parts to a sandblasting shop, but didn't.

[stav]

I use an angle grinder with a wire brush as well.  Just be careful to wear a face shield and gloves as those little wires fly off sometimes and will stick into anything.  Think of a 2x4 in a tornado punching through a wall.  Follow this with some ospho or phospho (not sure which is the actual name) chemical rust killer and the metal is pretty well prepped.  

I have also heard of a nifty tool called a needle scaler. I have no experience with it but it is supposed to take off rust and old paint pretty easily.

[Malix]

I’ve done nut and bolt resto’s o a 50 uni and 20” delta crescent bandsaw. I set up a large plastic tub on the side of the house and used electrolysis for whatever fit in there. Otherwise I used an angle grinder and wire brush attachments. I also used a maroon scotch bright wheel on my drillpress for polishing as well as bought a harbor freight tumbler for small parts. Hi also recommend treating parts with phosphoric acid etching liquid before priming to make sure rust will not continue under any new primer or paint..

[fishhh4]

I used a needle scaler on a pitted , paint bubbled cast iron base . It did a nice job . Would not suggest it so much on steel . Wire brush on grinder , or a drill , for rust .I mount a wire wheel in a cheap right angle drill from HF . I clamp it to my work bench . Useful for small parts .. Makes old bolts look new . I also use my bench grinder , but it likes to grab parts and give them a good throw somewhere . Did I mention safety glasses are a must .  
They also make sanding disks for an angle grinder ( they can be pretty aggressive depending on grit )  . All sorts of sanders , as well as hand sanding . I don't think all paint needs to be removed ...feather edges of paint that is sound . Good wash down with mineral spirits . Rust neutralizer .... primer ... metal finish paint of some sort .

   

   

   

[fishhh4]

I use this .

[Bobby Thompson]

So I've got a few machines (Powermatic 1150, Power King Belt/Disc Sander and a DeWalt GWI RAS) I'm going to be disassembling and restoring and I was wondering what people that have done this on here use to do so.

PLEASE READ THIS! - I do not have a large enough air compressor nor do I have a sandblasting setup and no I don't have the space for one currently, so while I realize it would be the the best and easiest and fastest option, it is not possible for me.

With that said and out of the way I also have asked on OWWM and VM for their suggestions as well. Just looking for different ways that people found to work best or easiest to strip rust and old paint off without damaging the parts.

I use Purple Power from Walmart. Use a storage bin from there to soak the part in. Drop in the part and leave it for 3-4 days and all the grease and oil will come off and most of the paint will wash off with a water hose. For rust I either use my bead blaster or the electrolysis method. There are videos on you tube on it.

[barryvabeach]

I can't give you much help on what works, but this guy does some stuff that leaves me stunned.   https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/show...p?t=377463    You might need to register to get some of the more impressive photos, but many on the the website that can be viewed without being a member.    This is what he says he uses

.I don't have a blast cabinet (would make life so much easier) so most of my clean-up work is good ole manual wire brushing, scraping, scrubbing, sandpaper, WD40, etc.....painting is rattle can and done as weather permits and finish on wood components is usually True-oil or Tung-oil (wiping varnish)

[pprobus]

So I've got a few machines (Powermatic 1150, Power King Belt/Disc Sander and a DeWalt GWI RAS) I'm going to be disassembling and restoring and I was wondering what people that have done this on here use to do so.

PLEASE READ THIS! - I do not have a large enough air compressor nor do I have a sandblasting setup and no I don't have the space for one currently, so while I realize it would be the the best and easiest and fastest option, it is not possible for me.

With that said and out of the way I also have asked on OWWM and VM for their suggestions as well. Just looking for different ways that people found to work best or easiest to strip rust and old paint off without damaging the parts.

Depends on what you are up against.  More rust than paint?  More paint than rust?  I can say that "sandblasting" (safety monitors might prefer the use of the term "abrasive blasting" as using sand can cause silicosis without proper respiratory protection) is not necessarily the best and fastest, actually, abrasive blasting can be downright slow, especially if you try to remove large amounts of sound paint, rust removal can be quick if its mostly surface rust, but deeper rust is slow going.  Like others have said, wire wheels in drills and angle grinders is about the best alternative to abrasive blasting (not either or, but depending on the case use of both tools with wire wheels), also, if you need to get into tight areas, the use of a dremel type tool with a wire brush can be helpful, too.  I don't really recommend the use of sanding discs in angle grinders as they will leave deep scratches and can remove too much metal, but the use of a pad or RO sander are OK if you have deep down rust.  Regardless of rust removal method, chances are you won't get everything, so soaking in Evaporust or equivalent is highly recommended.  Its supposed to be safe for paint, but I have found that it will soften paint so, if you have a piece that has mostly sound paint and only has portions with rust, if you can soak just those local areas in ER, try that, ER says that you can soak rags and place them on areas of rust if the part cannot be submerged, but I have not tried this method, or remove as much rust as possible, feather back the paint and use a rusty metal type primer and hope it works. 

If you need to strip large amounts of paint, the best method I have found is to use paint stripper.  But like others have said, if you have large areas of sound paint, treat the rust as above, feather back the paint around the rust repair with a pad or RO sander with fine grit sandpaper, roughen up the paint over the rest of the part to knock down the shine, then prime the rust treated areas  with a bare metal primer then use either a primer-sealer or primer that can be used over paint over the whole piece (rust repaired and roughened paint) and then put your top coat on. 

You're focused on the rust removal, but you also need to seriously consider the paint.  Are you planning on using rattle cans?  With all the work you're about to put in, you're going to use rattle cans?  While I do use rattle cans for priming because I was unable to find a local source for inexpensive self-etching primer (O'Reilly's autoparts carries it, now that we have them in my area), so I have been using Rustoleum self-eltching primer with good results (I have had to do some re-work due to paint issues and the primer is pretty resistant to abrasive blasting).  But use self etching primer only on bare metal.  If you want a better base, you need to move to automotive style epoxy primer (much more money too), but for machine tools that will spend the majority of their lives inside and not subject to the elements, I think self-etching primer is good enough.  Now the important part, the paint.  Yes, you can rattle can it, but frankly, I have found a lot to be desired.  My main complaint is that the "enamel" paint never hardens into a nice hard "enamel" and found the parts easily scratched (even after waiting a month on one piece, due to getting pulled into another project).   I have found that to get any kind of paint that will standup to the kind of abuse a machine tool will see will have to be a two-part paint, mixed and sprayed using a paint sprayer.  I know you say you don't have enough compressor for abrasive blasting, so if you do use a compressed air spray system, you will likely want to use either a LVLP gun or a conventional paint gun or some paints can be sprayed with those airless sprayers (Tractor Supply's paint recommends it).  As for the paint, I have been playing with a couple of different locally available, low-cost, enamel paints, Rustoleum and Tractor Supply's house brand (I think its Majic?).  They are relatively low cost and when you use the TSC hardener (Rustoleum does not offer a hardener, I have used TSC's with Rustoleum enamel with good results) in either paint you get a decently hard enamel paint that will hold up better than the paint sprayed without hardener, obviously its not powdercoating but much more durable than rattlecan or sprayed without the hardener.  The problem with those paints is that the color variety is lacking.  If you have a machine color that does not conform to Rustoleum or Majic's standard colors, you need to find a local paint supplier who carries enamels that can be mixed (not sure if the local Sherwin Williams or PPG dealers have enamels I mainly see them advertise house paints) and I am not sure about the step up in cost.    I just hate to see you put all your work into de-rusting and re-finishing your machines only to be unhappy with the final product, as I had been (luckily I noticed how easily the Rustoleum rattle can paint scratched before I completed the entire machine). 

Paul

[Kudzu]

I have done everything from a 1900's Hall and Brown 12" joiner, an American 30" bandsaw to drill presses. I second the cup brush on an angle grinder. Nasty work but it is the most effective and quickest method of rust removal. Do a good job and it is ready for primer once you are done. If paint is old and loose it will make quick work of it.  If it is still strongly attached I leave it and sand the edges to feather it. If it still attached well there isn't a lot reason to remove it.

Electrolysis works well but it slower but a lot less messy.  I usually just used the wire brush rather than set up the tank unless the parts were really hard to wire brush. 

On this joiner I wire brushed the base and used electrolysis on the top. It has a lot of cavities underneath I couldn't brush easy.

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