I plan on repainting / powder coating my tins and would appreciate advice on the most efficient way when sanding.

I've got a random orbital sander that takes hook & loop discs (6 inch). What grit should I START and END with? I don't plan on putting a skin of bondo on afterwards so I need clean smooth results. Do I use the sander and finish off wet sanding the metal or .. ? Is there a standard process to follow?

Thanks in advance.

 

It would be much easier and quicker to chemically strip them (paint remover) or if you don't want to get into that, there are places that can do it for you. Sanding will take forever to remove all the paint.

 

Geez... is everyone getting their Tins done these days?

Seems like the most efficient way to do this kinda job is media-blasting...

For sanding... It may not be so much the grit as the type of paper... Some paper is made for ripping into metal/paint. My hook/loop rig does not have any papers that work for metal... or at least I have not found any. I would think 150grit would be the roughest I would go with... or maybe 100. anything "rougher" and you may wind up just digging into the metal quickly...

Dunno though... never did it myself... I used my neighbor's media-blaster to clean small parts... =)

 

I may use a stripper to get the bulk of it off then sand the remainder. Sand/Media blasting seems the way to go but I don't have the proper equipment.

Just want to make sure I use the correct grit and not gouge the metal.

While we're at it, as long as there aren't any dents, do I need to put a skin of bondo (or similar) before primering?

A this time, the jury is still out on whether I'll Powder Coat or Paint. I'm leaning towards P/C but haven't made a commitment.

 

I would reccomend using aircraft stripper to remove most of the paint. After using wash good to nuetralize. Then use 80 grit with your random orbital sandere. Prime with a self etching primer, sand and reprime with a filling primer. Go to a auto body supply house and talk to them about paint systems. If you intend to use base clear coat system all the paints need to be compatible.
Regards
Bob

 

I am not so sure you can use bondo with Powder Coat... Can you? Isn't the powder coat done by an electro-static process? Not sure how it would react to bondo...

 

Unless you have dings, there'd be no reason to use bondo. If you need to fill a few spots, check out a product called All Metal. It's a metal based product versus a powder based product like bondo.

 

If you are going to powder coat it, it needs to be down to bare metal and you cannot use bondo. There are some metal fillers that are conductive that you will have to talk to the powder coater about and see what he says. I don't know much about liquid paint, but couldn't you just sand it smooth, prime it and paint without stripping it down?

 

Take this for what it's worth to you....

I have quite a few years in the automotive industry from both the mechanical and auto body side of things. Before you start working the tins you really need to decide which way you're going to go in regards to the finishing. Each method requires different steps involved. Since the first idea was in regards to powder coating I'll address that one. Since powder coating utilizes electrical charges between the powder and the substrate you can not have any type of bondo involved, even the metal-based fillers. I hate to say this but if the tins need any type of repair you will need to look for a shop that still deals with lead repairs and they are far and few between. Years ago I did a bike tank that the customer wanted powder coated and that's the method I used to get the tank into shape. It's not fun. So...if the tins do need any repair work done I would strongly consider changing your mind to the paint method.

If they do not require any repair and powder coating looks to be your decision then I would start off by using a mild chemical stripper. You will need to use more applications to remove the paint but there is less chance of the metal being affected. Just follow the product directions to a "T" and you will be fine. Once you have the majority of the paint removed you will enter the sanding stage of things. I would suggest NOT using your DA. I know it sounds easy to just let it rip but a DA (due to its dual action) is designed for faster material removal which in this case is not what you really want. I would start off by hand using nothing lower that 220 grit paper - DRY. Yes, you are looking at a good bit of time consumption but in the end you will have a much better finish. Keep in mind that ANY sanding scratches will show in the finished product, even with powder coating. Anyway, I would go from 220 grit to remove what's left of the paint from the stripper and move on to 400 grit, then to 600 grit and follow up with 1000 grit. The 400 is used to emove the 220 scratches and 600 is used to remove the 400 scratches and so on. Also, every bit of paint will need to be removed. Some shops that do powder coating are also setup for doing a dip tank process for removing the paint. That way the shop will do the job from start to finish and would be responsible if anything was to flake off in the future.

If you plan on having the powder coating done at a shop I would contact them in regards to how they want the tins finished off for them to do their work. If you plan on doing it yourself take a look at this website - www.eastwood.com. They have a huge selection of kits, tools, supplies, etc. that would help in reaching your goal.

Hope this helps a bit. If there are any other questions I'll do what I can to answer them from my point of view. If you decide to go the paint routine I'd be more than happy to make some suggestions with that also.

Just my .02 worth.


Brian

 

if you are going to paint the tins you can use a lower grit paper (80 grit) to strip and just finish with a 150 or 180 grit
any scratches that are in the metal will be removed with high build primer and blocking before the finish is applied this
is normal procedure for any high quality paint job and if done properly and blocked with high grit paper will leave
a perfect finish.








nick
06 bob