Sand and paint or sandblast, rattle cans or spray gun, fill us in man! Great Job and love the vinyl!
Nice end result !!
+1 to Tell Us More . . . what methods used . . . . .
. . . . what all costs involved ?? Initial purchase ?? Repair costs ??
So my process has been as follows on the these boxes.
Tear down and inventory-I can start looking what I need to replace/repair.
Degreasing-This was a big one, my box came from a retired diesel mechanic and it was absolutely filthy inside and out. Once I got all the drawers out, I power-washed the box inside and out, scrubbing with ScotchBrite sponges along the way.
I removed the trim off the edges of the chests- This is not for the faint of heart, it takes a significant amount of "finese" to get them off intact. Basically I tapped them with a block of wood and a dead blow hammer. The trim holds moisture, so my box has a fair amount of rust pitting under the trim.
Stripping/Metalwork-First and foremost, I'm not a body guy. I have zero talent in that department, so getting dents of 34 year old wavy, sheet metal, its just not going to happen for me. I hate body filler, so I figured if its not structurally intrusive, I would leave the dents and dings. That way in the highly likely event I put a dent in it, I won't feel completely sick to my stomach.
Stripping-I used 36/40/80/120/220/320 sandpaper, wire wheels, and my little Harbor Freight pot sand blaster for some really deep rust pits.
The paint stripping work was easy for the bottom chest, the inside of the box was clean so it was basically just a few spots to scuff. The KR537 was a pain in the ****. Tons of little corners, cubbys and working around the lid sucked.
I removed the top cover because it lightens the chest up and makes it much easier to work on. To remove the top cover, I drilled out all of the rivets holding the chest on. Its a standard size rivet that miraculously I had in my tool box, so not a huge deal. A note on that cover. Its heavy and will pinch, smash, squish anything if it gets between it.
The drawers and the channels for the drawer runners were the same process, I checked them with a good, straight slide if possible, or a straight end to make sure the drawers would open and close smoothly. I did have a few channels on drawers and in the chests that were bent, so a few taps with a mallet and a chunk of wood got them straight again.
Paint-UGH.. I used Rustoleum products for this box and overall I was happey with the price, and quality of the product. If you intend on spraying rustoleum, buy an enamel hardener. It made a world of difference in the way the paint turned. The gloss, dry time and hardness is head and shoulders better than un catalyzed Rustoleum. Its nasty stuff, the Majic Hardener I got from Tractor Supply smelled like the strongest super glue in the world, so wear a good mask, get everything covered and you'll be good to go.
For the primer, I used Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer, thinned with acetone, with a day -2 days of drying time between coats. I wet-sanded the primer with 600 and 800 grit. While priming the bottom chest I took the reinforcement bars, casters and wheels off the bottom of the KR557D.
I cleaned, degreased and then painted the caster frames with Rustoleum Textured silver and then Rustoleum Metallic finish. The wheels were scrubbed with acetone and brake clean. I re-greased the bushings and put them back together.
I thinned the Rustoleum Professional Safety Red with acetone, about 10% was the right combination. The paint sprayed smoothly and once I had the gun dialed in, I was very happy with the results.
I made a spraying area in my back garage with plastic drop clothes I found at Home Depot in the clearance section.
The paint gun I used was the "purple" Harbor Freight HVLP gun with the disposable HF paint cups, since the cataylized paint hardens so quickly, for ease of clean up, I just throw them away. I have a 30 gallon Northern Tools compressor that just can't keep up with the air eating DA's, paint guns etc..
I did 3 coats of color on the drawers, chests and other small parts that were red.
Finally.. wet sanding and buffing. 1,000, 1500,2500 knocked the orange peel down, got the dirt out of the paint. I buffed using the Harbor Freight 5 inch DA sander with the orange foam pad, which cut really well without too much trouble. I used Meguiars Ultimate Compound to buff the paint.
3 coats of Mequiar's Pure Carnuba Yellow wax, by hand(ouch!
)
Pheww.... no wonder it took 3 months!
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