Refinishing an impact

[Mister Laugh]

Does anyone know how snap on impacts are finished from the factory? Is it powder coat or paint? I got an awesome deal on a used 1" drive impact this weekend, and it seems to work well but the paint(or powdercoat) is a little worse for the wear, so I may cosmetically fix it. Any ideas?

 

[rlitman]

It is a black oxide finish. If it is only a little rusty, just apply oil and rub off the worst of the rust.

 

[d.mcfarland]

Gun blue might be close, or at least protect it from rust.

 

[Mister Laugh]

Sorry guys, forgot to mention that its a red painted one. I couldn't get a picture to upload i will try again.

 

[d.mcfarland]

You going to use it or display it? That should determine your plan of attack.

Powder coat is going to be extremely expensive, whereas a quality couple of layers of paint is going to hold up and also look great. I'd go the paint route.

 

[Mister Laugh]

You going to use it or display it? That should determine your plan of attack.

Powder coat is going to be extremely expensive, whereas a quality couple of layers of paint is going to hold up and also look great. I'd go the paint route.

I definitely plan to use it, none of my tools are for display. I originally planned to paint it, but wasn't sure how well that would hold up. Is there someone that makes a spraybomb that looks remotely close to the snap on red, or better yet the extreme green of my tool box?

 

[jjjrmx5]

My guess is that was a single stage paint back in the day. Lacquer or enamel.

If you are gonna use it and not get fussy, lightly sand, then prime then a couple a coats of light spray bomb enamel in red to match..

Without a rubber boot it will wear off again over time.

Other option is do a paint stripper or lacquer thinner or MEK to get what is left of the red paint off and then just keep it alum. or whatever the base metal is. I have a sligtly older Snappy IM6100 that is brushed aluminum and have had no problem with is keep bright and fresh.

Paint wears. Even powder coats wears plus it chips. It's a tool.

 

[Mister Laugh]

My guess is that was a single stage paint back in the day. Lacquer or enamel.

If you are gonna use it and not get fussy, lightly sand, then prime then a couple a coats of light spray bomb enamel in red to match..

Without a rubber boot it will wear off again over time.

Other option is do a paint stripper or lacquer thinner or MEK to get what is left of the red paint off and then just keep it alum. or whatever the base metal is. I have a sligtly older Snappy IM6100 that is brushed aluminum and have had no problem with is keep bright and fresh.

Paint wears. Even powder coats wears plus it chips. It's a tool.

Don't get me wrong, i don't expect whatever finish I choose to last forever. I just want to make this gun look a little better than it does. While I am not a tool polisher I have spent an incredible amount of money on tools and like to keep them clean and presentable looking. This impact won't see a whole pile of use with the stuff I currently try to keep myself working on so i think it may be worth the time to make look presentable.

 

[Hotz]

I think a polishing
easier and more beautiful ....for this tool..

Paint only the letters in low relief..

 

[kunkernator]

I think a polishing
easier and more beautiful ....for this tool..

Paint only the letters in low relief..

I vote this. There are many polished steel/aluminum impacts. It would look great.

 

[Strouty]

I think a polishing
easier and more beautiful ....for this tool..

Paint only the letters in low relief..

This was my thought, you don't need to polish it, you could just scuff it up and it would look pretty good.

 

[wxm]

If it were me, just leave the way it is; maybe clean up/rebuild inside. It looks just fine. The usage reflects the pride. Just my $0.02.

 

[rlitman]

I think a polishing
easier and more beautiful ....for this tool..

Paint only the letters in low relief..

Sorry guys, forgot to mention that its a red painted one.

Ohhh, I thought you were talking about impact sockets. Not an impact gun.

Ok, totally different answer then:

I have good news and bad news for you. Old Snap On impact guns were all polished aluminum. If this gun were aluminum, I'd say to polish it too.

BUT, the red painted guns are painted, because magnesium polishes like ****.
Yep, your gun is made from magnesium. That's good, because it is quite a bit lighter than aluminum, but bad, because I promise you that if you polish it, it will oxidize in an awful way.

So, I'd look into a paint for magnesium. I'm not an expert on this, but I expect you'll want a special etching primer first.

 

[Mister Laugh]

I've decided I'm just going to leave it as is. I have tested it out and it works quite well.

 

[rlitman]

Probably a good idea. I wonder if they make a boot for that beast.

 

[spotco2]

Yeah, I'd just put a boot on it and run the snot out of it.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/tool...p_name=Impact+Wrench+Boots&store=snapon-store

 

[rlitman]

That gun appears to be an IM1800, and I do not see a boot for it on that page.
It retails for $1055. Ouch!

BUT the page says it is made from aluminum (as are all of the other IMxxx series guns I know of). I thought only the MGxxx series guns were painted red (and they all have magnesium bodies). My bad.
So, maybe polishing it isn't a bad idea after all.

 

[jbighump]

strip the old paint, then hit it with a self etching primer and hit it with about 2 or 3 coats of your favorite color and call it good