Repainted my Blupoint Toolbox Today

[Mikerodrig27]

So I repainted my Bluepoint toolbox today. Well, not the entire thing but I did the front of the drawers and it came out way better than expected. The box calls for Snapon Red which is PPG 73504.

I didn't want to go through the trouble of getting paint mixed or ordering Snapon Branded paint (I don't even want to know the price), so I went to O'rielly autoparts to grab some red VHT paint since I've had such good luck with their roll bar and chassis paint. They only had orange-red engine paint so I checked out the Dupli-color. Come to find out, the bottles are both made in a factory with the same zip code (Cleveland Ohio 44115-1075) so I thought maybe they are the same company.

I picked up two cans of the Dupli-Color DA1640 Cherry red Acrylic Enamel . I pulled the drawers out one by one laid the drawer on a surface that I didn't mind getting paint on and laid an old towel over the tools in the drawer so they wouldn't get paint on them. This exposed only the face of the drawer that I was going to paint. The color was such a close match that it didn't matter if It over sprayed behind the face.

I'm very impressed with this paint. It does take a lot of coats (4 thick coats roughly depending on condition of box) but all I did was wipe the old paint heavily with acetone and sprayed the new paint on. It came out awesome. I didn't expect this paint job to look so decent. The paint dries relatively fast and looks like it might be able to take a polish. I'm going to go over it with some car polish in some spots and see how it handles it. So anyways if you have a box with a PPG 73504 paint code on it, grab this paint. Oriellys is going to stop carrying it due to it not selling so grab them up. I used two cans to paint the front of the drawers and I ordered 4 more to finish the box.

I put it on thick so it would orange peel and look like a actual toolbox paint job from the factory.

 

[PelicanPines]

Purdy !!!! Nice results.

 

[Jarhead0408]

Not bad. Post up more pics once it's complete. I'd like to see the end result.

 

[Gear Wolf]

Well done!

 

[Mikerodrig27]

Thanks, I'm going to be using this box professionally so I'll let you guys know how the paint holds up. I'm going to finish it off and take some pics when I get the cans of paint.. I live in Hawaii and aerosol cans need to be shipped ground AKA by boat. I'll get them in two weeks.

I need to get new bearing slides for a lot of the drawers. I originally picked the box up for $100. It was sitting in the tire room where I work getting slammed by tires when we threw them downstairs so there was a lot of bending sheetmetal back into place and dents to bump out. It still needs a lot of work but I have it pretty much squared out. It doesn't have to be 100% that way I won't feel guilty if I knock it with a tool or run it over with a car

I want to double the bearing slides on the larger bottom drawers and fit a piece of plywood to the bottom of them. I want to throughbolt them with small carriage bolts through the sheet metal.

 

[spasticone]

Very nice! Is that a roller slide box originally? If not post up some pics when you retrofit them. Love to see it!

 

[countryroad82]

Did you scuff the existing paint any? Looks good but if not don't be suprised if it starts flaking in a year or so using it professionally.

 

[Mikerodrig27]

No I didn't scuff the paint. The old paint was worn and after I hit it with the acetone, it had about the same mat finish of the 600 grit that the paint called for. My goal is to not have too much time invested in this restoration. Hopefully I'll luck out and the paint will not flake off.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

SNIP... My goal is to not have too much time invested in this restoration. SNIP...

Every box I have done in the past I did a complete strip down, full sand and prep and it ate up A LOT of time. 1' or less paint job.

Last week I needed to get a big ol' MBC top box done in a hurry. I scuffed the paint and minor rust and got to spraying.

That thing is a 3 foot paint job all day long, and I got what seems like 1/40th the time invested in it compared to my others. It holds my picks/cleaning brushes etc. so I wasn't too concerned with a less than perfect job. But jeez, the dang thing turned out 90% good or better. (And looks a million times better than it did.)

My point is, I agree with doing a quick paint job if you don't need/want perfect. I also agree with going all out because you can and want to. Both ways are cool. Can't wait to see the whole thing done OP.

 

[Mikerodrig27]

I agree. I like to try to go all out on things some times but they have to be smaller projects or else I won't finish them. It's good to know the limits of your attention span.

 

[sha]

Great job, nice color

 

[Mikerodrig27]

So I finished the box and took some pictures. I built the little locker that is attached to the side of the box. We do a lot of stuff with tires so the top part of the wooden locker is where I keep my impact and tire stuff that I use often. The bottom will be for boxed specialty tools. I'm going to be scouring the internet to find some good tools to start filling the box up with.

I have some SK sockets and some proto ratchets. The rest of the stuff I have is cheap chinese junk. I want to get some Williams hard handled screwdrivers. I was thinking of getting the 19 piece set but I don't really need the electricians insulated screwdrivers. If I don't count the electrician screwdrivers the cost per piece goes down if I get the separate phillips and flathead set but then I don't get the long flathead that comes with the bigger set.

 

[MattVette89]

Turned out great!

 

[Joe Cim]

That looks GREAT! I like the top opening design you did on the side box... Are you going to paint the wooden side box too? I have had pretty good luck with that in the past... Plus it protects the wood a little too... But the stain/clear coat wooden finish looks good too...

 

[Mikerodrig27]

It's hard to tell in the pictures but I have two thick coats of this on it:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Parks-1-gal-Clear-Gloss-350-VOC-Oil-Based-Interior-Polyurethane-4-Pack-330513V/202057183?cm_mmc=Shopping|Base&gclid=Cj0KEQjw6cCuBRCh4KrGoJ6LoboBEiQAwzYsdD--KyslguyH8rFdpZPsohIEBzV5xtdWgI4CGa1tBPAaAgEz8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

I got a gallon of it for $15 (dented can) and have been using it on a ton of things around the house.

It's meant for floors so it's really tough. When I tap the wood, it has a higher tone then before I put a finish on it which tells me the finish made the wood more solid and really soaked in.

Thanks for the compliments on the top loading design. I really like it too. The shop I work in is very small. I knew the wood locker would take up less space then a service cart would and I would still have a place to throw tools quickly. My favorite thing about it is it only cost me 3/4 sheet of ply, and some euro hinges from HD. so about $40 to build.

 

[Zeroek]

I may have to roll my toolbox in the kitchen too.

 

[Strouty]

Looks good, I half expected the drawers to have silverware in them.

 

[Rico.]

I love seeing stuff like this..... Really nice job...

 

[2ndGearRubber]

A nice deep stain would really set that side cab off.! Looks great regardless, especially considering how much money you have in it!

 

[Mikerodrig27]

Thanks guys. It's simple cabinet construction with Dados and rabbits. All the dados and rabbits are 1/4" just to keep things simple. I have used this box for a few days and I really like it. All the slides work well and the cabinet on the side is really easy to work with. A few years down the road I want to buy bigger box (hopefully used) and I want to build a top hutch for it like this:

http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/...9AFCEA6-3394-0000071DB2132E0B_zpsc15d009f.jpg

I'll just need to figure hinge mechanism that they use on these which I don't think will be easy.

2nd gear, Where I live we have to take our trash to a transfer station. There is a place that sells or gives away recycled goods. I got a can of Minwax Pecan stain for free and I used it to stain the cabinet. The ply I used was maple veneer 5 ply from HD. It was wayyy to light colored. I agree that I wish I had a darker stain for it as It will definitely show the grease but money is an object.