Repainting old machinery?

[Vice]

What is your opinion on repainting machinery when you restore is. As in painting it another color then it would have come from the factory.

As an example I am going to start restoring a late 100s model craftsmen drill press. From the factory it has a gold finish to it, I am thinking about painting it either a light or dark grey or black instead of the gold, but part of me believes I should restore it to factory grade finish.

So do you prefer people to restore items to factory finish or is a custom paint job something that is done with tools?

 

[Packard V8]

Your machine, your money, your decision.

Many here and over on OWWM do custom paint.

JMHO, but mine are user machines and the paint is optional.

jack vines

 

[930dreamer]

You can't go wrong with machine gray.

 

[Plombob]

Make it yours by painting it any color you wish. This is my DP.

View media item 83137

 

[bmwrd0]

I prefer to clean up the remaining paint, avoiding repainting as much as possible.

That said, it is your equipment, do with it as you wish. I tend to go for the original look when I need to paint, but I am passed the age of hot rods and prefer to see survivors.

 

[TerryH]

When I bought my Enco 105-1110 mill, the original owner had painted it blue with a brush. Apparently before masking tape was invented.It was a light institutional green originally that I did not care for at all. I did a ton of work on it and painted it Krylon hammered in deep green. As previously stated, your machine. Paint it whatever suits you.

 

[larry_g]

Make it yours by painting it any color you wish. This is my DP.

View media item 83137

This is great, not because of the color choice but the quality of the paint job. It shows attention to detail. Most any color is acceptable if it is a good paint job. Any color is ugly if it is just slapped on.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[shanny19]

I have a 1950s Rock Island vise that was red when acquired. Upon cleanup the factory paint was revealed to be BRIGHT chartreuse, something you’d associate with a 70s fire engine, not a 50s vise. No way was that gonna live in my garage. Its a nice hammered bronze now.

 

[Vice]

When it comes to painting is there a suggested type of paint to use? I am assuming just any old spray paint wouldn't do the right job that well.

 

[1/2 Cup]

This is great, not because of the color choice but the quality of the paint job. It shows attention to detail. Most any color is acceptable if it is a good paint job. Any color is ugly if it is just slapped on.

lg
no neat sig line

Agree totally attention to detail is it.

 

[Fretters]

I have a 1950s Rock Island vise that was red when acquired. Upon cleanup the factory paint was revealed to be BRIGHT chartreuse, something you’d associate with a 70s fire engine, not a 50s vise. No way was that gonna live in my garage. Its a nice hammered bronze now.

In bloke speak, what colour is chartreuse?

 

[shanny19]

bright yellow-green

 

[Stuart in MN]

In bloke speak, what colour is chartreuse?

The name comes from a French liqueur that's yellow-green.

 

[Tennessee Cattleman]

I prefer machine gray or a slightly darker gray for most of my machines, if I'm repainting. But like someone said earlier, "Your machine, your money, your decision".

 

[ez-duzit]

You destroy resale value when you repaint machinery.

 

[Jazz1]

I use any colour I have handy in the garage.

 

[larry_g]

You destroy resale value when you repaint machinery.

In some peoples opinion. I believe that your opinion only applies in the conservation of collectibles . Taking a rusty old hulk and bringing it back to operating condition with new bearings, scraping if necessary, new belts etc. with a new repaint like the DP above does nothing to destroy value.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[honza.vosalik]

Do whatever color you want

I'm going with the original older color scheme.

 

[OccupantRJ]

You destroy resale value when you repaint machinery.

Not in my world.

 

[Strouty]

Not in my world.

I was thinking the same thing. A freshly painted machine usually means that someone has go through and cleaned it up.

 

[ez-duzit]

I was thinking the same thing. A freshly painted machine usually means that someone has go through and cleaned it up.

...to hide the abuse it has had heaped upon it.

I would never buy a repaint.

 

[Strouty]

...to hide the abuse it has had heaped upon it.

I would never buy a repaint.

I guess.

I would think that you could tell pretty quickly if there were issues when all the grease and grime were gone. If the person painting it didn't mask off anything, I would probably be in your camp, but I have seen many nice repaints that weren't done to hide any defects.

 

[ez-duzit]

...Taking a rusty old hulk...

THIS is often what lies beneath a fresh repaint--a rusty hulk that some amateur flipper bought for scrap price after it had been completely used up and then abandoned in a field.

 

[Whitworth]

THIS is often what lies beneath a fresh repaint--a rusty hulk that some amateur flipper bought for scrap price after it had been completely used up and then abandoned in a field.

I’ll say I’ve never seen that. Usually paint jobs, (often bad ones), are done at school shops or factory floors because there’s s bucket of house paint and someone’s been assigned “busy” work.

A paint job can’t/won’t hide worn ways or lead screws, missing parts, bent handles, broken gear teeth, bad bearings, etc., etc.

But in the end, always buyer beware.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I’ll say I’ve never seen that. Usually paint jobs, (often bad ones), are done at school shops or factory floors because there’s s bucket of house paint and someone’s been assigned “busy” work.

A paint job can’t/won’t hide worn ways or lead screws, missing parts, bent handles, broken gear teeth, bad bearings, etc., etc.

But in the end, always buyer beware.

This is about as true as it gets. Most machinery I end up buying to either keep or sell comes out of a facility somewhere and has been brush painted to match the facilities' paint code. There are 4 Bridgeports awaiting attention in my shop right now. One is beige, two are gray, one is green. All have been brush painted at some point in the past. All will get stripped, repaired, and repainted properly.

The factory I retired from had a paint code relative to the size of the machine that some color expert was hired to come up with. Even the break room had 4 different color walls.

 

[Strouty]

I wasn’t talking about repainted machines that look like a two year old with a brush did it. Obviously if some idiot has painted the ways or threads with no care whatsoever, then I would stay away. I am talking about a true repaint, masked off, cleaned up, that would allow you to see all the defects easier than if the thing is a greasy mess. That being said, I would also prefer buying a decent used machine that has been taken care of and is not all worn out. I have never looked at the paint and said that’s it, I am not interested in this machine, I usually check things out before buying or passing on it.

 

[dutchgray]

I personally cant be bothered to paint something if it already has paint on it and its not terrible, no paint or truly awful paint job might get painted, but I am not very good with paint. I prefer original colours, but sometimes what I have is what I use, hence why I have some white G clamps.
What someone else does to their tools is completely up to them, but I will say I dont like it when ok original paint gets removed because it isn't perfect for new paint.
The slap a coat on quick resellers I cant stand and generally speaking I'm not interested in what they are selling, lot of stolen plant machines get this treatment here, they paint everything, data plates, service info plates, where they ground the serial number out, sure sign you want nothing to do with the machine.

 

[humber2]

One way to go is to spend hours days weeks to be reassured a certain paint # will be the match.

Then when entering the paint shop be steered to buying $1 cans of time dated old stock which might be OK but for some reason never is.

YMMV

 

[Stuart in MN]

The original poster didn't say anything about reselling, he just asked about restoring. You guys are going off in a totally different direction.

 

[bmwrd0]

Anything that can be restored - cars, bikes, tools, whatever - can be restored badly. We have all seen this, and we have all seen things that have been restored beautifully. Each object is different.

 

[RodneyW]

It's yours. Repaint it if you want to. The original Power Bronze actually looks pretty good on Craftsman machines IMO. Your DP isn't all that rare. Most of the value in old tools is in being able to use them, not in collecting them. A good paint job won't hurt and can help the value.
That said, a lot depends on the machine. If it's something like a pre-1900 machine with mostly intact original finish there's no way I would repaint and I would be looking very carefully for ways to preserve what's left.
Most of my machines are relatively common and were basket cases when I bought them. ANY paint was better than they had at the time. And no, I didn't try to match the factory colors.
I think the color is less important than whether you do a good job of it or not.

 

[Fretters]

...to hide the abuse it has had heaped upon it.

I would never buy a repaint.

Paint being lathered on willy nilly, to hide things, and a properly done paint job, are two very different beasts.

 

[Strouty]

The original poster didn't say anything about reselling, he just asked about restoring. You guys are going off in a totally different direction.

Then someone stated that repainting a machine tanks any value........... That is why people have responded.

 

[6PTsocket]

I just painted a floor jack handle safety yellow and it came out suspiciously close to the chartruce yellow in your chart. I really wanted something more like DeWalt yellow. That was the only yellow in the Rustoleum pro. line at HD in a rattle can. If it irks me enough I'll repaint it.

The name comes from a French liqueur that's yellow-green.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[406Rich]

I`ve resisted the temptation to repaint this one, its wearing the original war paint from the early to mid forties. sort of a badge of honor to our service men.

 

[TerryH]

I`ve resisted the temptation to repaint this one, its wearing the original war paint from the early to mid forties. sort of a badge of honor to our service men.

Absolutely!! That will clean up great.

 

[lilredex]

Things get repainted around here, when they need it. An example...before and after.

 

[TerryH]

Things get repainted around here, when they need it. An example...before and after.

That turned out nice!

 

[honza.vosalik]

I`ve resisted the temptation to repaint this one, its wearing the original war paint from the early to mid forties. sort of a badge of honor to our service men.

I wouldn't repaint it either. if you ever decide to sell it, let me know, I love the original condition!

 

[Corndoggeh]

I wouldnt repaint only because of the "war finish". Otherwide it would get the old delta machine gray color.