Snap On Chest Rebuild

[fourfeathers]

Try this for some info... http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/parts/pro_det.asp?item_id=34051&group_id=7659

and http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/parts/Product_Directory.asp?pid=3450239

 

[yellowbox]

I'm not sure you needed it either - looks like you got lots of storage space in the background

But if I could find a deal 2 miles from my house I wouldn't pass it up either.

I recommend yellow but I'm sure I'm in the minority here

i 2nd the yellow color would look real good

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

Good Deal,I'm hearing alot of good deals coming from craigslist,i just wish there was a way to search for items nationally without having to click on each state,then each city.

Good pictures too,what sort of camera are you using? I need to find a good one to document my new F-150 rebuild,i'm going to take tons of pics.

Are you going to install the snap on drawer liners in your box they're not that expensive.
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...&group_ID=3219&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

 

[menace2u]

I may get the SO drawer liners. The larger drawers were really dirty and not too confident I can get paint to stick to them even after all the cleaning. So I may end up with liners on the bottom and maybe do something on the sides also. Need to play around with them some today - and get more pics.

AndrewT

 

[menace2u]

Here are some pics:

This is the vent fan. I capped one end of the intake so it only draws from the air filter side facing the paint/sanding booth:

It vents outside thru the window and I ran it through some insulation so no heat loss in the garage:

Here is inside the booth with the air filters hooked up:

This is the tent booth itself - yes, it looks redneck but its functional and no dust so far anywhere else inside the garage so it works:

Here are some drawers after sanding:

I hope to have all sanding done tomorrow so I can do a final clean and wipe down and shoot some primer. I am keeping the color red since it saves me completely sanding down or stripping all areas as that would take alot more work. The underside and backside of the drawers are actually pretty good so likely will not work too much on them since all will be the same SO red color.

AndrewT

 

[Uncle Buck]

I think that is a very wise decision on your part. Besides, you might want to upgrade some day and the factory color always helps!

 

[bchee]

that is a lot of work!

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

that is a lot of work!

Yep, re-doing a toolbox is a lot of work...esp. a rollaway. I usu. try and re-do them the same or a similar color...esp. if I'm not painting the drawer bottoms.

 

[komobu]

I purchased a Macsimizer from an Aircraft hanger and it had a lot of scratches and chips in the paint from prop blast. I was gonna have a local body shop paint it for me and even delivered the box to them. About a week later, they called me back and said they couldn't do it because automotive paint was to soft and would not hold up to spilled chemicals like oil/gas/carb cleaner/brake fluid etc.

My Mac Truck guy told me they were powder coated at the factory and I chould try to find a powder coater to do it. I was able to find one in the local area that powder coated it for me the original black color for 400 dollars. What a deal! this was the top and bottom cabinet! it now looks like new!

Anyways, what I was gonna say is just be careful around it if you are using automotive paints.

Good luck and please post some pics when you are finished with it.

 

[voidifused]

If you are really worryed about the paint not being able to take the wear and tear and don't want to try or pay for it to get powder coated, could try some of the industrial clear that they use in side of sanding boxes on trucks, we use it when we make or redo truck sanders tow behinds ect. i know its a form of apoxy i would have to run down and get the name of it but its has about a 9 year life in a sander box and you can beat it with a hammer new and not scratch it, should take the every day life of a tool box and think of the shine it would have

 

[eschoendorff]

Dude, your paint booth is over the top! Awesome!

 

[LoneStarSA]

any updates?

 

[normieg]

1) I thought snap-on was guarentteed?
So, shouldnt' they replace the bad parts?
2) Looks like an awsome project. Keep us in the loop. I spend almost as much time cleaning my tools as I do using them (damn 17 year old kid, lol).

 

[jay uk]

Great thread any progress?

 

[G1K]

Assuming the fan for the booth can move enough air, what do you do to keep the plastic sheeting from sucking in and giving you about 1/2 the usable space?

Ryan

 

[menace2u]

Sorry - business travel during the week has hampered progress - plus its been like 15 degrees every day here which means some of the cleaning jobs best done outside need to be done inside and this has taken longer. I ended up doing more body work on the drawer fronts since I wanted them to be nicer and figure I should only do this once - so I've been puttying and sanding over the past few weeks. Done and now need to do a final cleaning today and shoot some primer. I will go take pics and post them up before/after priming.

To address some of the questions:
- Yes - SO did replace the broken drawer slides (2 pair) under warranty at no cost to me. I bought some new parts on my dime (keyed locks, chrome trim, etc..) as these are not warranty items.
- The fan works very well and there is a slight constriction of the sheeting when it starts but the entrance is not totally sealed as I wanted it to be easy to get in/out plus that serves as an air inlet allowing fresh air into the booth. Ideally, this would all be sealed with another smaller fan pushing air in - but I did not need that for the sanding done so far and had no issues with dust getting out the unsealed entrance so didn't bother with anything more complicated. The two vinyl sheets meet at the entrance and overlap by a large amount so this helps alot as well.

Thx for all the interest. I am happy I decided to spend some more time on the panel repairs as this will (hopefully) mean it will look nicer and not need to be redone for a long time. Again, I have never really done body repair before and never spread putty and such so the sanding, hammer & dolly work, and feathering are all new techniques to me and took some time to learn just the basics. Still no expert but now I know how much hardener to add to putty (and how much not to!!!).

AndrewT

 

[jay uk]

Look forward to that got me feeling creative !

 

[Todd.Brock]

I have a SO service cart from the 80s that I was thinking about redoing. The powder coating idea is great. I was also considering the chrome sides and legs that the main trays bolt to., What should be done with that? Re chrome? May as well buy a new cart at that point! So i decided to let it age and "patina" gracefully! btw the previous owner was a metro bus technician. He lined the drawers with bus flooring. That stuff is indestructable. I assume its equivalent to a VCT or something.

 

[menace2u]

Powder coating may be the best option but I opted to paint instead. Mainly because I wanted the experience of doing all the work myself plus all PC jobs I have farmed out to various places have all come back crappy and didn't last more than a year. And I've tried 3 different places and all work was very poor quality. So if I knew of a good PC place, I may have gone that route.

Finally got all putty work and sanding done and everything wiped down and ready for paint which will hopefully go on tomorrow or Tuesday. I was too tired to get to painting today and decided to re-hang new vinyl sheets before I paint since the ones on there now had dust on them from the sanding and didn't want to contaminate the paint once I start spraying.

Also - I ended up prepping the inside of the drawers for paint as well. I had originally thought I would avoid this step as they were really messy and hard to clean but ended up going the extra step and getting them cleaned and ready for paint. Another reason the paint has had to wait so long - I can't even begin to describe how long it takes to clean up the 3+ decades of **** that accumulated in the drawers and there seems to be no easy way to do this other than elbow grease (maybe I should have had these sand-blasted instead!).

AndrewT

 

[menace2u]

A few Pics - though not much to see. Just the cabinet and drawers coming out of the sanding booth and getting cleaned up for paint:

Can't wait to see them all with a fresh coat of primer than single-stage.

AndrewT

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

A few Pics - though not much to see. Just the cabinet and drawers coming out of the sanding booth and getting cleaned up for paint:

Can't wait to see them all with a fresh coat of primer than single-stage.

AndrewT

Same here! Looks like you put a lot of time and effort into prepping them...which will soon pay off!

 

[billymade]

The quality/look of your work; wouldn't look out of place in any pro body shop, good job! What did my journeyman body shop painter tell me? 75% or more of a paint job is the prep work; to do it right takes time.... there just isn't anyway to cut corners... you have to have a correctly built foundation to build a great paint job; the final paint just highlights and exposes the bodywork underneath!
Interesting, about your problems with powder-coating shops; I never thought about "failures" but I guess, its like anything... its hard to find quality shops out there, that will do good work! I think when it is your own stuff; it is hard to find someone that will care as much about doing something right, then yourself! I am looking forward to your end results!

 

[menace2u]

The quality/look of your work; wouldn't look out of place in any pro body shop, good job! What did my journeyman body shop painter tell me? 75% or more of a paint job is the prep work; to do it right takes time.... there just isn't anyway to cut corners... you have to have a correctly built foundation to build a great paint job; the final paint just highlights and exposes the bodywork underneath!
Interesting, about your problems with powder-coating shops; I never thought about "failures" but I guess, its like anything... its hard to find quality shops out there, that will do good work! I think when it is your own stuff; it is hard to find someone that will care as much about doing something right, then yourself! I am looking forward to your end results!

Well said about the prep work. I hope it will pay off.

I am really anti-PC now because of all the bad experiences I have had. I paid alot of money to have an older set of rims widened for my '76 Toyota FJ40. Then had them blasted and all cleaned up and ready for PC. The PC place did a **** job and all the rims were rusted within one year - and I never even drove the truck in the snow or ice and rarely even in the rain since it was a restoration. The place did not honor their work and said I must have damaged the rims (wtf?) - though the extent of rust that came thru was obvious that this was a sh&t poor PC job (whether it be prep or how they applied the coating). No excuse for this - especially since the rims were bare metal and rust-free when they got them so they didn't even have to really clean them or anything. So they had to be re-blasted than I ended up painting them myself and had no issues for 3 yrs before I sold the truck.

My other experiences with different local PC shops are similar.

Painting seems better to me - and easier to fix or repair than PC. When PC chips, you have to paint over it anyway to avoid rust. So I've just decided to paint from the start for my purposes.

AndrewT

 

[Junkman]

Location: Near Junk

 

[menace2u]

Location: Near Junk

Haha. Its not a reference to you. Thought I am not too far from CT.

 

[Junkman]

I'm on the MA line, and not far from RI either.. We'll have to get together some day for a beer...

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Haha. Its not a reference to you. Thought I am not too far from CT.

Actually, I always thought it was a reference to Junkman...and I'll bet most other people on here did too!

 

[ProGun3400]

I'm hearing alot of good deals coming from craigslist,i just wish there was a way to search for items nationally without having to click on each state,then each city.

Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.craigshelper.com/

 

[Shocker]

damn! Beat me to it!

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

Merk would probably call that a restore, after seeing this one that needs a rebuild:

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/tls/1007564592.html

Just sad to see it in that shape.

 

[Jokeman]

Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.craigshelper.com/

That is the best thing I have ever seen! I got through every region pretty much daily. It look me forever!

 

[billymade]

Ouch! Looks like someone ran into that box or something! If I got it really cheap; I would be tempted to get that one... almost everyone of my boxes are/were damaged when I bought them, LOL!

 

[menace2u]

Finally spraying primer after two more weeks of being away on business. But I ran out of primer and local NAPA can't get it until tomorrow. Atleast some of it is finally getting done:

Main Cabinet - will primer the inside better once I get more primer:

Side Cabinet:

Drawers - its a real PITA to prime them as they need to sprayed in shifts and then moved around to get to all the areas:

Coat rack I bought for the the paint booth:

My first time using an HVLP set-up and took some time to get all the driers hooked up and such and to learn to set the gun appropriately. Not sure its perfect yet but its working and I am happy with the results so far. The drawers fronts which were the worst part look better then expected.

I had to use some self-etching primer I had around for the small parts as I was out of primer and have used it before and it works great so I used it here - thats why some parts are green.

Also doing some minor putty work on the smaller imperfections. Time to go sand them down. Then top coat hopefully this week (assuming no more travel). Wife is getting upset about all the time out there especially when gone during the week. Better get it done soon.

AndrewT

 

[Merkava_4]

I had to use some self-etching primer I had around for the small parts as I was out of primer and have used it before and it works great so I used it here - thats why some parts are green.

I might suggest you go over those parts with gray primer; because if you don't, the red parts with green primer underneath will look different than the red parts with gray primer underneath; you'll end up with two different shades of red.

 

[menace2u]

I might suggest you go over those parts with gray primer; because if you don't, the red parts with green primer underneath will look different than the red parts with gray primer underneath; you'll end up with two different shades of red.

Makes sense- Thx for the advice.

Do you know how long I can keep mixed paint for the HVLP gun? When I do the drawers, I need to move them around and have to wait for them to dry somewhat to do that. If I keep the paint in the gun for 30 mins or so, will it clog up? I figured I could wipe the spray tip down with lacquer thinner. But wasn't sure about the mix in the cup and if that has a shelf life once the single-stage and hardener/reducer are added? I am talking an hour or two here - not a day or more.

AndrewT

 

[Merkava_4]

If I keep the paint in the gun for 30 mins or so, will it clog up? I figured I could wipe the spray tip down with lacquer thinner. But wasn't sure about the mix in the cup and if that has a shelf life once the single-stage and hardener/reducer are added?

I'm thinking the paint in the canister will be alright for 30 minutes in between coats as long as you keep it covered, but you should probably take the air cup and fluid needle off the front of the gun and keep it soaked in lacquer thinner; either that or get you a separate rinse canister with lacquer thinner in it to spray through the gun in between coats.

 

[mikeatrpi]

Depends what kind of primer you're using. Usually the P-sheet will tell you a time frame to work from.

 

[billymade]

If it was a long time; you could put your "activated" paint in a sealed air tight container, put some thinner in your cup, spray through your gun to clean out the paint and then when your ready put the paint back in and keep going!

 

[Uncle Buck]

This old trick does work. When you have paint with hardener mixed, and you just cannot use it till the next day, first make sure and run some gun cleaning solvent through the gun. After you have made sure and cleaned the gun head as you normally would attach the gun cup with the activated paint in it. Take the gun, cup attached and all and stick it in a refrigerator. I know it sounds strange, but it does work. Your paint should be fine as long as you get back to applying it within no more than about 24 hours.

I would not try and stretch this time beyond 24 hrs, I think you would be pushing your luck. Yes, I am speaking from experience on this.

 

[mkdive]

This old trick does work. When you have paint with hardener mixed, and you just cannot use it till the next day, first make sure and run some gun cleaning solvent through the gun. After you have made sure and cleaned the gun head as you normally would attach the gun cup with the activated paint in it. Take the gun, cup attached and all and stick it in a refrigerator. I know it sounds strange, but it does work. Your paint should be fine as long as you get back to applying it within no more than about 24 hours.

I would not try and stretch this time beyond 24 hrs, I think you would be pushing your luck. Yes, I am speaking from experience on this.

I have done this before. worked great.