Tool Box Spot Restore/Clean

[upsidedownone]

Tool Box Spot Restore/Clean
I recently purchased a Snap-on KRA4107 (as far as I can tell). It unfortunately has some rust in a few places, and has some deep scratches in others. The previous owner wasn’t too gentle with it. The first thing I’m planning on doing is getting rid of all of those stickers. It seems like consensus on doing that is to heat them up a bit with a blow dryer, and then take them off while the adhesive is still warm. Then use WD-40 or Goo-gone to get off the rest of the adhesive? Is this necessary or can I just peel the stickers right off?

As far as the rust spots:
The brown spots in the picture are all rust. I want to save the paint, and I definitely do not want to take this thing all the way down to metal. I’m hoping to get the rust spots covered up, would a rattle can from snap on be enough to cover them up after sanding? Is it worth it?
Do I need to sand the spots and then prime and paint them? Or what should I instead do?
There are also some wider scratches on the right side which do have a bit of rust in them also. What’s the best way to handle those?

I’m planning on basically servicing the entire thing. Unfortunately, at the moment, it’s sitting in my grandmother-in-laws garage, since we don’t have a vehicle big enough to take it the 180 miles down to us. I’ve just recently finished school, and am starting to build the tool collection. Found this one for a decent price (I hope?) so I figured I’d give it a shot. This is a budget box for me, so I don’t want pour hundreds of dollars into it. I haven’t really ever done anything like this before, so as much detail as possible would be great!

Note: Yes, I also realize there are a lot of similar threads, however, I wasn’t able to find one in quite the same situation as I feel like I’m in. Sorry if I missed one. Thanks!

 

[countryroad82]

From what can tell the most of the rust is on the bottom of the box right? Most likely lived in a bodyshop then. I'm one of the few in the trade that takes a little extra pains to keep a box nice. Were it me I would do one of 2 things.

1. Live with it (probably exactly what I would do because I'm lazy). If it's kept in a decent environment the rust won't really grow all that much in quite some time. But if it's a damp or wet area yes it will grow.

2. Pull the drawers (really easy with those) and check the inside. Most likely there will be scale there as well. Sand the rust off and get to good shiny metal, prime the area, and paint while trying to blend it into the original paint. It can turn out pretty nice and mostly unnoticeable if you take your time at it.

Then there's option 3......

3. Here's your chance! Always wanted to have something the other kids on the block don't have? Always wondered what a box would look like in _________ color? This can be your oyster!!!! Fix the rust, sand the paint down (you don't have to strip it), and paint the whole danged thing! Yes it's really freaking annoying. You will spend a crazy amount of time sanding and painting the insides of drawers, the outside, the box itself, but it can be whatever color of the rainbow that strikes your fancy!!!

 

[upsidedownone]

I’m reaaaaaalllllly hoping to avoid option 3 in this case haha. I don’t have a great space to do anything like that, light painting and sanding is really what I’m limited to right now (I’m in an apartment). I think I’m aiming for something between 1 and 2. Are you saying the inside of the box? The inside of the drawers seemed fine. I think I do need to check the inside of the box though. The bottom of the box on the outside seemed fine when I looked at it. It mostly seems like the box was thrown around a decent amount and scratched up/got paint chipped, but the owner never really did anything to fix it, so rust developed. Can I do something similar to number 2 on the outside of the box as well? Should I get a snap on spray can or look for something else that matches? Luckily most of the rust is fairly dark and pretty liveable since it doesn’t look too bad. I would still want to take off some of the lighter colored rust on the sides though.

 

[countryroad82]

I'm saying the inside behind the drawers. I would be doing that as just a check, but if rust is present I would address it. You can order Snap On's rattle cans which is the easiest way and pretty much guaranteed to match. I think it's somewhere around $15 a can or you can experiment a little and see if you can find a rattle can that's close enough.

 

[Mr_B]

Stickers best heated, generally easier lift and glue wipes off easier too.
Pics aren't best but outer panels look scruffy so spraying all of them easier and quicker than messing with loads of spots and scrapes, if drawers not bad leave them or just do fronts of worst ones . I sprayed a fair few boxes and as long as not doing color change or all drawers it not too bad. 2pack and epoxy about 2 best paints for cost to quality .

 

[upsidedownone]

I'm saying the inside behind the drawers. I would be doing that as just a check, but if rust is present I would address it. You can order Snap On's rattle cans which is the easiest way and pretty much guaranteed to match. I think it's somewhere around $15 a can or you can experiment a little and see if you can find a rattle can that's close enough.

Ok, I’ll do that. When using snap on’s rattle cans do you still need to use primer? I think I’m going to try to get a can of their stuff to match the color and see if I can get away with just using one. Would I sand the rust, prime, sand the prime with a really fine grit for texture, then spray?

Stickers best heated, generally easier lift and glue wipes off easier too.
Pics aren't best but outer panels look scruffy so spraying all of them easier and quicker than messing with loads of spots and scrapes, if drawers not bad leave them or just do fronts of worst ones . I sprayed a fair few boxes and as long as not doing color change or all drawers it not too bad. 2pack and epoxy about 2 best paints for cost to quality .

Ok great, I will need to find a heat gun or hairdryer at a garage sale or something. Yeah sorry about that, it’s not with me at the moment so I had to take them straight off of OfferUp. Would spraying all the outer panels take a lot of paint though? How many coats would you do for that? With 2pack and epoxy, do you use both or would I just pick one? Sorry, I really don’t know much about either of those.

 

[Michael_in_DE]

A word of warning. I got a box and started pulling stickers with heat. Most of the time the stickers came off whole, some required a lot of fingernail scraping. But the biggest thing to look out for: some adhesives do not come off. I tried goo-gone, brake-clean, alcohol, and in desperation even acetone. None worked. And instead of a goofy sticker, I now have an ugly mess. The only solution is find a BIGGER sticker that you do like and put it over the spot.

 

[Mr_B]

1litre to 1.5 will do you pending on drawer condition from sticker removal.
Scruffy boxes and stickers can be a ballache get good unless go all way .
outer panels if got marks all over place best prep and primed in bare areas and then flatted in for top coat, I tend use straight gloss 2 packs as more durable and easier maintained on a tolbox and do 3 coats and light flat and polish if needed.
Not overly costly if got basics to start with but does consume fair bit of time, drawers consume loads of time and much harder paint well (just drawer fronts not such a big job).

 

[countryroad82]

Ok, I’ll do that. When using snap on’s rattle cans do you still need to use primer? I think I’m going to try to get a can of their stuff to match the color and see if I can get away with just using one. Would I sand the rust, prime, sand the prime with a really fine grit for texture, then spray?.

I'm a paint and body man by trade, so I would treat it the same as if I were doing a car (sort of). Sand down to good metal, feather out the surrounding areas, etch the bare metal (if it's a large area), 2 good coats of primer, sand the primer with 320, paint. If you wind up going pretty high on the sides like I think you will, just paint the whole sides, it's easier.

 

[upsidedownone]

A word of warning. I got a box and started pulling stickers with heat. Most of the time the stickers came off whole, some required a lot of fingernail scraping. But the biggest thing to look out for: some adhesives do not come off. I tried goo-gone, brake-clean, alcohol, and in desperation even acetone. None worked. And instead of a goofy sticker, I now have an ugly mess. The only solution is find a BIGGER sticker that you do like and put it over the spot.

Good to know. Any idea what the reason was? Just a cheap sticker? I’ll make sure to look out for that. Most of the stickers looked like they had decent separation from the box, a couple thinner ones looked like they could potentially be a pain.

1litre to 1.5 will do you pending on drawer condition from sticker removal.
Scruffy boxes and stickers can be a ballache get good unless go all way .
outer panels if got marks all over place best prep and primed in bare areas and then flatted in for top coat, I tend use straight gloss 2 packs as more durable and easier maintained on a tolbox and do 3 coats and light flat and polish if needed.
Not overly costly if got basics to start with but does consume fair bit of time, drawers consume loads of time and much harder paint well (just drawer fronts not such a big job).

That would be pretty expensive if I got the paint from snap-on. Is there any way I can just do some light sanding over the scruffed up area and do a real thin coat with a spray can? Do you have any idea what the cost of matching that amount of paint would be like? Unfortunately, I have almost no tools for painting at the moment. Not a huge deal to get if they can be reused, but I’d prefer to have to get as little as possible.

I'm a paint and body man by trade, so I would treat it the same as if I were doing a car (sort of). Sand down to good metal, feather out the surrounding areas, etch the bare metal (if it's a large area), 2 good coats of primer, sand the primer with 320, paint. If you wind up going pretty high on the sides like I think you will, just paint the whole sides, it's easier.

What should I use to etch? How do I keep something like that from running onto the surrounding paint? I think that sounds good, I’ll definitely try it. If I do end up going high, can I just spray over existing paint or is that a bad idea?

 

[Mr_B]

Other option could be wrapping it perhaps !
Paint don't have to be that expensive (don't buy from snapon, get local paint shop match 1lt of 2k top coat and get self etch primer (I prefer epoxy primer) and high build primer) but if you not got any paint equipment it be bit more costly get started . You could try lightly touching up but doubt it work well, spraying all the sides is easiest way get decent finished result .

 

[johnyg]

did the same thing with a so side box. started off as just a good cleaning but bloomed into a full re-paint with auto paint and a hf spray gun. looks great but now the main looks like ****!!!

 

[Michael_in_DE]

Why were the stickers adhesive so bad? No idea. I've never had something that Goo-Gone couldn't take care of. It was weird. IT's been a while, but I am pretty sure they were the older paper stickers not the newer vinyl stickers.