3 coats of primer, 3 coats of silver (VHT for the chimney) finished off with VHT clear lacquer..all hanging on the washing line. Lock down does have its benefits.. I'm going to leave it a day before re-assembly..Keep telling myself 'I must wait! lol..in my enthusiasm I tend to rush putting them back together and mark something.. Martin
I understand how difficult it can trying to keep your hands of a recently sprayed lamp. All the hard work has been done, it is looking great....... It is far better to follow the paint manufacturers instructions in regards to cure/dry times even go a day or two beyond them in cooler weather. Whatever you do, try and resist the temptation, as I said, I know how hard it is.
I'll post some more when she's all in one piece..I've taken apart everything, cleaned polished all the brass, copper including the screw heads and pivet nuts, she's gonna be a stunner. Lol..
good show. good spraying weather is nearly here. love it when its hot and the paint can cure in the sun.
Lol..yeah..now getting the last half hour on the front room window ledge..the sun has disappeared from the garden... Martin..
That can be a challenge within itself depending on where you live - outside of owning a spray booth. If you follow the manufacturers directions to the T it can be difficult. Trying to get the right temperature and humidity that go hand in hand is a bit of a challenge where I live. Then of course, if you are spraying outdoors, you can have the temperature and humidity withing the correct levels but it is blowing a gale... *There is a point I'm trying to make in regards to the following. My daughter does craft and she uses 2 pack resin sometimes. The resin dries clear. The resin instructions states that mixing resin in higher than 75% humidity won't allow the resin to cure properly. My daughter found out the hard way that what they state in the instructions and the warnings given are there for a reason. When using the resin, and either forgetting what the instructions said or she didn't bother reading the warnings, my daughter went through a period where the resin was hardening but is wasn't clear, it was a yellowish colour that you couldn't see through. At first she thought she may have used too much hardener or not enough. No matter what she did over the following couple of weeks the resin would not behave as it had previously for her. My daughter finally decided that the resin or hardener had gone bad somehow. She order more resin and believe me, it isn't cheap, and asked me what did I think was the best way to dispose of the 'bad' resin. I wondered how I could use the 'bad' resin and read the information on the bottle of resin plus the instructions. After reading everything, I wandered in and asked my daughter where she kept her humidity gauge. She told me she didn't have one - what do I need it for? In the end, it was the humidity that was causing all the grief. My daughter bought a humidity gauge and now only does resin within the correct parameters. Again, that can be challenging waiting for a good day to come along. *The point to my story is, my daughter could see what the consequences of working outside of the guidelines were, even if at first she didn't understand it. With paint, you may not immediately notice the consequences of working outside of the guidelines. If paint is sprayed in too humid conditions, whilst it looks fine to you, the excess water trapped in the paint won't allow the paint to dry properly and sometimes it never dries properly. It may look fine but its integrity is not. At a later stage, the paint is likely to peel or flake and all your hard work has been for nought.
Most of the rattle cans I use for spraying just indicate a temperature for optimum working. Obviously it helps if it's dry and clear and no wind. I think we would all love a spray booth, but sometimes you have to do the best you can with what you have. I guess I've done okay with my spraying so far, nothing has peeled or bubbled .
That may come down to locality. I live in the sub tropics where humidity can nearly be off the charts and may play a bigger role overall than someone that lives in Europe or even southern Australia. I would think temperature would be problematic for those that live in Europe, most noticeably the winter months. I would have thought temperatures of between 20C - 25C would be ideal for spraying. The Metal Cover paint that I recently posted a topic on says the paint should be used @ 15C to 30C. In winter, most places in Europe are, flat out like a lizard drinking, in reaching temps of 15C. Absolutely. I hope I don't give the impression that I don't bend or break the rules sometimes. I'd rather not but of course I have just like most of us will have. It does come down to what surface you are covering IMO. A large surface area that is going to be visible once the job is done, such as the Tilley in the OP, more caution should probably be taken than say when you are painting a cage's base plate. In the end, it is each to their own. Would I spray a lamp and couple of hours or even days later, would I re-assemble the lamp - no. I'm certainly not going to send the paint police around to anyone that does.
I get what you're saying guys. Temperature and humidity were fine yesterday but I did find myself pausing every now and then as is was a little breezy. I did use a bit more paint as a consequence though lol.
All the parts had another 4 hours on the radiator this morning.. If anyone else is doing similar to an AL21? A couple of things I learnt when re-assembling (4 leg version) is to leave the 4 body screws loose and place the unit on a flat surface, twist the body until all four feet touch without rocking. Also, it is much easier putting in the reflector from the rear of the front section before mating the two halves together. Martin
Thanks all, my wife does support me with the lamps but she's not exactly brimming over with enthusiasm when it comes to giving out compliments or praise when I've been fettling. 'yeah, it's just like all the others you've got' is about as much as she can muster lol. It's nice to receive comments from like minded souls. Cheers Martin
Martin, That is one seriously fine job you have done. Good Lord! I find the lacquers that you don't bake take the longest of anything to dry out. They can still be sticky even days after the last coat is applied.
I agree Matty, the lacquer feels soft for several days, I'll place the lamp in the window for a couple of weeks to bake it hard. Thanks so much for your kind words, much appreciated. Martin.
That is a wonderful restoration. Well done sir. Would love to fettle one myself someday. Too bad these type of lamps are very hard to find round these parts.
