Tilley SDR paint

Hi can anyone tell me what type of paint to use on my Sdr Tilley tank.

 

Col

Black gloss. I would use an automotive paint or VHT-brand paint.

If you use the VHT-brand paint, choose the one that you bake at 94C (200F) for 1 hour, not the ones that require higher heat.

If you choose automotive paint (such as Dupli-color) either leave it for a week or 10 days after painting so that the paint cures properly, or bake it at 65C for an hour or so.

Warning: if baking your paint, don't do it in the oven in the kitchen unless the coast is very clear. It stinks!

Tony

@col

 

Try Halfords or your local motor factor for black car aerosol paint i.e. a rattle can. Also Plastikote spray enamel in black from B&Q or Wilko...

 

Thanks David, and thanks for the warning Tony the wife's just said I'm not baking tilley lamps in the oven.

 

Somehow wives tend to loose their sense of humour when we bake our lamp stuff in THEIR oven. I'm a bit lucky here as my wife has lost her sense of smell so I can get away with it.

 

I have my own oven in the garage. Yay me!

 

Colin,

Having your own oven sure does come in handy.
For me if I needed to bake some paint I would have to do it with the over in the kitchen and I'd have to do it when my wife is at work. If I were to use her oven and she found out about it she would be more then livid. Yep I'd have to camp in the garage for a month of Sundays.

Norman

 

I've never really understood this fetish for baking on paint - there's never any mention of the need for it on the rattle cans I use. On the other hand, I'm so slow at fettling, the paint's probably hardened naturally by the time I ever get around to lighting the lamp.

Hopefully that's not too opinionated for some folk...

 

Not too opinionated for me, David.

I’m the one who bought it up in this thread.

The reasons I do it is that:

1. I quite often use a paint (VHT-brand or similar) that requires baking for it to cure properly, thus making it far more resistant to chemical reaction or scratching; or

2. I use a standard automotive paint that cures faster by being baked. Most standard automotive paint finishes that I use say something like “leave for 10 days before polishing”. I asked some mechanics who finish their restored vehicles’ paintwork in a heat chamber, and they said an hour at 65C will properly cure most automotive finishes.

Cheers

Tony

 

VHT-brand paint:



“Extremely important. After paint is completely dry it must be cured to substantially increase the durability of the finish and enhance chemical resistance. Cure at 200F (93C) for 1 hour. ...”.


Dupli-Color Autospray:



“Allow paint to dry 5-7 days before polishing”.


Both of these examples are clear coat, but the same instruction apply to coloured paints of each respective variety of each product.

It was Henry Plews who reminded us, in an earlier conversation on this subject, about Tilley sending “...components ... to infra-red ovens...” (page 10 of Jim Dick’s book).

Cheers

Tony

 

Thanks Tony - I was wondering whether Tilley (or any other lamp manufacturer) baked on paint and now I have my answer. I must have looked at that page in Jim Dick's book and read the caption under the photograph countless times and still managed to forget.

My presumption would be that the paint-baking was to prevent damage to the finish during the subsequent manufacturing process.

I think I'll just keep on fettling in my own sweet way without baking-on paint - slow and sure gets the job done for me...

 

I'll be ripping out the kitchen next month. One less item to take to the recycling centre now......

 

I don't think there's a 'need' as such... most if not all rattle can paints will cure on their own, however, an oven speeds up the process hugely and it could be argued that it does a better job long term. I think heating in an oven does a more thorough job of evaporating the solvents used in paint. Because it happens more quickly maybe it tackles the solvents inside the paint rather than on the surface rather than forming a skin on the surface... this has been my observation. Also, you can cure a layer enough to add another in under a couple of hours so over a Saturday (my paint spraying day) I can give a fount or another component 3 good coats and leave the final one in the oven for 4 or 5 hours at which point it's extremely tough and ready to assemble when it's cooled. I also think heating tends to smooth the surface although I'd need to do some sort of test to see if that's true. Oh, and one last possible advantage might be that it speeds up the molecular cross-linking as most paints contain some form of long-chain plastics formulation.

*Citation needed on ALL the above information.*

I find that all my 'oven cured' paint jobs are way harder and more durable. I know the car industry heats paint in giant ovens, so there must be some advantage of they wouldn't do it.

 

I've sprayed primer on the tank and hood cap and goin to spray on the black the weekend, can't risk baking in the kitchen I'll have to wait 10 days unless I can find an oven thanks everyone.

 

@col

The alternative to waiting 10 days is to handle carefully and avoid spills especially.

Tony

 

Tilley's ovens might explain wjhy the paint on the Guardsman and X246A takes a lot of effort to remove and X246B paint only needs to see the can of paint stripper to come off

 

I use Hammerite smooth rattle can paint and stove it on at about 150c. In my case it is impatience rather than neccessity as I never want to wait ten days for anything. Reason for Hammerite is because I have a couple of cans here anyway to use on steel parts so it comes to hand for brass tanks that need painting black. ::Neil::

 

I was extremely lucky to be given a Clarke oven that had been used in a school Tech room. I looked up the list price and nearly fell off my chair! Given that it's basically a metal box with a door and a fancy thermostat/timer, the preice they charge is immoral!

If anyone who lives close (I live in the West coast of Scotland) would like to swing by and make us of it, feel free.

PS. If anyone's interested it's a Clarke 200FD circluated oven.

 

Hmm.. you might regret that offer Colin, my projects are lining up! Do you take beer or straight malt as payment for an energy contribution?

Stevie

 

Great I'll get her sprayed and reasembled carefully and in the meantime see if I can find an oven for next time .The bottom rim of the reflector is speckled is there nothing i can do about that.

 

@BigStevie A beer and a blather about Lamps and lanterns will do just fine!

 

I have a small, simple electric oven all for myself. It has never been used for baking anything that's edible.
I've never bake any paints or coatings to speed up drying. I usually allow them to completely air-dry before subjecting them to elevated temperatures.
If they are ever needed, its mainly to speed up curing or to improve the degree of curing of some paints/coatings. Accordingly, it'll improve the hardness/strengths, chemical and solvent resistances as well as durability of those. Especially true for epoxy-type paints/coatings.

 

Autosol worked well on my SDR

 

Autosol? - the metal polish?

At Locomotion, we use 'Peek' metal polish - as do other heritage railways. Mind you, the National Railway Museum at York may not be aware of this and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the entire conservation department had corporate apoplexy supposing they didn't and found out. They're very concerned we don't completely polish away our 80-odd ton railway locomotives...

Anyway:-

P.S. I didn't just polish the nameplate - I cleaned that whole side, although when the photograph was taken it was still a bit too hot to polish (ouch!)…

P.P.S. And before anyone asks, no, it wasn't me who put that dent in the boiler cladding. There are some clumsy gets about...

 

If there was ever an image of a man happy at his toil...

NRM management? It's some years since I've visited York, I was bemused at the sign hanging on a chain blocking access to the footplate of a locomotive which read something like 'no access to this vehicle'... Vehicle??? At what point did er start referring to a loco as a vehicle? Or am I out of touch?

 

Yes, it caused me some puzzlement also!

There's a bit of a dichotomy of opinion between York and Shildon when it comes to cab access. Trevor and I do cab access for 4771 'Green Arrow' each Wednesday. There's also a Black 5 the public can access. Currently all other locomotives are not cab accessible for a variety of reasons - no suitable access steps, asbestos, asbestos surveys pending etc. Essentially, York want to limit cab access as far as they can (to zero, seemingly) in case we wear away the locomotives by touching them. At the same time, they've been quite happy to allow parts to be cannibalised to keep other locomotives running. It seems an odd way to conserve an artefact and hugely frustrating to me...

 

Ah yes, Dave, boys and their toys!
I envy you... steam locomotives, romance on the rails.
I remember laying in bed at night when I was a kid, listening to those locos trying to pull the load and hearing the wheels slightly slip. Brings back memories.

 

In the Summer, we can hear the The Jacobite steam loco as it goes past our house! When I'm working in the Garden I can judge the time by it's whisle and the hiss of the steam every hour! It's bloomin marvelous!

 

Whats the opinion on tanks that were black being polished? Should they be reverted back to black?

 

My view is back to black.

But it’s up to you, really.

Cheers

Tony