Hi Speedy and B_B, I think I have seen this brand at Bunnings. From memory Speedy got it at Auto Barn. Good luck finding an AB outlet near you. There aren't as many as there used to be -in Sydney at least. There's one quite a drive away from me on the Central Coast -at least there used to be.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
MF, At least 3 Bunnings within 10 mins, Repco, 5 mins, Mitre 10 4 mins, Super Costly 8 mins, Home Hardware and AutoOne not sure, but trust me having all those stores doesn't make it worth moving here apart from the fact we don't have any smoke here at the moment
Well I think that we've solved the Ultra Color Deep Green Hammertone issue as I left a full can out in the really warm sun yesterday for a few hours and then shook it up for about a good solid 10 minutes and then managed to spray the whole can without any issues at all.
So I guess that the concept of the paint skinning is what's happened and if not broken up completely it will create issues with blockages up the inside feeder tube. The heat induced certainly facilitates the breaking down and desolving of the unwanted skin inside.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
That's encouraging news B_B!! So the secret is probably to shake the can for an abnormally long time after being warmed up for a few hours in sunlight. Will you try this on one of the blocked our partially blocked cans, presuming you can restart one? Must see if it works on another. Ten minutes is a long time but better safe than sorry. I wonder if you could use a stop watch and do a total of ten minutes with time out as long as the total shaking time adds up to ten minutes?
So glad it worked for you. It's a beauty of a colour for SB restorations or refreshment of appearance. They need to keep making it!!
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
I'd pretty safely say that it won't work on an already blocked can.
Because that would've gone hard halfway up the pick up feeder tube.
Also I've thrown out all the blocked cans now so can't really experiment with one of those. Maybe B_S could have a crack with one of his cans still laying around.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Well after dropping all my fasteners and associated originally Zinc plated components off at the Electroplaters on Friday morning, I was shocked when I went back 3 hours later to find that they were all black and messed up. I was told that they would have another go at them on Monday morning. Honestly I couldn't believe it, what a mess they all were.
Anyway I decided to drop in again first thing this morning and ask if I could do them there myself as some of you might know that I'm actually a retired Electroplater by Trade. The owner of the shop said I'm most welcome to if I want and hey ! who am I to knock back an opportunity to get back into it after not doing this type of work for over 35 years. Nothing has changed and after 3 hours I walked out with all my gear noicely plated and looking like brand new nuts and bolts etc.
Sadly I didn't take any photos of all the 5 long strings of wiring up after it came out of the bath and as such I've already sorted it all out ready for re-assembly of the chassis. I just now have to polish the handle bars so that they can go to a different shop to be chromed again as the shop I went to today only do Zinc Plating and nothing else.
Regardless, it's all coming together nicely and will certainly outshine all my other machines, that's for sure.
Cheers, BB.
PS. regarding the paint tins one could drill a very fine hole with the can laying on it's side, but make sure you've got a good large absorbent rag on hand, maybe a second operator would be helpful in this instance with the rag / towel.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
I've cut open many spray cans that the spray nozzle didn't work , I just throw a metal spike into the can from 1 meter away, the spike is a round 2 foot rod about an inch thick with a sharp point on one end.
I wouldn't drill a hole into a flammable pressurized container, It's not the drilling that will get you, It's the electric spark created by the motor in your drill, look into the vents in your drill and pull the trigger, that blue arc you see plus fuel vapor equals KaBoom.
Never had any problems with the spike idea ,cut open more than 50 spray cans this way.
Sounds like a great job on the electroplating BB,If you want a job done right ,do it yourself .
I got about 6-7 blocked cans, haven't had much time lately as I have been snowed under with so much going on. If I get a chance I might see if I can warm the cans up and see if they come back to life. 10mins to shake the can up sounds like damn hard work, might have to pull out Harry Belafonte and shake shake shake Senora. Glad you figured it out BB I still got a few more full unused cans so hopefully I can now run them dry.
I guess the the drilling idea wasn't the sharpest thing I've come up with. Maybe using a very sharp smaller size nail and laying a rag over the whole area while laying the can in an open vice so it's contained and supported. Then just swiftly drive the nail in just enough to pierce the can and allow the pressure out. Make sure you have plenty of rag on hand so that any expelled paint doesn't make a mess of everything around you.
After that one must enlarge the hole that's been made in the lower section of the can so as to drain the remainder out and put it into an airtight container.
B_S,
as far as shaking them for around 10 minutes is concerned just take a can with you where ever you go around the house and continually shake it when your hand is free. You'll be surprised how quick 10 minutes goes past.
I'm about to put a photo up of the handle bar assembly fully polished in raw steel.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Well check out the difference, and yes it's the exact same pair of bars, no substitution here.
One shot before and the other after polishing. Please note these have not yet been off for chroming yet. That's about to happen next week.
This is a process that's pretty much not obtainable without the correct gear, firstly I sent the bars off to have the old chrome stripped and also pickled so as to remove the rust.
From there I started off with 3 different Glazing wheels followed up with a Sisal Polishing wheel using "Carbrax" Medium Greasy polish.
I'll post photos up after the chrome work has been completed.
The last photo is about as bad as what's left behind of some of the massive rust pitting that was on this set. Note that this photo is taken in Macro setting and as such the naked eye will hardly notice it. If I was still in the plating industry I would leave these bars in the Copper Bath for a fdull day and then re-polish these back down to the steel thus leaving any pitting filled up with copper and thus leaving the surface totally unblemished.
This process is called Copper Polishing an item
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Hi there B_B and Bon Scott, that's an astonishing result. I wish I was up to speed on what polishing compounds to get. I would be happy to leave mine that way If I wasn't going for a hard core restore. Here are what I have. First are three discs for use with a drill. They are about 1 & 1/2" diameter. One is sand, the other two a Scotch Brite type scourer discs, one red, the other brown. The other is a drill mounted polishing kit for precious metals with three grades of polishing of 3" diameter pads and three grades of compound. I'd consider handle bars as precious lol.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Well a few update photos of how things currently stand.
The Handlebar shield is basically finished and now sports a "Genuine Brass plate badge" exactly the same as the original that was removed in the machines tear down. This is not the reproduction decal as most folks purchase via eBay, rather it was obtained from George at "BonMods". The Chain case and catcher decals also arrived today from our ODK Member "Willingworker" who predominantly does all the lawnmower decals that are listed and sold via eBay.
And today the Verti-Cutter Reel has been finished off and is ready for installation and action. Check out the photos below.
I've chosen Red as the colour for it as it pretty much represents how a normal cutting reel would look in sit-u with most folks restorations.
Another 3 hours were spent this morning on the polishing of the handlebars from what is pictured above and were today delivered to "A Class Metal Refinishers" who are located at Lonsdale in Adelaide's southern area. They seem to be the only Electroplating shop left in Adelaide that specialise in restoration chroming. I've looked at some of their work and it basically can't be faulted from where I can see it. Hopefully I should get them back around next Wednesday.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Freaking amazing B_B. I can't get over the quality of the hammered paint in the first photo. The lighting is great for close up examination. Did you bake it? Love the cutting reel too. Well done. Logo looks awesome as well.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
