Mom steals husband's tools, tries to learn to paint!

[apocalypsegrrrl]

OK, this could be funny!

I have an HJ60 that I want to paint, but since I'm deeply in love with it, and I know I'll screw it up at this point, I'm going to start with my horse trailer, and I'm hoping for some advice along the way. The trailer has a lot of surface rust, but no rust through. It's in way worse shape than the 60 though, so it should give me ample practice. It also has ****py stickers pealing off all over it and needs the windows replaced.

Here are some shots of the trailer and the power tools I have at my disposal. I'm delving into the 101 sticky, and will post as my progress goes on.

First question: The quickest way to get the stickers off?

Thanks!

 

[copasspupil]

They actually have a tool that removes them that you can get at any auto paint store. It looks like hard rubber and as it spins around it pulls the sticker off without damaging the paint.

 

[apocalypsegrrrl]

Thanks, Danno! I'm heading out to buy one.

For the rust, I've heard some people say use the wire brush drill attachment, and others say put a rubber sanding attachment on the grinder and get some sanding discs. The grinder seems like it would cover more surface faster, and I've got a lot of surface to cover...Opinions?

 

[copasspupil]

Go get a 6-8" makita and 80 grit paper and sand away. There is a spray you can use to remove the rust but you have to wash it off and prime immediately. Any questions por15 is your friend jusy be sure to prime it after with in it's tacky phase.

Also, don't be afraid to paint, prepping it is 95% of the effort. Prepped right and it will look great.

 

[apocalypsegrrrl]

Another day, another set of questions

I got the stickers off. Thanks for the advice.

Now I'm grinding away on the rust, and I feel like I'm headed toward a bare metal restoration...I'm not sure if that's what I need and I know it's not what I want to do. This trailer is only worth about $2000 nicely painted, so I don't want to put a huge amount into it in time and materials, but I do want to do a decent job, stop the rust and learn some SKILLS.

So... On the panels, the picture shows the general rust issues: nothing deep, but a lot of spots all over the place. Do I just sand the whole dang panel down to bare metal? If I just spot sand, can I prime the whole trailer in one go, or do I really have to use a different primer for the painted parts than the bare metal parts?

Next, on a lot of the seems, it's pretty nasty. So I'm thinking I'll clean them up with the wire brush attatchement for the drill, then what? Seem sealer? POR 15? Both?

 

[apocalypsegrrrl]

does this look right?

Here's my progress report...

I forgot to mention, I have an air compressor and a spray gun that I can also steal

 

[copasspupil]

You will have considerably more rust on there than you think. I've always heard that you have 3-4X more rust than you think you had. The seem has rust in it. If you por15 it, you will still have to seem seal it.

Think of seem seal as caulking a window. Even if you paint the window, you must caulk it to seal it from the elements and keep weather tight.

 

[apocalypsegrrrl]

Thanks again, Danno. I've got most of the rust off. My hands are buzzing...

I'm thinking about putting diamond plate in the places where the stickers were after I rust proof as well as possible in there. I really hate stickers now. Getting the glue off was a lot harder than getting the rust off. Any way, does anyone have advice about where to buy cheap diamond plate?

 

[apocalypsegrrrl]

Finally...

I finally shot paint today. The first side was not a great experience, but by the time I got to the second side, I kinda figured it out. What's the best, fastest way to get the drips out of side 1?

 

[Xanatost]

If its not big drips or runs you can get by with a razor blade. If not then sanding

 

[apocalypsegrrrl]

sand and repaint? Or sand and buff?

Also, the roof was a pain in the butt: I suck at spraying horizontal surfaces. Any suggestions? Can you put the hardener in the paint and roll it on? If so, do you use reducer?

 

[apocalypsegrrrl]

I'm done with that: now leering at the HJ60 with a grinder in my hands

Thanks for the advice on the project. It turned out ok. I learned a lot anyway. Hopefully enough to do a better job on my cruiser. Here's some after pics if you're interested. Thanks for the advice!

Trailer pictures by sarandkev - Photobucket

 

[laguna80]

That looks great!

 

[YupYup]

Congratulations on taking on such a large project with little to no experience. I hope you had fun and the trailer turned out nicely.

Definitely have more guts than I do.

-Chris

 

[apocalypsegrrrl]

Well, I knew nothing would get done after school started. But I spent the winter screwing up scrap metal with my welder and learned a thing or two. Then I decided to pull the seats and floor mats out to avoid lighting them on fire, and I found a hole in the floor. So I cut it out, shaped a new piece of sheet metal and tacked it in there.

 

[cody c]

That looks like a good start, lots of folks use dry ice to lift the factory black stuff on the floor, then after priming/sealing/painting it they use a deadener like cruiser crap or dynamat to lessen the in cab noise from the engine and the road.

 

[gregnash]

Cody is right, most use dry ice to help the stuff come up and then use a chisel and hammer to get it off.
I have seen a few builds where guys use a Power Tool like this with the wider blade to get under the factory deadener material and it doesn't gouge the metal. I am thinking this would be the fastest way and throwing some dry ice on beforehand would probably really speed the process up.

 

[apocalypsegrrrl]

Cody is right, most use dry ice to help the stuff come up and then use a chisel and hammer to get it off.
I have seen a few builds where guys use a Power Tool like this with the wider blade to get under the factory deadener material and it doesn't gouge the metal. I am thinking this would be the fastest way and throwing some dry ice on beforehand would probably really speed the process up.

Is that black stuff asbestos? It chips out pretty easily with just a utility knife and a putty knife, but it's shiny, black and goes EVERYWHERE when I mess with it. I've got a good mask on when I work on sanding and grinding stuff, but asbestosis is pretty close to the last thing I need.

 

[gregnash]

No I dont believe it is asbestos, at least no one has ever mentioned it being, I believe it is just a tar based deadener.