finally painting my rig!

[Eric Carroll]

After three years of changing things around and getting rusty we are finally painting my truck. I say we because the guys that work for me are doing most of the work.(sandblasting) I am alsohaving the cab painted black by a shop that paints big rigs. heres some pics, I'll post more as we get more done.

[mainecowboy]

Looks great! Got more pics?

[kiwi]

Is that your welder next to the truck bed? Do you think that the blasting media will damage the welder?
Thanks,
Nick

[Eric Carroll]

That is the machine that goes on this truck. The blaster is so small you would have to point it right at the welding machine to hurt it. It is getting a little dusty, but all the sheet metal is coming off for maint. and a good cleaning. Sort of on topic, does anyone have any tips to make these small sand blasters work better?

[davinci2010]

Sift the sand through a mesh screen first to break up any lumps that have formed due to moisture in the sand. Add a good moisture seperator in your air line to prevent adding more moisture. Most of the problems with these blasters are due to moisture. Can't see what size compressor you are running,but it would be good to check your nozzle size on the blaster. These use a large volume of air and have different size nozzles with different air requirements. If you are running silica sand, it may not be enough for heavy rust. Try aluminum oxide, it is more aggresive.

[whoaha]

Anyone thinking about repainting their rig and are cleaning the rust off and going to bare metal must metal prep with zinc chromate based primer,and prime with organic zinc for best results alot of times for cabinets and shelves on a rig you can paint wet on wet by priming then painting, awhile ago the Endura rep asked me to try and scratch a panel he had painted with organic zinc both with Dupont and Endura and I could not scratch through them adhesion was so good and so rust could not travel.Alot of people like powder coat but powdercoat is the worse thing to use for industrial applications because often it is sandblasted, all it takes is a penetration of the finish and rust will travel under the powdercoat.I had a Ranger with a factory bar package in 87 and it rusted under the powdercoat,lasted three years, in 1990 I sandblasted the powdercoat off(very hard job I wish I would have tried a torch) primed with organic zinc and painted flat black and their is no rust to this day, I still have the truck.
Some may disagree but paint is always better than powdercoat because you always have future options.
How does your truck look now, have you finished?