Thanks for the info. Several people have recommended that I bake the paint, so I think I'll try that. I do have a gas stove in the basement with an oven that is rarely used for food, so I'll try it with that. If I use it for baking paint, does that mean I should never use it again for food, or should I just burn off any remaining paint fumes before using it to cook food? The scratches in my 2-B were really big (gouges), not just fine scratches. I could probably live with those. Hopefully it won't scratch as deep if it hardens some. I'll make sure to use the painter's tape again when I slide the radio back into the cabinet. 73, Al Al -
Most all 2-Bs have those scratches! :-) The new ones were painted, not powder coated. One thing that will help is to bake the paint. An hour or so in a 125 - 150 degree oven will really harden it up. If the XYL won't let you use the kitchen oven for an hour or so, (not all that unusual!), a decent job can be done in several hours with a cardboard box and a 100W light bulb. But hurry, while you can still FIND a 100W light bulb! I repainted a Teletype machine cabinet many years ago with spray paint, baked the smaller pieces in the oven, and baked the big cabinet with 'brooder' (heat) lamps, moving them around to heat the entire cabinet over a day or two. 30 years later that paint is still unscratched. 73, Garey - K4OAH Glen Allen, VA Drake 2-B, 2-C/2-NT, 4-B, C-Line& TR-4/C Service Supplement CDs <www.k4oah.com> Schichler, Alfred (GE Energy Services) wrote: > I recently acquired a 2B that was in fairly decent condition, but the > cabinet needed a paint job to look good because it had several little > scratches and blemishes. > Anyway, after sanding the whole cabinet down, priming it, and spraying > it with Rustoleum Satin Black paint, It came out pretty nice looking, > I let it sit for close to a week before putting the radio back in the > cabinet. > The problem is, no matter how gently I put the radio back in the > cabinet, the paint on the inside bottom of the cabinet gets scratched > badly. Mostly in two places - bottom left and bottom right. Just the > front 3/4" or so. I originally thought it was the chassis scraping it, > but I found out it's mostly the bottom of the front panel. (the > edges were kind of sharp, but I subsequently sanded them lightly). If > I try touching up the scratched areas with a brush or Q-tip, those > spots are still very noticeable, and don't look too good. > After re-sanding and re-spraying the inside bottom several times, I > finally found out that if I put painter's tape along the inside bottom > (front) of the cabinet, I can slide the radio back into the cabinet > extremely carefully, and still have the paint intact. (I managed to do > it once anyway). Now I'm afraid of ever taking the radio back out of > the cabinet for fear of getting the paint scratched. I know the > original paint was much more durable, but I believe they used a > powder-type paint. > I'm not sure if the paint is ever going to harden to the point that it > won't easily be scratched, or should I maybe consider using an > expensive spray paint that is supposed to be real tough and actually > harden to the point that it can take a slight bit of abuse. I don't > have the luxury of having an oven, compressor, spray gun, or other > professional painting equipment. > Thanks for any help, > Al, WA2AS
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