Finishes for steampunk/industrial style
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Metriccar
- 3.5 Star Member
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- Joined: Fri Apr 26, 2013 9:56 pm
Finishes for steampunk/industrial style
If you are doing something to look like steampunk or industrial style, what finish do you use? Do you just do bare hot rolled and leave the mill scale on? won't it rust eventually?
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Shane Warnick
- 3.5 Star Member
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- Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2014 11:03 pm
Re: Finishes for steampunk/industrial style
Well, the first thing is it depends on where the finished piece is meant to be displayed. Inside or outside?
I have mixed my pwn oil / lacquer finish (you can find dozens of recipes on google, but basically 1/3 tung oil or boiled linseed oil, 1/3 paint thinner, and 1/3 lacquer) and spray that on, or wipe it on, whatever. It will take a few coats to build up a nice layer, and it works best if you put it on while it's fairly hot (sprays easier) and the piece is warm / hot as well. You can use a small torch and raise the temp of the piece up to say 150 degrees or so, just warmer than is comfortable to touch with your bare hands.
The other option I use on indoor stuff is just some satin poly clear. Probably the easier by far. I usually knock the dross off, wire brush welds etc, rinse it off with some brake cleaner, warm it up to drive all the cleaner off etc, and then spray it.
For outdoor stuff, I clean grind etc and get it ready, then wash the hell out of it with brake cleaner, then get a layer of semi gloss or satin clear powder coat on it and it's good. They key here is that they MUST preheat the part before spraying it, a lot of shops wont bring the part all the way up to temp first, some even spray cold. It's critical that they preheat to full temp BEFORE removing it and spraying clear on it, then back in the oven to flow the powder and cure it. Preheating burns off any remaining oil etc. Downside is, with items that are outside that have illumination built in, you have to be able to wire it after the fact. Otherwise, satin clear is about the best if you can't remove and reinstall the lights.
Your mileage may vary, but it's worked good for me so far.
Shane
I have mixed my pwn oil / lacquer finish (you can find dozens of recipes on google, but basically 1/3 tung oil or boiled linseed oil, 1/3 paint thinner, and 1/3 lacquer) and spray that on, or wipe it on, whatever. It will take a few coats to build up a nice layer, and it works best if you put it on while it's fairly hot (sprays easier) and the piece is warm / hot as well. You can use a small torch and raise the temp of the piece up to say 150 degrees or so, just warmer than is comfortable to touch with your bare hands.
The other option I use on indoor stuff is just some satin poly clear. Probably the easier by far. I usually knock the dross off, wire brush welds etc, rinse it off with some brake cleaner, warm it up to drive all the cleaner off etc, and then spray it.
For outdoor stuff, I clean grind etc and get it ready, then wash the hell out of it with brake cleaner, then get a layer of semi gloss or satin clear powder coat on it and it's good. They key here is that they MUST preheat the part before spraying it, a lot of shops wont bring the part all the way up to temp first, some even spray cold. It's critical that they preheat to full temp BEFORE removing it and spraying clear on it, then back in the oven to flow the powder and cure it. Preheating burns off any remaining oil etc. Downside is, with items that are outside that have illumination built in, you have to be able to wire it after the fact. Otherwise, satin clear is about the best if you can't remove and reinstall the lights.
Your mileage may vary, but it's worked good for me so far.
Shane
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Redneck
- 3 Star Member
- Posts: 273
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:16 pm
Re: Finishes for steampunk/industrial style
Be careful when using brake cleaner and heat. I don't know how much heat it takes to make a problem, but be aware of the potential danger. http://www.thefabricator.com/article/ar ... urn-deadly
