Ideas on Loading Tool Refurb.

[W.R.Buchanan]

As I have stated before,,, I have yet to see a "Worn Out" Reloading press of any kind. The Redding Presses shown in another post are unique, and aside from needing a simple clean up they will probably outlast your Grand Kids.

Most Reloading Machinery tends to live in Garages and never seems to get covered up. The biggest enemy of any machine is dirt, and simply putting a plastic trash bag over the machine when not in use keeps 99% out.

Bringing 50 year old paint back to life can be as easy as douching the entire machine in WD40 and letting it sit overnight before wiping it off.

My best friend pioneered the science of making used motorcycles look new back in the 70's. Simply by a trip to the .25 cent car wash and then soaking all the painted metal in WD40 and all the fabric and rubber parts in Armor All. You let it sit for a day and then go back and wipe off or hose off all the excess. Works wonders.

We both continue to do this treatment to anything machinery to this day.

All the Loaders I buy used are typically taken apart and cleaned up using Fine Wire Brushes, Steel Wool, and Scotch Brite Wheels on my buffers for the unpainted parts. If the painted parts are Crackle finish they get washed in the sink with a fingernail brush to get the dirt out of all the nooks and crannies. After they are clean, I soak in WD40 or repaint as necessary.

Seagiant put me onto another technique which has worked out well and delivered excellent results and a unique effect.

Instead of stripping old crackle finish off the parts you simply clean them and overspray with a Hammertone paint. The results are dramatic and look absolutely "bitchin'" !

I have used the technique several times now and the results have been excellent, but more properly they allow someone who doesn't have a Blast Booth like mine, to obtain excellent results with nothing more than some elbow grease and a can of spray paint.

A fine wire wheel on a bench grinder removes rust from Blued or Black Oxide finished parts without removing the finish, even if it does thin out you can darken it by using Birchwood Casey's Cold bluing which I use constantly.

I try to spin Guide Rods against the Scotch Brite wheels until I get an even pattern on the part. This finish also holds lubricant well.

All these techniques are simple to do and will return your tools or guns back to a new state. And since they weren't worn out in the first place, essentially you are getting a new tool..

Also you can't hurt most of this stuff so if you are afraid of doing damage then ask here. Someone will set you strait on what to do, and usually you can depend on about 40 different opinions on methods to do any part of the resto.

All you have to do is ASK.

Photos: 1-2 Lachmiller Hull conditioner before and after.
3. DL266 .410 Disassembled and cleaned, WD 40 on the paint to liven it up. 4. DL266 12 ga. cleaned. 5. DL366 disassembled and cleaned WD40'd.
6.Herters PM Stripped repainted all parts buffed new powder tube and cap.
7. RCBS press cleaned and over painted with Rustoleum Hammertone Emerald.
CZ82 Stripped, Coated with Cera-Kote, 0000 steel wool to polish the grips.

Randy

[jugulater]

Currently all my presses are old, my youngest press is alittle over 40. ive even got a bunch of old Dies, and a couple Ideal Moulds, all of it still works flawlessly.

When i got my RC2 it had frozen up, after a lot of soaking and scrubbing it now serves as my sole Heavy Duty press.

Theres no reason not to clean up and reuse a perfectly capable piece of equipment.

[W.R.Buchanan]

That Pacific DL366 sat uncovered in a garage for 25 years! it looked like ship when I got it and all that had been done prior to me picking it up was it got blown off with an air hose. Paid $150 for it. It took me 4 hours to disassemble all the parts and clean them up and then they soaked a day in WD40, and another 2 hours to put it back together.

Notice how the paint looks new? It was a very dead flat red when I got it.

Bet I could get $350-400 for that press on the Trapshooters website. And it runs perfectly too.

Randy

[seagiant]

Hi,
Nice post, full of "secret" tips!

Nothing secret I guess, but any trade or work, done long enough, leads to knowledge!

I'm still jealous of the job you did on that pistol and that sweet Lachmiller Hull Reconditioner!

[W.R.Buchanan]

Greg: Lachmiller Tool was in pretty bad shape and I had to get a new spring and collet from RCBS, the Prep work was Grit Blast and wire wheel on the exposed metal and then paint with Rustoleum Sky Blue Hammertone. It literally took me longer to find the paint than it did to do the whole job. I use it to size and deprime all my 12 ga. hulls so that I can run them thru a washing machine prior to loading on the 366. It makes running the 366 easier as the first station is reprime instead of sizing. Also you are running clean hulls which makes the whole experience much nicer. It makes really nice ammo and is a joy to operate.

The pistol was nothing more than complete disassembly, grit blast, and paint with Cera-Kote. I have to tell you that the Cera-Kote was the best spraying paint I have ever used. It was very predictable during application and super easy to get a even coat on the parts. After talking to the guys at the SEMA Shot last Nov I found out that they grind their pigments to a really super fine screen which makes the paint cover but not fill details. That's part of the reason it sprays so well.

I used a new Harbor Freight Touch Up Gun ($12.95) and it worked great.

Prep work per the manual is a little more involved than many may be used to, but not hard in any way, and it's kind of overkill. They are trying to make sure that all oil is gone as any left will make a mess.

A Harbor Freight Blast Cabinet would be more than adequate for prep work on stuff this size. I'm using Steel Grit, (80 grit) for my blast media. It removes paint and rust faster than Alum Oxide and doesn't break down so you get more MPG out of it. It also leaves a little coarser surface profile than the ALOX so paint sticks better to it. I don't prime much of anything. I left all the little piece parts blued rather than painted on this one.

Most of the CZ82's out there are ex Czech Police Pistols. None of them got shot very much and they are excellent hide guns. All they need is a repaint as 20 years of holster wear has them looking bad. After 200 rounds thru mine after paint there is still no wear on the slide ways.

The paint is awesome, and I've got another CZ82 to do as well as several rifles, but they are on hold until I construct my oven. I cooked the pistol parts in an old Toaster Oven my wife abandoned as there was nothing wrong with it.

Randy

[DonMountain]

So, WD-40 is the chemical to clean greasy paint jobs with? I have a couple of old (1965) versions of the Pacific blue shotshell presses to clean up the paint on. Can I just use a rag soaked in WD-40 to clean the painted areas effectively? And what do I clean the WD-40 off with?

[seagiant]

Hi,
Nice Randy!

That pistol is bad to the bone!

I need to make an oven myself and grabbed an old filing cabinet for the body,but it is so thin might get rid of it and use my old (cheap) gun safe for a body!

That is if I buy a better new one.

Looking at using 2 charcol starters for heat (like an electric burner) easy to wire up to an oven switch or even a PID like these guys use on their lead pots!

[jmorris]

They have a black powder coat that is identical to many of the old black wrinkle finishes.

I have a local powder coated than is cheaper than paint if your not in a hurry and can wait until they put it in with a "real" job.

Powder coat will also hide imperfections that just painting will not.

[Mike Kerr]

Hey Randy,

Thanks for starting the thread. Many good tips, tricks and methods contained within. Thanks for sharing.

[M-Tecs]

Randy

Nice thread and nice work!

[W.R.Buchanan]

Don: I use Oil Eator or some other detergent to actually clean the surfaces first, that way you are getting all the dirt off.

Then soak it in WD-40 after to bring the paint back to life.

I just did a similar treatment to my wife's potting bench yesterday. It was filthy with years of dirt adhered to the surfaces. I hosed it off with a high pressure nozzle and then let it dry and then soaked it in Spray on Pledge Furniture Oil. The wood was nearly white in color after cleaning. It looks very nice again.

Paint tends to dry out over the years. It becomes dull and flat. Mostly due to either UV damage or being covered with dirt which has essentially the same effect as Kitty Litter on an oil spot. It sucks the oil out of the paint. Paint is also porous and so saturating the surface with oil penetrates the surface of the paint and brings new life.

Keeping it covered and keeping the dirt off prolongs that new life.

We all actually got this technique from my BF's oldest Bro in the early 60's. He would buy an old car, Never paid more than $25, bring it home,,, wash the paint with Comet Cleanser and then Wax it. The engine compartment would get .25 Car Washed after being soaked in WD40 to loosen the dirt and grease, and then soaked afterwards in WD40 and Armor All. The interior was cleaned to spotless with 409 and then Armor All'd. I saw this done many times, and helped many times as well. I got satisfaction even though it was not my project..

My point here is that cleaning and then oiling is the first step if the tool looks to be only in need of that. Obviously my Lachmiller Tool needed a complete strip and refinish, and in that case I knew it from first sight. But all the parts were there and it was only a matter of applying the correct Finishing Technique to each part.

You may have seen this in several of my gun refinish projects here. Every part must be treated to the appropriate Finishing Technique to bring it up to an acceptable fit or finish.

This are the same treatments that every part that comes out of my Machine Shop gets. My Finishing Techniques have taken me 50 years to perfect, but I am willing to share.

That's what this place is all about.

Randy

[W.R.Buchanan]

Virtually every single part on a machine or gun can benefit from deburring. Seldom do they get that treatment as it takes time to do and in business time is money.

However that doesn't mean you should just let it go.

There are generally two types of metal parts, Cast or Machined. both need attention.

It used to be that machined parts were finished by hand using a file to break the sharp edges.. In certain places I still do this, however the majority of edge breaks I do are done on a Buffer or Grinder with a Scotch Brite Wheel.

These wheels are about $40 but last for a long time. They also put a nice smooth radius on any sharp edge. They take a little getting used to as in order to not leave big gouges in the part you must keep it moving.

This is my preferred way of deburring parts. ON my #4 Mk1 Enfield project I used this technique on every single part, and the end result was a gun that is much more friendly feeling than before.

On parts that are round like guide rods, you try to have the Wheel spin the part in your hands so that you can get an even finish over the whole part. If the part is a tube I generally spin it on a rod of some kind taking care not to let it get spinning too fast and going winging across the shop never to be seen again. Parts will occasionally get taken away from you and deposited onto the floor or into the wall behind the buffer. Pray that they aren't ruined in the process. You do need to get ahold of these things to prevent this from happening.

With parts that are knurled or checkered I use a Fine Wire Wheel to clean them out by going in the direction of the lines. This will show you exactly what is there and help decide if some judicious Filing is needed to touch up the knurls. I also break the edges of knurled or checkered surfaces with the Felt Wheel (scotch brite ) so they don't gouge grooves out of your fingers. Hammers are notorious for doing this.

In the end every part should be able to be handled without incurring any damage to your hands.

By the same token there are places that need to remain sharp. You need to figure this out before you make a move.

Looking at each part and deciding what to do with it before you actually doing anything to it is a good policy and has uses virtually everywhere.

Randy

[W.R.Buchanan]

Cast parts have a coarser surface profile. They also usually have evidence of a Mould Parting Line. Usually the foundry will knock the flash edges off the part but they seldom do that great a job of it.

I try to blend parting lines in to the surrounding areas as much as possible. I do it with, depending on how rough they are and where they are, a file, or 4" Sidewinder, or Belt Grinder or Felt Wheel.

Since the surface was very rough to begin with I can just about remove all traces of the parting lines existence by Grit Blasting it after the fact . This blends the surface and generally matches it to the surrounding areas.

I do this as prep for paint on most Cast Aluminum or Cast Iron Parts mainly because I can. Paint needs a "Surface Profile" or little nooks and crannies to hook onto. Grit Blasting provides this.

A lot of this can also be done with a sharp wire wheel. If you simply turn your dull wire wheel around it will run backwards and be sharp again. I prepped the Axles on my Jeep Project using a wire wheel on a grinder as they wouldn't fit in my Blast Cabinet.

The end result was much better than painting over oil and grease and a smooth surface that the paint would simply get scraped off by any bush I drove over. I also painted them with Rustoleum so they could be touched up.

Randy

[W.R.Buchanan]

Paint is a major variable. There is Good Paint, and there is "not as good," paint.

Generally name brand paints in spray cans are pretty much isolated to the Krylon or Rustoleum brands.

Krylon is OK but it is in no way close to Rustoleum. Rustoleum is "Industrial Grade Enamel." Krylon is for painting walls with graffiti and lawn furniture you don't really care about. Rustoleum is the good stuff and it isn't that much more expensive. I have painted a significant amount of stuff with Rustoleum including a large portion of my Jeeps and other small projects that don't need the level of adhesion that the high end Polyurethane paints give.

The Polyurethane paints such as DuPont Centari and Cardinal 6400 series are some of the best paints ever made. They are easy to get good results from, but must be applied with a Spray Gun and must be mixed. There is paint, thinner and hardener. Lots of times this process is too complicated for the garage enthusiast, but really isn't that hard. It just takes more time to do right.

When I painted my Yellow Jeep with DuPont Centari in 1994(Penske Yellow) I got one drop of the paint on my Watch band. It was on there for the next 10 years until the band quit. That type of paint is superior to just about anything else out there. I use it on all my Navy Work that gets painted. So far after 20+ years in the Fleet it still looks almost new with no chalking or color shift. By comparison the Navy Spec Paint (which nobody in CA can do) turns pink after about 3 years in the sun. I'm talking Battleship Pink!

The adhesion level of the Polyurethane Paints is just below Powder coating, However it is flexible and powder coating tends to be brittle and chip easily. It also must be force cured (cooked) in order to liquefy.

I use Rustoleum most as it is much more convenient. I have done most of my loading equipment refurbs with Rustoleum and Crackle Finish Paints. With Crackle finish paints the parts must be heated after spraying to get the crackle to be uniform. I use a regular heat lamp to do this.

With Rustoleum you have to shake the can for at least 2 minutes after you hear the ball rattling in order to insure that you have put all the pigment back into solution, more is better.. Once done shaking, you "dust the parts with a very fine coating of paint, and let it sit for 5 minutes or so, then hit it again with a little heavier coating. You continue to do this until the paint "Wets Out" or looks like it is starting to flow. What is happening is the orange peel is flowing together and the end result will be a smooth finish.

In order to get good results you MUST use the multi coat method. But just like the instructions say, if you wait more than 2 hours you have to wait 6 weeks before recoating. If you ignore this little tidbit your new coat will lift the previous one.

Enamel takes about 6 weeks to gas off all the vehicle or thinner in the paint. You can tell this by the smell of the parts. The paint is dry to the touch in 24 hours but continues to harden over the next 6 weeks as the volatiles gas off. Do resist the urge to touch your nice new paint job before it has sat for at least 24 hours. You can't rush this stuff.

I used to use Gray "Hammertone" brand paint to paint all my Steel Wheels and have been doing so since the late 60's when I got my first cars. Rustoleum now makes hammer tone paints in a variety of colors and that paint is superior to the original Hammertone Brand. steel wheels look especially nice with the Gray Hammertone finish.

If you are going to paint something that is already painted there are several ways to go at it. One is to completely strip the parts or blast them. The other is to simply clean the existing paint, rough it up, and spray over it. This method is essentially using the original paint as the Primer. This method works well as long as the undercoat is still relatively in tact.

Recently I took an idea from Seagiant (Greg), who suggested painting over an RCBS Press which had a Green Crackle Finish with Green Hammertone paint. The results were dramatic and looked very nice as not only did I get the Hammertone effect but the crackle also shown thru resulting in a coarse Emerald Green finish that had gloss and depth too boot.

So anyway this is not that hard to do, and a little common sense and prep work will have your next Repaint project looking good. With painting the best advice is to "take your time!"

Randy

[HGS]

Thanks Randy for the new info on restoring and painting presses and parts. There's always a chance that old Dogs (like me) can learn a few new tricks now and then from your ideas and methods.

Sharing info on restorations is appreciated.

HGS

[seagiant]

Hi,
Hmmm....I guess I lucked out, using the "house" paint on my DL-300 here at work!

Rustoleum "Industrial"!!!

Thanks for the info Randy!

[dverna]

Great thread. Should be a sticky

Don

[W.R.Buchanan]

Don: Thanks for hooking me up to this site. You were the one who put me onto Castboolits !

Randy

[Bored1]

Got a few presses Im gonna try these tips on. Thanks!