Restoration of saws, drills - getting the right paint?

[ELL]

So I want to restore saws and pillar drills - Makes such as Startrite, Clarke, Meddings,SIP, Sealey etc., the more modern ones from the 70s onwards
So, what is the best way to find the correct paint type and colour for these machines? Are they usually easy to get hold of? Not super expensive? Cheers.

 

[Memmeddu]

So I want to restore saws and pillar drills - Makes such as Startrite, Clarke, Meddings,SIP, Sealey etc., the more modern ones from the 70s onwards
So, what is the best way to find the correct paint type and colour for these machines? Are they usually easy to get hold of? Not super expensive? Cheers.

Advice don't remove the old paint if not for removing rust
Go where they mix paints and ask to reproduce it
Clean everything deeply.
Sand the original paint to make it uniform, add filler where needed.
And paint.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Is this for fun or to restore and sell on?

If the latter, why not find one colour/paint system and use it for everything? Ie, pick a green then use the same shade on business cards & advertising and build a 'brand' on that.

If you want original, lots of oem stuff will be baked, or multi-stage, or powder coat etc. It's perfectly possible to replicate/match anything but they will have to be done on an individual basis.
Especially manafactures like half of the ones you mentioned as they will be ordering 'badge-branded' units from various places so although they might all be grey they won't all be the same grey!

 

[ELL]

Is this for fun or to restore and sell on?

If the latter, why not find one colour/paint system and use it for everything? Ie, pick a green then use the same shade on business cards & advertising and build a 'brand' on that.

If you want original, lots of oem stuff will be baked, or multi-stage, or powder coat etc. It's perfectly possible to replicate/match anything but they will have to be done on an individual basis.
Especially manafactures like half of the ones you mentioned as they will be ordering 'badge-branded' units from various places so although they might all be grey they won't all be the same grey!

To selll on. Thanks!

 

[ELL]

Is this for fun or to restore and sell on?

If the latter, why not find one colour/paint system and use it for everything? Ie, pick a green then use the same shade on business cards & advertising and build a 'brand' on that.

If you want original, lots of oem stuff will be baked, or multi-stage, or powder coat etc. It's perfectly possible to replicate/match anything but they will have to be done on an individual basis.
Especially manafactures like half of the ones you mentioned as they will be ordering 'badge-branded' units from various places so although they might all be grey they won't all be the same grey!

Generally speaking are buyers of second hand machinery bothered about having the exact same original paint colour?

 

[Agroshield]

Generally speaking are buyers of second hand machinery bothered about having the exact same original paint colour?

I would guess a 50/50 split. Think about old cars. Some want originality and will pay for it; others would not mind properly-done modern upgrades.

Of the five brands you mention, I cannot see SIP, Clarke or Sealey being worth while spending time on painting. They are not great quality machines from the factory, so something mechanically and electrically sound but cosmetically scruffy would I think be more profitable for you.

Some of the Startrite or Meddings stuff had hammerite-stlye paint, in a blue or green that is hard to find these days.

Paragon Paints is often mentioned as a good source for machinery paint.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Generally speaking are buyers of second hand machinery bothered about having the exact same original paint colour?

The ones that will be bothered about the exact same paint colour will also be bothered about the exact same stickers and everything else.
If a buyer is going to moan that the red is 2 shades off original they will also complain that the quill bearing you replaced is an skf rather than the original thk.

Hence why I think I'd go into using 'donor' machines and 're-branding' them with my own brand, ie a top quality restoration with improved parts and more features etc. You could work out the weak points on the machines and offer fitted upgrades etc.

Otherwise, you could buy broken machines, fix them and just sell them as running. Without the full restoration which is time consuming.

Even easier is to just buy working machines from local sources, test them, and sell them on again online.
Plenty of people that are clearing kit out of sheds but refuse to post.
There is a reasonable mark-up to be made just by creating an account with a decent carrier and pallet delivery service and basically offering to ship stuff to locations others won't.
Not particularly easy work moving the stuff around and packing it up but you'll have to do that anyway as you'll only be able to sell so many drills locally..

 

[ELL]

The ones that will be bothered about the exact same paint colour will also be bothered about the exact same stickers and everything else.
If a buyer is going to moan that the red is 2 shades off original they will also complain that the quill bearing you replaced is an skf rather than the original thk.

Hence why I think I'd go into using 'donor' machines and 're-branding' them with my own brand, ie a top quality restoration with improved parts and more features etc. You could work out the weak points on the machines and offer fitted upgrades etc.

Otherwise, you could buy broken machines, fix them and just sell them as running. Without the full restoration which is time consuming.

Even easier is to just buy working machines from local sources, test them, and sell them on again online.
Plenty of people that are clearing kit out of sheds but refuse to post.
There is a reasonable mark-up to be made just by creating an account with a decent carrier and pallet delivery service and basically offering to ship stuff to locations others won't.
Not particularly easy work moving the stuff around and packing it up but you'll have to do that anyway as you'll only be able to sell so many drills locally..

Thanks, very helpful. I plan on restoring/refurbing and selling to people who want to use them for work, not really as a show piece for their home workshop.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Thanks, very helpful. I plan on restoring/refurbing and selling to people who want to use them for work, not really as a show piece for their home workshop.

In that case I don't think they will be too worried about the paint colour.
They would probably be more interested in buying from you if you included a numbered parts diagram and a price list for common spare parts that you keep in stock

 

[hotponyshoes]

I also think there should be a market for a repair service, especially if you can offer a loan machine while you have one in for repair?

 

[rtcosic]

Workshop Machinery Colours

Remeber to specify gloss, semi gloss (most common) or matt

 

[MattF]

Generally speaking are buyers of second hand machinery bothered about having the exact same original paint colour?

It can be a minefield, depending upon the age of the item. You'll exclude some potential buyers by doing *anything* to an older/desirable item, some will want perfect original condition, colour, parts etc., & some won't really care as long as it works.

 

[frank horton]

have a friend that used to do the same with Wadkin and the like.....
gave up in the end....trying to get replacement parts new or used was a minefield.....even if u could afford em they often we're not a direct replacement even off the same machine....
most had to be hand finished to get em to work smoothly etc....all time consumming.....
He kept the last Wadkin 12''er with a sliding table.....the reason was it took over two years to find a used quadrant for the blade lift mech....
new ones not available.....this quad was the weak spot on this model so used ones were hard to find...thats why most were scrapped.....
I suggested to get it cast in bronze the machine it up.....it turns out just the machineing cost was more than the entire machine was bought for.....

When I lived in France,
over there punters liked multi purpose wood machines....most with just one motor and the odd one with two.....the sort where u had to change belts to get the next bit/motion working.....
I used to buy em up fit a motor to every motion then adjust the machine for accuracy then finish paint it.....
I just could not buy enough used machines and certainly couldn't finish them fast enough.....
it was a good earner as a winter job when ride on mowers were in storage...

 

[bricol]

Veering off subject - is there really a market for old equipment from the 70's for people wanting to use it for work?

 

[brightspark]

smith and allen tractol machine paint , they can match samples only one they cant match is myford grey you can only get it from paragon paints at 12 quid dearer

 

[Turbo]

The manfacturers original colour will have changed slightly over the years with different batches of paint, etc.
So an exact match is not strictly necessary if you are painting the whole machine
Massey Ferguson super red is a good match for Sealey red.

 

[Smallfry]

Paragon paints.

Sorry to be the purveyor of finest buckets of cold water, but IMO, Sealey, SIP, Clarke, Nutool etc stuff is a waste of time. Its mostly DIY rebranded cheap stuff. Only worth going to all the effort with proper industrial grade equipment, and even then, restoration is more than a coat of paint.

Then there is the hassle and expense of moving it ...........

IMO its only worth it if you are keeping the machines for yourself. If you are trying to turn a profit, rather than just a hobby if will be difficult. Rather like classic cars.

 

[brightspark]

Paragon paints.

Sorry to be the purveyor of finest buckets of cold water, but IMO, Sealey, SIP, Clarke, Nutool etc stuff is a waste of time. Its mostly DIY rebranded cheap stuff. Only worth going to all the effort with proper industrial grade equipment, and even then, restoration is more than a coat of paint.

Then there is the hassle and expense of moving it ...........

IMO its only worth it if you are keeping the machines for yourself. If you are trying to turn a profit, rather than just a hobby if will be difficult. Rather like classic cars.

at 35 quid a tin + a tin of zylene thinners makes it a bit heavy in price its the same stuff as at smith and allen ten quid cheaper, i painted a lathe cabinet with the cheaper grey paint and my myford lathe with the proper colour .there wasnt much diffrence but my lathe is in reaL good nick and kept original