The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Silly paint tip of the day.

Hi - Not sure how many of you already do this, but whenever I have a bolt head that needs painting and I do not have the time to wait for the paint to cure before installing the bolt I will just remove the bolt, stab it through a small piece of newspaper, and then re-install it. This acts a shield for either a brush job or a rattle can job when you want to avoid overspray. I then tear away the newspaper when finished. There may be a small leftover bit you need to cut away with an exact-o knife but generally it all comes off the first time if the paper is wet with paint.

Any other tricks out there that you do?

Scott

Usually for my stuff if it's installed it can be painted the same color as what it's installed on. I like your newspaper tip though. That's a good idea.

When painting bolts before installing I always punch them through a piece of cardboard. Paint them, let dry, and then take out of the cardboard and reinstall.

That is something I normally do as well. There are times however when I need that dude painted and do not want to wait for the rattle can to dry so this works really well for me.

We do this underneath baseboards in houses that have tile floors in them. Lay down the paper on the tile before installing the base and later spray away. Then tear out and either use color match caulking or grout to fill in the minor gaps where the grout joints are.

I have thought about this a great deal over lots of time. Even if you use urethane paint, you WILL scar the head and even remove the paint if you use a wrench torqued to the proper spec. Urethane or powder coating is so tough, but doesn't matter, a wrench will destroy your work.

So, CAD plating is what was used originally. CAD is now against the law in the US by the EPA. You can still send out for CAD to other countries. Zinc is the standard plating used nowadays. CAD and Zinc do not look the same at all. Show judges will spot the difference right away. If you can site platers who do CAD in the U.S., they are doing it against the law.

I am not thrilled with using an out of country source, so my solution is Stainless Steel. It looks closer to period correct than Zinc does, yet not enough to fool anyone, and its way better since it will never rust. You can even get hardened stainless to completely resolve those issues. I do frame up restorations and NONE of the hardware is color. If it is hardware, its unpainted stainless.

More people than you know really appreciate the HONESTY of unpainted hardware. Painted hardware implies rusted hardware that was not properly addressed during the restoration. Even if it isn't true. Even if it isn't period correct.

I am sure I would be lost without Totally Stainless. You can order a single lockwasher from them and they will send it to you. Let alone kits for the whole truck.

Nice idea using newspaper. If I ever have a need for painted hardware, I will definitely do that! Thanks

And in case you didn't believe me...

http://mistupid.com/jokes/page077.htm

well Jack -I mean Deve- as it happens cad plating is not "against the law", the regulations have just been tightened, [30 years ago], and again 20 years ago, and cadmium has been banned from some products, in the EU and US, including recently, NASA projects - cad plating is still available from operations that make the effort to deal with the pollution prevention required - cad plated hardware can still be purchased if you look for it

Bill

CAD is now against the law in the USA by the EPA?
Is that right, Jack?
What law by the EPA would that be? I thought the government passes laws.

Presumably, you are referring to Cadmium (Cd) plating not CAD (Computer Aided Design) or to the element Cadmium (Cd)?

Wrong again, as Bill posted, Cadmium plating services are not hard to find. They are highly regulated (and rightfully so), as is Chromium/Nickle/Copper plating (which has almost disappeared near me).

And if the places in the above links are to far away and your into restoration and protection meeting your own standards there's always this step by step for this companies mail order kits.

Keep it up fellas! Every plater I have ever done business with in my area has discontinued CAD because the EPA put too much restriction on it making it too costly. You can still get it in Canada, but not in Kansas. Best to just go with Stainless anyway. preservation, not just protection.

The judges in the higher end car shows are also considering taking points off anyone using Urethane paint. Its too glossy for them. Its a REAL issue that the restrictions we are all experiencing these days are a real issue when doing restorations. I suppose if all you care about is clean connections, decent oil, or leaded gas then you would have something dumb to say about this issue. But if you do your homework, you can see the writing on the wall for several things that are a real concern about our pasttime. We are THAT much closer to them making anything that doesn't do 30mpg illegal to own. Keep burying your head in the sand, right up until it affects YOU. Maybe cash for clunkers just whizzed right over your head the same as the EPA taking their shots at CAD to the point where we have no USA resources. Name them? Nevermind because those companies that say they still do CAD send your stuff out of the country. Its cheaper. DOH!

Regarding urethane paint being a no-no: are you referring to single stage and two-stage (BC/CC)?

What higher-end car shows?

Anything Urethane. The issue they have comes from a purist point of view. This is Pebble Beach Concourse level which ends up going downhill to other venues. The argument is that restorations competing in ORIGINAL class, need to have the proper paints used.

Whats happening is, we have come to a point where our paints are so good, so durable, but so clean.. they don't look original anymore.

I get this stuff and much more from the different other forums that are available. This one came from autobodystore.com and autobody101.com. It was a discussion they had several years ago.

There are so many resources out there. I even heard it mentioned on Chasing Classic Cars on the Velocity Channel. Wayne was upset because they repainted a Ferrari with Urethane. Why Urethane gets labeled as bad because its superior in every way? No idea. I ignore that concept because I want the very best. I will be glad to take the points hit. Single stage or BC/CC same.

I paint my stuff with single stage on the under floor and firewall (chassis, misc parts), then BC/CC on everything else.

Jeez where's my hip waders.... and somebody get that guy some reading glasses...

So the no urethane means no more POR either...Moisture Cured Urethane that it is...

Back to the rust re-creation systems guys.
Gimme that Hot mix of bondo over metal covered with lacquer primer then let it rain baby... Paint it with AE in a few weeks and load her on the trailer!

On the original topic:
I found the new blue/green 3M tape sucks for sanding 'flow checks' out. It has a texture to it that tends to rip and tear before you get through the edges smoothly, but the 'Delicate Surfaces' (still 3M/Scotch) tape is smooth and uniform and gives a much better result.
(Flow Check = drip or sag)

I guess you had to be there, but nonetheless, my painting technique is so bad that I get runs and sags every now and then. I have Coarse and Fine nib files, but so far I am not real good at using them. Eastwood sells this plastic razor blade contraption that gets me in more trouble than its worth.

Anyone here have a good technique for getting rid of runs and sags? (Its Urethane paint! LOL) (besides being a better painter)

Deve, if you want modern and durable, do it, if you want a Pebble Beach resto, then you'll need to be using alkyd enamels and lacquer, which is what was original .... and if you can't access the links given above to US cad platers from your hinterland location, don't blame it on the EPA

Bill

Like I said there are several. I have the same internet you do. But do a little more research and you find they send their CAD work out of the country (Canada). It adds a few days to the return time. Nobody even knows. The EPA IS the government and they do not need Congress to change the rules. If you were in the plating business, you would be very nervous about now. And they are. Just have a conversation with them. I like to know about the companies that are doing such important work for me. There is more to all of this than knowing how to Google.

Looks like they use cad for the aerospace industry so its possible government contractors may still do it here.. interesting tho, if you look at the picture in the header of this page, and I have a few examples of new CAD, the look is so close to stainless. The argument is moot anyway, like I said in my very first post, I went to stainless awhile back. Totally Stainless has something they call a button head that has an Allen type head. Looks a WHOLE lot like clutch head.

http://www.hohmanplating.com/index.php?page=cadmium-plating

You may be able to get CAD here in the US, but you can also get moonshine here too. Its a dumb argument. I have 960 pounds of original 47-55 nuts, bolts, springs, fasteners of all types in my bins that are all zinc plated because I searched the country for a reputable plater that still does CAD to no avail. That was years ago. Haven't checked lately. (because I have moved on!)

I use a piece of "Delicate Surfaces" blue tape.
Place tape over run and using fingers /sanding file/paint stick run from bottom to top (drip direction) until you have the outline revealed.
I may start with 100 or 150 to get the cut open but quickly move up through the grits to 320. once I'm close I take off the tape and finish as normal.

I have been perusing auto body web sites and forums for years and have never heard of doing it this way. EXCELLENT! Makes perfect sense! Those little nib files I got should work for this.

After 8 months of sanding, priming, repriming, resanding, repriming, sanding in every nook and cranny of a 1950 pickup frame, and anyone knowing this frame knows that you just aren't getting all the crud, rust, old paint and then NEW paint into some of these places, I painted the topcoat a few weeks ago. Its DONE! Problem is, unless you are Mr SuperPainter, there WILL be runs and sags. I had about 4-5 of them I need to address.

That was about $1000 worth of Epoxy Primer/Urethane High Build Primer/Sealer/Topcoat so I need to proceed very carefully.

Thanks so much for the tip! I will check TCPGlobal.com for the tape since I need to order more rolls of sandpaper anyway.

Try home mom and pop big box paint sections... Its a domestic product not auto speciality.