Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I have a 10 year old single stage snowblower that's undergoing a full restoration this winter. I got the snowblower bucket disassembled from the chassis and engine. The bucket has been completely stripped down to bare metal. I want good adhesion and abrasion resistance and I'm willing to put in the time and money to get the best paint job that I can do myself without sending out.

What do you guys recommend for primer and paint? Any preparation techniques in addition to stripping down to bare metal and roughing up the surface?

I would agree, that powder coating is not a good solution for snow blower buckets. It is an extremely durable coating. But power will not get into the corners and seams due to what is called the Faraday Cage Effect. I recently restored the bucket on my Ariens 1032. I used automotive Seam Sealer where ever there was any type of joint or seam. This stuff gives you a very well sealed and water tight joint. You then prime and paint over it. Unless all the sheet metal joints are water tight it doesn't matter what type of coating you apply. Eventually rust will start in the joint and spread underneath the coating popping it off. That can happen in just one season. And salt can accelerate that process.

I'm getting impatient with paint stripping process.  The snowblower auger housing is 95% stripped down to bare metal.  There are a few areas and tight corners that needs some manual sanding.  Last night, I was thinking I should start with the primer coat.  Upon reading last post about sealing the seams, I'm reconsidering doing that before laying down first coat of primer.   The problem now is with the metal exposed and nicely sanded, it looks too beautiful to cover it up with paint again, I'm thinking just to clear coat it.  :)  Of course, this nice and clear coat is not hold up well. 

Anyone ever gone with the bare metal look on their snowblower?  Protected metal of course.

120 Grit
220 Grit
Nikkens 1000 Grit
Nikklens 1500 Grit
Nikeens 2000 Grit
My preferred Metal Polish - Heavy Metal Polish Green Cut
Followed by their Blue Cut

Clear Coat Twice Per Season. Once before and Once After.


It will be truly something special ;-)

Nice work, I like that stainless steel lining.

Very nice work.  The chute deflector motor set up looks highly similar to the new Deere 1330SE. 

By the way, what's the yellow triangle on the chute?

aa335 wrote:
He uses the triangle to judge how far the deflector can move because the seat motors don't have limiters and he doesn't want to break it.

I remember seeing a video on youtube about hit setup a while ago.

jrtrebor, nice job on the painting, how did you fasten the stainless into the housing? Those seat motors look nice & compact & plenty powerful. What car are they from & do they turn fast enough?
I have a larger joystack from an arcade game that I will hook up to both motors.

chefwong, please don't take this the wrong way, but unless you are building a show (not snow) machine, 1000 & 2000 grit sounds like way overkill. Aren't you giving yourself a lot of work for minimal return.

Cheers

chefwong wrote:

Somehow I suspect these sandpaper are expensive and are made in Europe. Never heard of Nikklens before but it sure sounds expensive.