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Resurfacing an old bath


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I have finally managed to find a supplier of a resurfacing spray for my old bath, rather than the repair kits for the odd chip. After a discussion with their support team was advised two coats so two cans. Promptly put in an order. I have now received an e-mail from their customer support to inform me that as it is a hazardous substance  they can not ship it from the US and have no stockists in the UK or France[:(] Is there a similar product available in France? All the DIY chains in Uk seem to have discontinued the whole bath kit in favour of the chip repair one. I would really like to keep the old bath, it's one of the old short ones that you sit in, but the surface does need some attention.

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Do they actually work? Or are they just a good vehicle to convince folks to part with large sums of money for simple aerosol paints?

I ask because stove enamelling is a very specific process, I have never seen any paint that comes anywhere near to its resistance even powder coating which has pretty well taken over from stove enamelling these days.

There was, and I think still is, a company in Forest Row, West Sussex called Bathshield that re-enamels (or so they claimed) cast iron baths.

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I agree totally with Chancer's appaisal.

It all depends what type of material your bath is made from, firstly.

Old (Victorian Roll Type on Claw Feet for example) baths can be worth reclaiming if the user is seeking absolute authenticity and longevity.

However the process, which replicates the process originally employed in manufacture (Dry Vitreous Enamelling) is horrendously expensive.

See Here:

Drummonds are one of the few equipped to do the job properly.

Stove Enamelling or Dry Powder Coating is the conventional process for finishing and re-finishing these days, but again, is relatively expensive: since in either case the re-finisher needs a high temp. oven able to accommodate a bath.

Expecting an air drying synthetic paint, albeit it Two Pack Epoxy to provide the gloss, coat adhesion and durability, desired, is frankly unrealistic. It would also stain rather easily, I fear and fade quite quickly.

Achieving uniformity of surface from aerosols is the other problem: the professional re-finishers use conventional commercial spraying equipment: however, it is still air drying, all apart from the chemical curing process.

See Here:

Same caveats, however concerning Two Pack Chemical and Air cure.

About the only air drying two pack finish I have seen which rather impressed me, was a self-levelling clear lacquer used to re-finish a Victorian mahogany bar top: however this was poured rather than sprayed, since the surface was flat.

 

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Interesting, I had forgotten all about vitreous enamelling.

So you reckon the kits are just two pack aerosols then GS?

I can get these mixed to any colour from a local paint factor for £8 per large (400ml) aerosol, thats in England I hasten to add, I dread to think what the cost would be in France.

They give a good spray pattern and the finish, dependant on the conditions is usually as good or better than the production orange peel of modern vehicles, one can will cover a front wing or door, beyond that they are not practical for vehicle refinishing, once hardened the finish is as rock hard as any 2K paint.

I am on the lookout for une baignoire sabot but most seem to need refinishing, I had not thought of two pack paint.

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See Here:

See Here

Twin Pack Aerosols See Here:

It seems some are brushed on: some use a roller: and others aerosols.

Obviously, the two pack epoxy should give the best result, however, since most of a bath is vertical surfaces, obtaining a smooth non-curtain finish should be fun!

Even very viscous paints like Hammerite run on vertical surfaces when applied with a brush.

Dunno: perhaps it works.

[8-)]

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That made me chuckle " the epoxy is self levelling so scratches disappear"

That may well be true for the bottom of the bath after all the paint on the sides has found its level, at the bottom of the bath! [;-)]

I think that spraying is the answer for me especially given the cost of these snake oils.

I have just remembered that I sprayed several radiators for an ex with the 2K aerosols and they still look good after several years and havnt turned brown.

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I fear Chancer and I, T, have seen all too often miracle products which square the engineering circle.

I used to particularly love the Kraus stuff sold in the old Exchange and Mart many years ago.

You didn't need a rebore: you just poured this magic liquid down the plugholes and all was solved!

Noisy backaxle? Kraus could solve this with yet another magic liquid: same with noisy gearboxes.

Also the "Instant" chrome plating kits, for which you used an old car battery and their magic brush!

Comes up like new Guv; straight up!

[Www]

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Dont forget the Batman pills (Bataid) [;-)]

I will never know if it was the Kraus paste or one of the liquid rebores but the Mini that my sister bought had been dosed with something which prevented crankcase breathing just long enough to sell the vehicle and for her to drive it home, it smoked like a pompier thereafter!

Perhaps these re-enamelling kits, (now there is a lie if ever there was one), have some anti-gravity additive to allow the self levelling to work on the sides of the bath [;-)]

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We had a huge 1920s cast iron bath in the UK and we had it re-enamelled professionally twice by a firm called The Bath Doctor - they had to use 2 packs - as they did it everyday, I think they got much better results than we would have achieved. Lasted about 12 years each time.

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[quote user="Chancer"]

Dont forget the Batman pills (Bataid) [;-)]

I will never know if it was the Kraus paste or one of the liquid rebores but the Mini that my sister bought had been dosed with something which prevented crankcase breathing just long enough to sell the vehicle and for her to drive it home, it smoked like a pompier thereafter!

Perhaps these re-enamelling kits, (now there is a lie if ever there was one), have some anti-gravity additive to allow the self levelling to work on the sides of the bath [;-)]

[/quote]

Yes I'd forgotten Bataid!

[:D]

Dreadfully off topic. but all of this brings to mind the interesting games played by used car traders working from bombsites when even pre-war cars had quite a value: to muffle a really noisy gearbox they melted thick grease and poured this onto the box mixed with sawdust! A handful of iron filings added apparently created a nice metallic gear feeling as gears were slid in!

And noisy back axles were also muffled by the expedient of poking in old stockings which wound themselves around the diff..........

But perhaps the best one of all, was taking the head off a non-runner (You could sell those too!) with no compression; and placing a sorbo-rubber ball into each cylinder to synthesise compression when the punter wound the engine over with the starting handle! Back to the old adage Suck Squeeze Bang Blow!

Right: back on topic.

 

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The friend who is going to do it for me paints very expensive yachts, if he can't get a decent finish.....[:D] Will let you know how it turns out, you never know I might even manage to post photos[geek]

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Off topic again [;-)]

I thought the greatest marketing coup that the Krause bond company (name chosen to sound technical and German) ever did was to realise that there were loads of mug punters remaining that were incapable of removing a spark plug to squeeze in the magic toothpaste, so they invented a new compound for the non technically minded (as they described them in their add) twas a can of liquid containing two lead pellets that you poured into the petrol tank which then miraculously went on to rebore your engine.

I believe that the company is still running but these days you text your registration number to a premium rate number and in 5 minutes your engine is rebored and no longer burns oil [:-))]

In all seriousness I use a motor trade cash n carry warehouse (Maccess) and there is a whole long rayon stuffed full of modern day snake oil products, injector cleaner, octane booster etc etc.

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The only snake oil product we did use frequently was the Bar Seal things: looked rather like something a small non-house trained dog had left on the carpet, and accordingly, called by my vulgar mechs small dog T****s!

We used them on race cars, particularly single seaters where the rad was in the front and the engine in the rear and the coolant was carried through long Dural tubes and multiple rubber hoses on either side. Which always dribbled no matter what was done.

However the Bar Seal always worked: so became an invaluable part of the racing spares.

[:)]

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The barseal t**ds as opposed to the liquids work too well actually, I also used to use it on my race cars until one fatefull day.

On this X flow engined car the cooling system always used to vent a half  a litre or so of coolant during a race via the pressure cap through a 1/4" bore hose to the catch tank (an MSA requirement) the bar seal actually managed to block this hose and the system overpressurised until the top rad hose blew creating a smokescreen of steam.

Impressive stuff but a little too effective.

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Ah!

We only used a half T*** or so!

Perhaps the most spectactular coolant failure for me was one of my Midgets at Lyddon. Unbeknown to myself, a coreplug decided to jump out; now I had fitted the temp gauge sender in the top of the rad header tank.

And, naturally, as the coolant level dropped the sender was telling me what temperature the brass top of the rad was reading and all seemed well.

Until I came through Chessams at full bore and stopped suddenly as the lump seized fairly dramatically and gouts of that nasty smelly steam gushed out from the car.

The only consolation, perhaps, was that it wasn't my engine!

[IMG]http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq332/PercyPee/Picture%20Delights/haha-rire-395.gif[/IMG]

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  • 9 years later...

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