The basics of painting Brass
Painting brass can be a difficult task
for some but is made much easier with a sand blasting booth.
The problem is that BRASS oxidizes and
prevents the paint from making a good grip on the surface of the metal. In
the past special etch primers have been tried and even these still allow
the paint to chip relatively easily.
With the sand blaster all the brass parts
that need to be painted are suitably sand blasted prior to applying the etch
primer and paint. The sand blasting just roughens up the surface sufficiently
that is gives an excellent key to the paint without any other preparation
other than a light blast of air to clear away any remaining particles of
grit from the blasting process.
An etch primer that has been found to
be successful is "Craftmaster Aerosol Etching Primer" and this can be found
on the web site of Craftmaster Paints
www.craftmasterpaints.co.uk
- whilst not cheap it says to apply thinly as possible in one coat so a can
goes a long way!
HOWEVER most brass that is to be painted
will also have needed to be soft soldered to another piece to make up say
a cab of a loco or body of a truck.
SOLDERING and sand blasting do not mix.
Always solder first and then sand blast else it is as near as impossible
to solder a good joint. Even more difficult if you have used a special etch
paint such as mentioned above as the paint will not even burn off with
a pencil flame torch being a water based paint.
That is enough for here but more on soldering
brass in another section. |
