[R-390] [Hammarlund] Re: Filling Engraved Panels

Al Parker anchor at ec.rr.com
Tue Oct 16 17:02:20 EDT 2007 

Hi folks,
    I'm probably the guy that's been using & promoting acrylic artist's 
paint the most, it's about the consistency of ketchup.
    What Bill & Norm say is pretty much the key(s) to success.
    Have a smooth panel
    Let it dry "not too long" maybe 10 min.
    Use a "hard" cloth, like a linen napkin, no fuzz, barely damp, to remove 
the haze, with "not too hard" pressure.
    The squeegee pressure needs to be developed with a little practice, like 
the rest of the variables.  It's hard to quantify things that are involved 
in "an art".
    The nice theng about the acrylic is that it's water soluble, and easy to 
clean up.  I've used oil based to try silk screening, it's messy when you 
have to start over, which is often for me in screening.  In a previous life 
I screened T-shirts by the dozens, much easier than on metal.
73,
Al, W8UT
New Bern, NC
www.boatanchors.org
www.hammarlund.info

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Kirkland" <kirklandb at sympatico.ca>
To: <dhallam at rapidsys.com>; <W9RAN at oneradio.net>; <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>; 
<hammarlund at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 3:24 PM
Subject: [Hammarlund] RE: [R-390] Filling Engraved Panels


> I've used the acrylic paint method very successfully on sp-600 panels.
> I dilute the paint a bit as my paint is very thick. I use a paint brush to
> fill in the letters and go over the letters with a plastic body work 
> scraper.
> This leaves the "hazy" on the body of the panel.
>
> What I have found with acrylics, is that they appear to dry quite quickly
> however the paint is stiff quite soft.  If you wait a couple of days you 
> will
> find that the paint gets considerably harder.  So, I wait for the paint to
> dry for some 10's of minutes and then wipe the panel off with a paper 
> towel
> and automobile "scratch/swirl remover".  This allows the paint in the 
> letters
> to dry to a sufficient level that the "cloth" doesn't just smear it all 
> over again.
>
> If you wait a week to remove the haze, the paint has gotten way too hard.
>
> The cloth you use is critical too.  It should be quite smooth.  Any 
> roughness/or hairs
> will tend to affect the paint in the lettering.
>
> The other trick I use is that the above process is tied in to the entire 
> paint job.
>
> I haven't had great success in getting a "smooth" paint application from 
> the spray
> bombs. So, what I resorted to doing is painting the panel and then using 
> the automotive
> buffing/polish compounds.
> - lightly sand with 600 or better wet sand paper (prefer 1000)
> - medium coarse buffing compound (applied with a polish machine, 3000 rpm)
> - 1st application fine buffing compound/swirl/scratch remover.
>
> - Fill in lettering
>
> - Followed by final application of swirl/scratch remover.  This takes off 
> the haze.
>
> Main issue with this is that you get a very polished (glossy) paint job 
> when most of the
> panel are flat or semi-gloss.
>
> As for the the polishing machine, I got mine on ebay for less $50.
> In the US there are several stores that carry these for similar prices 
> (they just don't
> ship to Canada)
>
> Bill, ve3jhu
>
>
>>From: "David C. Hallam" <dhallam at rapidsys.com>
>>Reply-To: dhallam at rapidsys.com
>>To: "Robert Nickels" <W9RAN at oneradio.net>,"R-390A Receiver List" 
>><r-390 at mailman.qth.net>,"Hammarlund" <hammarlund at mailman.qth.net>
>>Subject: RE: [R-390] Filling Engraved Panels
>>Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:48:44 -0400
>>
>>Get a Lacquer-Stix made by Lake Chemicals.  It is a fill-in paint on stick
>>form made for this application.  Any excess can easily be removed with a
>>wipe of light mineral oil.
>>
>>David
>>KC2JD/4
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: r-390-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>> > [mailto:r-390-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Robert Nickels
>> > Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 12:37 PM
>> > To: R-390A Receiver List; Hammarlund
>> > Subject: [R-390] Filling Engraved Panels
>> >
>> >
>> > I'm looking for "best practices" aka "what works" when filling engraved
>> > panels.  The panel in question is for a Hammarlund SP-210 but I've got 
>> > a
>> > 390 panel in the queue and the process should be the same.
>> >
>> > I've read everything Google has produced on the topic, which basically
>> > amounts to using a) acrylic artists paint or b) lacquer stick to fill
>> > the engraved lettering.   "Filling" is the easy part, the trouble comes
>> > when trying to remove the residue that inevitably gets on the panel.
>> > Most folks say to wait "a while" for the fill to dry, then remove the
>> > residue with a damp cloth, or something similar.  It sounds good, but
>> > I've had less than zero success at removing the excess paint while
>> > leaving the filled area intact.
>> >
>> > The laws of physics seem to get in the way.  Common sense tells us that
>> > a thin layer of paint will dry before a thick one, and my attempts thus
>> > far confirm that if I wait long enough for the filled area to be
>> > sufficiently dry, the residue on the panel has fully dried and is 
>> > nearly
>> > impossible to remove without marring the panel.   Edison-like, I've
>> > tried dozens of different methods on my (now) test panel, including
>> > adding cornstarch to thicken the paint, using various materials as a
>> > squeegee, and different cure times, but the result is inevitably a
>> > whitish haze around the letters, inconsitent filling of some letters,
>> > and a generally lousy (polite word) appearance.
>> >
>> > There must be a trick to this, and while I'm busy stripping and
>> > re-priming and painting, I'm hoping some of you who have had success
>> > will share your secrets.  In as much detail as possible, please! 
>> > Edison
>> > was a patient man....I'm not ;-)
>> >
>> > Thanks and 73,
>> > Bob W9RAN
>> > _____________________________________________________________
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>> >
>> >
>>
>>
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