Radiator Adventure, Part 2
Okay, so Joe and Co. at Ace Sandblasting helped me to load the truck up with newly sandblasted and primed radiators. Off I went in my U-Haul rental van to the house where some guys from the neighborhood were to help me unload them.
Of course, I still needed to paint the radiators. So, they were dragged into the garage while I hunkered down in the oven and space-heater warmed house and waited for the weekend. I could have had Joe paint them as well as prime them but I remember thinking at the time, "Paint them? Oh, I can paint them. No worries."
I'm an idiot.
Do you know what temperature it has to be in order to effectively spray paint radiators? Do you? I did and did not think ahead. It should be between 50 and 90 degrees. And 50 degrees isn't optimal. Let this be a lesson to you all. DO NOT BE ME! Do not put yourself in a situation where you are forced to either wait for warm weather or to spray paint in cold weather. Because spray painting in cold weather is, well, dumb. I watched the temperature hover just below where I needed it to be and frantically begged the sun to turn on just a little brighter to get to the required 50 degrees. I waited as long as I could. And when the temperature reached 49 degrees, I quickly whipped out the spray cans and began this mad dash frenzy of spray painting.
I learned that I would be a lousy graffiti tagger. My pointer finger hurt SO MUCH from keeping that little button pushed down as I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. For all my "hey I'm so tough I can drive a van full of radiators around" bravado, I was brought down by a finger cramp. I would not be able to hang with Banksy. I couldn't even hang with the kids in the alley who paint "Wassup?" on garage doors.
Meanwhile, it became colder and colder. And the paint was slowing. And the spray nozzle was clogging. And I wanted to be WARM, darnit! Many spray cans of paint later, the radiators were done. But it took them a few more days to dry because of the temperatures.
We finally moved them back into the house. And then we had to hook them back up. Which wasn't as straightforward as we had planned.
(To be continued, of course...)
(6)
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Comments
I always preferred to paint radiators with a brush. I would turn them at an angle so I could reach all sides. Then, turn the heat on. The paint dies very quickly & is also baked on.POPS --30--
Posted by: POPS | November 21, 2006 9:51 AM
So, which is worse "spray can finger" or "Nintendo thumb"?
Posted by: Gary | November 21, 2006 11:06 AM
pops, I tried the brush and just couldn't seem to get enough paint between the fins. But I didn't try your tipping the radiator technique!
Gary, spray can finger. At least with Nintendo thumb, you are also doing something entertaining!
Posted by: jm | November 22, 2006 7:54 AM
From earlier posts, I thought you were to have radiator covers, reducing the need for a perfect paint job.
What I liked about my way was with the heat turned on the paint got baked and would not flake off over the yars. POPS --30--
Posted by: POPS | November 22, 2006 9:11 AM
Did you know they make a Spray Can Trigger Handle? I used it to spray paint a lamp. Made a big difference on the finger pain. Glad you got them done though, they loook like they are a neat color now.
http://www.makezine.com/pub/tool/Spray_Can_Trigger_Handle
Posted by: Tana | November 26, 2006 6:55 PM
Jeanne - next time you buy spray paint, geton one of these, for about $2.50:
http://www.amazon.com/Rustoleum-Rust-Oleum-Spray-Grip/dp/B000DZFE44/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1196488174&sr=8-10
It saves the finger... I dont spray without it.
Posted by: Nick | November 30, 2007 11:51 PM