Cast-In Letter Highlighting

[Matt_Isserstedt]

Here is a shot of some highlighting I did to the "Bridgeport" cast into the ram of my machine.

I used a Uni PX-20 oil-based paint marker, available at art and some office supplies. Color is metallic silver. I didn't clean up the fairly ugly paint job (lots of runs, drips and errors) of the previous owner. I was surprised at how easy it is to control the results, me being FAR from an artist. It looks positively good when viewed from across the shop... [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif"%20alt="[/img]

http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/bri ... hlight.jpg

Maybe the cast-in underline needs to be a contrasting color...red anyone?

[Scott]

Matt,the marker idea seems to work good.That kind of stuff is harder to do then it looks.It looks real good also.

I vote for blue.

[fredwhite]

This is a good suggestion. I tried it and it sure worked better than a small paintbrush. Since cast iron is rough textured, it is hard to make the letters look good no matter how careful you are ( unless the manufacturer machined the tops of the letters ).

I also used the finer tip pen - PX21 - which is 1/8 wide ( PX-20 is 1/4 and PX-30 is 3/8 )

Bought the pens from Durable Supply ( 866 - 354 - 9431 ) and recommend them - also they have no minimum order so they accepted my order for $5.00 for two pens and did not charge a "packaging" charge - just the actual shipping of about $2.00 ( USPS ).

I used the silver as Matt recommended and agree it is the optimal color, but I also noticed on a trial part that if you rub your finger over the paint hard, the "gloss" disappears and the silver becomes grey ( I had the same experience years ago trying to spray "chrome" paint on some car door armrests where the factory chrome finish had been worn off - finally I gave up ). I wonder what white would look like.

[dkinzer]

The picture below shows the door of my Atlas shaper. I painted the lettering using a hard rubber roller called a "brayer" that I borrowed from my wife's art supplies. I think that the brayer is normally used to spread a uniform coat of ink on a hard surface which is then used to ink a stamp.

I dribbled a little bit of paint on a clean sheet of glass and then rolled the brayer in it to get an even coat on the roller. Then I simply rolled the brayer back and forth across the lettering until it was mostly covered. I later applied a second coat.

Other pictures of the shaper may be found here:
Atlas 7B Shaper

Don Kinzer
Portland, OR

[fredwhite]

Looks great! Please forward the brayer.

Seriously, and no disrespect intended, it appears from the photo that the "tops" of the Atlas letters are rather smooth and uniform compared to a BP. It just requires a machine by machine solution and this is a viable technique for the "bag of tricks".

[Charles]

Very nice paint work/restoration
Other than painting my old shop machinery, I have painted several old coffee grinders. This one was aquired as a bare casting with little of the original paint or decals intact. Paint pens work well on the larger letters but the smaller letters are easier , for me, to do with brush and lead base One Shot sign painters paint.
Charles

lf&c FINAL 007.jpg
lf&c FINAL 006.jpg
lf&c FINAL 004.jpg

[Charles]

Very nice paint work/restoration
Other than painting my old shop machinery, I have painted several old coffee grinders. This one was aquired as a bare casting with little of the original paint or decals intact. Paint pens work well on the larger letters but the smaller letters are easier , for me, to do with brush and lead base One Shot sign painters paint.
Charles OOPS here are the links

http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/lf& ... %20004.jpg
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/lf& ... %20006.jpg
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/lf& ... %20004.jpg

[willy]

Here you go!

-willy-

[DFWKen]

I painted my Bridgeport very-light gray. I plan to paint the recessed field background of their logo with flat charcoal gray, allowing the white of the main color to stand out. I also plan to paint the recessed field of the polished aluminum belt guard piece with the same charcoal gray paint. Any comments?

[Matt_Isserstedt]

Sounds like a great plan. Really, whatever suits the individual is best...

I think that your choice of using the dark background and white letters will really allow the logo to stand out.

IMO the standard motivation is to try for contrast....without being too overzealous (read: psychedelic).... [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif"%20alt="[/img]

I like your idea of painting the background of the aluminum belt guard. I was never satisfied with it's rough-cast look.