Things that worked and experiments underway

After the dismal failures, yesterday I sprayed some more paint remover on a section under the aluminium panel.  It didn't work too well overnight but it did remove some paint.

Having scraped away the last of the loose paint and having plenty left, I remembered my angle grinder and that I had bought a cupped wire wheel for it in Harbor Freight. That, I put onto the grinder and had a go at the freshly stripped paint. The loosest paint seemed to be on the rub rails which is coincidentally where the worst peeling occurs.

Next, I wiped the area down with mineral spirits because I'd read that was a good thing to do. Finally, the first area, I sprayed with undercoat.

Finally I sprayed the whole lot that I'd just got done treating with white paint. Then I had an experiment - I'd just painted the area that had been stripped, brushed and wiped down. 

To the left, I just wiped the existing paint with spirits and painted. Below I already had stripped the area so without wire brushing, I wiped it down and painted. I'll see what it all looks like not next weekend but the one after. Next weekend will allegedly be rain all weekend.

Looking at the way the vast majority of the grey paint is not coming off with the wire brush, it looks like most of it is stuck on really well. I shall therefore be concentrating with the wire brush on the rub rails and areas where the grey paint is or has been peeling. The whole bus over time will all be wiped down with mineral spirits before painting.

Over this process I found the little cans of spray paint just produce blotchy, unacceptable results. My next time on the bus paintwork, I will probably brush the entire rest of the rub rails and peeling areas on the one side then brush the dust off and finally wipe down with mineral spirits before priming and painting with a roller. This will involve temporarily removing the two reflectors on the side. Finally I'll put a clear coat. 

The hood will probably take an entire weekend by itself and will need me to use the sandblaster in a couple of places. The coal slag dust I have is not great so I might end up having to get something better. I'm thinking that my respirator should help out if I use sand from Lowes. At least it'll stop me breathing silicates and getting silicosis. 

 

My control area here has just been gone over lightly with the wire brush, wiped down with mineral spirits and painted. No paint stripper has been used and no primer.

If I do anything more with the coal slag media then I have to replace the air hose on the compressor. I found a pretty big leak yesterday. Where there's one leak, there'll be more. That could have reduced pressure. I don't know til I replace it an try again. 

Anyway, that's what I got up to today - pretty much a continuation of yesterday.

I did have a look at installing the new interior light at the back of the bus but didn't do anything. As next weekend is forecast for heavy rain, that could be something for next weekend. While I was thinking about it, though I have multiple bulb holders waiting to be built into light assemblies in my bus, I went ahead an ordered some ready made light units. Not because I wanted to spend the money on top of what I've already spent but because a workman yesterday made off with my sheet of aluminium that I was going to use as reflectors. It would cost me about as much to buy more aluminium as to buy the light units and frankly I want to get this bus completed. 

Next weekend will be 100% rain so installing 5 lighting units should keep me entertained all weekend. They're all going to be BA15 units so I can use turn signal bulbs. I also have a huge stack of LED turn signal bulbs and adapters so I can use up my existing supply of G4 mount bulbs - both LED and halogen.

Meanwhile I looked at the inside of the bedroom and noticed that though I have two windows usable over the bed, I never open those blinds. It occurred to me that when I sheet over the windows on the other side I could sheet over the same windows on that side, leaving just the window over the desk open. That would make sheeting much simpler.

Thinking about sheeting, using an aluminium alloy would be an interesting idea to pursue. It would be lighter than steel and probably just as strong. If I put up a 10 foot long sheet of 14 gauge steel then it would weigh something like 3lbs per square foot and 60lbs of steel is heavy!

Well, I feel like I'm progressing even though the brake lines need completing, the brake pistons need cleaning and lubing, the battery needs to be installed under the bus, I need to test my current sole battery for capacity - I have a relay and I have a clock. I have a whole host of other things that need doing but I'm getting somewhere. 

Once the bus is repainted and clear coated I'll be able to put the reflective stripes on that I want to put. While I'm working on it, I might as well paint the bumpers white and put reflective stripes as well as red letters to stay back 300 feet. The gutter above the windows could do with flouresent paint or something to give an extra visible vehicle outline.