Galv trim tidy up

[graceysdad]

The little SeriesOnes have a fair amount of external steel work that is galvanised, when this is tatty and dull can it be made to look nice and fresh somehow, must be a comon problem.

[JDNSW]

It all depends on how bad it is.

1. No rust or bare metal or paint.
I find that it can be greatly improved by simply using car polish and a bit of elbow grease. If it is a bit more oxidised, an abrasive polish. I have seen steel wool suggested, and this may be OK, but you need to be very careful - the zinc is not very thick, and the last thing you want to do is go through it - that puts you into class 2 below.

2. Rust or bare metal.

a) Cosmetic fix.
Sand back and paint the affected patches or the whole piece with Galvafroid (sometimes misnamed Galfroid) or similar metallic zinc paint. Alternatively, less satisfactory but commonly done, paint it with aluminium paint. As the colour is different, you will have to do all of it. If you expect either of these to stay on, etch primer is needed where the new paint is on top of galvanising.

b) Proper fix.
Remove the affected piece(s) and get them regalvanised.

3. It has been previously painted over.
Chemical stripper - avoid caustic strippers as these may corrode the adjacent aluminium, although they should be OK with care and a good cleanup. Avoid helping the stripper with anything that will scratch the galvanising Of course, you may then find yourself in 1 or 2.

John

[Lotz-A-Landies]

John has suggested most of it, one process to brighten up the gal and remove some of the oxidisation, is to use lemon juice and a Scotchbright plastic pad (not the metal ones).

Remenber that with re-galvanising, the metal tends to become more brittle which is particularly important on thin parts which may be used for support.

Find a galvaniser who will skim the contaminates off the top of his bath before he dips and can centrifuge the parts as they come out of the bath this will improve the look of the finish. Try to do it on warm or hot days as this reduces the amount of chrystallising on the surface as the part goes from hot to cold.

For small scratches a mix of wheel silver paint and silvafrost is very hard to detect from the rest of the gal.

Diana

[graceysdad]

Sounds like its not a difficult job, will try the gentle clean method first and see how we go, I have one or two cracks to weld so some touch up will be needed, Thanx heaps.

[Bigbjorn]

Galvit E90 is very good. It is a single part epoxy paint containing zinc. Clean your bits thoroughly with hot water and a strong detergent applied with Scotchbrite pads, rinse off, and when dry, degrease with mineral turpentine and clean cloths. I would not think that etch primer would be necessary on 50+ year old galvanising. Any this old should have naturally weathered to a nicely scratched and pitted surface by this. Would not hurt though.