Cylinder Paint

Graham

Don't know if this is the right place, but here goes.

I just ordered a set of dumpy 3lt Heisers to keep in the UK for my Classic. What sort of paint is likely on them? Is it powder coat?

The reason I ask is that yellow cylinders with stupid black and white quadrants on them do not appeal to me. Getting them filled is not an issue, so I want to repaint them black like everything else I have.

Any recommendations?

__________________
Graham
"Especially insidious are the rebreather pushers, who offer the desperate techdiver the diving equivalent of a cure for AIDS, but like the elixir salesmen of the wild west will leave death and destruction in their wake... If people really understood these devices, they would run screaming from the room, and would certainly not take instruction on so sophisticated a device from someone with no engineering or technical background..." Uncle George - Deeptech 1995

gathan

Hmmmm, still involved in clandestine diving operations I see...


Black rules!

Andre

stoneytony

Hi,
The bestway is 2 pack car paint & bake. If you spray or paint them yourself, you should be able to find a friendly body repair shop who will bake them at the same time. Make sure the cyls are nearly empty, as they get hot in the paint oven!

Tony

Beanie

Er there's a max temp that cylinders can be exposed to.
On my luxfor it says anythign over 180 degreees c is to be condemed.

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Beanie
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gathan

I would be extremely wary of any kind of paint process that involve oven curing. There was an accident a few years ago, in Florida I believe, where freshly painted cylinders let go during their first refill. Turned out the curing process had changed the molecular stucture of the metal and rendered the cylinders unable to handle their rated working pressure. Now, these were alu cylinders, I don't know how this applies to steel ones.

Andre

Benthic

Why not ask Julie how she did the cylinders for her 'Tigger Meg'? I assume she's still around here somewhere.

Julie--what are your thoughts? How'd you have the paint job done, and how is it holding up?

Brian

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Well lit rooms will not repel determined beer ninjas.

Pelagian

Baking cylinders weakens them in ways not detectible to standard visual inspections conducted by dive centres.

You would be placing the filler and anyone around them at a nasty and unnessecary risk by doing so.

Good auto body spray paint properly applied with a clear coat seal should make your tanks super sleek without any damage to the tanks, although it will hide any surface corrosion making the tank's exterior harder to inspect for damage.

Cheers

Seb

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'Because... I was Inverted!'

wizbang

A number of spray and bake booths here in Oz work at 65C.
No problem for an empty tank with a plug in it.

No chance of a metalurgical anomoly occuring. If it was there are lots of places in Oz we couldn't dive. ie most of Nothern Australia from a ute.

My caution would be for contamination and any sandblasting.
There is a product that was given to me, sorry forgotton its name, and it is clear but quite viscous, but once you have painted it on ANY surface normal paint will stick to it properly.

It allows you to paint glass or painted surfaces without having to remove the old paint. You would just need to make sure the original paint was in good enough condition to warrant painting over.

Hope that helps.

jdz

Being in the motor body repair game, I can concur with wizbang. Our ovens don't exceed ~60 deg c during the baking process.

I have painted many tanks over the years and the process from our end is quite simple.

Also, using two pac products, you don't require the oven to cure the paint. The oven only accelerates the process, so if you are paranoid, you don't have to bake...

Cheers, JDZ

Graham

Ok, so I have a brother in law with a car bodyshop back in the UK.

Do I take them to him, and tell him to repaint them two pack black, give them a couple of coats, mask up the valves carefully, and not bake them?

I should say, the tanks are brand new, I just don't like yellow tanks.

Thanks for the help so far.

__________________
Graham
"Especially insidious are the rebreather pushers, who offer the desperate techdiver the diving equivalent of a cure for AIDS, but like the elixir salesmen of the wild west will leave death and destruction in their wake... If people really understood these devices, they would run screaming from the room, and would certainly not take instruction on so sophisticated a device from someone with no engineering or technical background..." Uncle George - Deeptech 1995