Looking for some advice on products and methods that balance durability with effort. I have a random orbital, and will most likely be brushing/rolling the paint on. I hear people recommend Dupont, Sherwin Williams, and PPG but they must have 250+ product lines between them so I have no clue what people are actually talking about. Some of the metal is heavily pitted, so I might need filler too.
The OEM paint from the dealers is reasonably priced. Stick with an acrylic enamel Or, spend a little more on a hardener. Get some 220 grit for your orbital and go to town. Get a sprayer from Harbor Freight. Brushes and rollers are expensive. Welcome to the HEF! Are we talking farm equipment? That’s right up my alley. I run a huge ag operation. The best, organic meat rabbits in Alaska. This is Mr. Peanut Butter and Mr. Chocolate. They are brothers. One of them is joining me for taco Tuesday.
I painted alot of stuff to be resold at one time . I would steam clean it then paint with an airless sprayer . I was younger and could do a good job. I would get a sprayer of some kind.
If you can't media blast it then wire brush rusty steel and maybe some sanding on the old paint. Primer then paint. Actually to keep down the aerosols and over spray if that can be an issue, brushing and rolling can work. But its pretty slow. Yeah hardener is probably best, but air dry will work too. Had a local place that made paint was a good price, I bet not now though. On bare rusty wire brushed metal a prep n etch is good to convert and etch the metal.
I usually clean, clean, clean then blast and paint with epoxy primer and two urethane topcoats. When doing it right the labor is the same. So I use a high performance paint system. This is on my own equipment and I only want to do it once.
We have had good results with epoxy primer & imron topcoat. Getting really expensive now though….
Harbor Freight has some wire wheels that fit 4 1/2 inch grinders, a cup and flat brush. Get a couple of each, they'll tear up the rust for you. Be absolutely certain you wear goggles and leather gloves, a face shield would be even better because the tend to throw wires as you use them. They'll stick you. A self etching primer will help prevent the rust from coming back for a while then a decent implement paint of the color of your choice. Tractor Supply has good paint at reasonable price but they do tend to fade after a few years.
The primer I use is old school and smells terrible. Sherwin Willams Kem Bond HS primer. I've painted many old rusty pieces of equipment. Sand the paint spots, prep the rust with wire wheel or grinder and blow the dust off. This stuff sticks to anything and really keeps the rust from coming back. Not for a top notch paint job but works great for equipment.
I start a paint job on my machines with a good pressure wash . My washer is 4500 psi ,rips bad paint off pretty well . Rust converter on bad rust , fair in the edges of the remaining paint with your sander . No sandblasting unless your doing completly dismantled components ,sands gets into everting and destroys moving parts. Get a good quality sprayer and extra tips paint wear the tips out. get advice from the paint supplier on tip size epoxy paints can be hard to push thru a sprayer. Use the thinners matched to the paint. Dismantle and carefully clean every part in your sprayer after every use with gun wash or the thinner you use with the paint. I used to tell my guys i didnt want to see what color paint was last used in the sprayer,but eventually they still get dirty.