What paint to use on a new wood camera?

[vinny]

I spoke with Dick Phillips but he couldn't recall the paint he used on his cameras other than it being water-based and sprayed on. I'd like to out a durable finish (flat black or gray) on my camera. It's baltic birch and some surfaces are coated with epoxy. I need something that will cover both. I've tried tests with rust oleum and rustoleum auto paint but the results scratch easily. Auto paint in aeresol cans doesn't have the same mix as real auto paint so it doesn't make a hard coat. I am familier with the Eastwood 2 part cans but it's a one-time use can and would be $$$ by the end of it. I do have a hvlp gun I could use if I find the right paint. Anyone know specifically what paint camera makers use/used?

[mdarnton]

If you're looking for battleship grey and tough, then oil-base concrete (think basement floor) paint would fill the bill. You might, however want to add a matting additive to it, to kill some of the gloss. For spraying it would need to be thinned out quite a bit with the appropriate thinner, and you couldn't lay on a lot all at once as you would with some other types of paint. Anyway, for a quality surface and durability both, you'd want to build a lot of thin coats rather than one thick one.

The only thing that would qualify as water based and permanent would be some sort of acrylic (artist's substitute for oil paint) or latex paint (house woodwork).

Or a two part epoxy finish, if you like doing things the hard way. :-)

[Roger Thoms]

Vinny, if it were me, I'd use Benjamin Moore Advance and I would probably brush it on, although I have sprayed it with a Cap Spray HVLP sprat outfit. I have been using Advance on cabinetry and interior wood work and am really impressed with the product. It has a good combination of hardness and toughness. I just had a quart colored matched in B&J's grey for some lens boards I made. I need to paint the boards, and if you like I can paint a sample on scrape of wood and drop it in the mail. Shoot me a pm with your address if your interested. My other thought is Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy spray paint, but I think your color choice would be limited.

Roger

http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/for-your-home/product-catalog?prod=Advance_Waterborne_Interior_Alkyd_Paint#piSheen=792&tab=2

[Jonathan Barlow]

Paint it black! Burke & James battleship grey cameras have to be the ugliest ever built. :cool:

[Alan Gales]

Shoot Vinny. I figured you for a lime green kind of guy!

[C. D. Keth]

There's going to be purple metal flake in that battleship grey, right?

[dap]

For what it is worth the factory paint on my phillips isn't all that durable - I'm sure you could do better.

One of my other hobbies is rebuilding old woodworking equipment and I have had very good luck with sherwin williams industrial oil based enamels - pretty durable stuff and easy to handle/use. Full disclosure - I've never used the stuff on wood though. In any case it would be worth browsing their website to see if there are any suitable products (their industrial line of paints are very high quality).

[dap]

One more word of advise - many enamels take quite awhile to cure to full hardness...the longer you wait before assembling/using the better. The rustoleum you were having trouble with might prove to be more durable than you think if given adequate time to cure (when I paint castings with enamel I'll usually set them aside for a month or two before I work with them).

[Tin Can]

Car paint, dries hard.

Custom color is easy.

[Brian Sims]

you might want to look into pigmented polyurethane

[goamules]

Candy apple red would be nice.

[chris_4622]

Sherwin Williams Polane would be a good choice, contact me if you are interested. It uses a catalyst to cross link and only comes in gallons. I have some black and a few other colors in the shop.

[matthew blais]

Whatever paint you use, I'd follow up with a protective coat...even a multi coat wax...

[TimHenrion]

Whatever paint you use, I'd follow up with a protective coat...even a multi coat wax...

+1

If you're looking for a durable wood finish and don't have access to commercial painting equipment and finishes like multi-part specialized UV cure finishes, the usual solution is: primer coat followed by a color coat followed by many clear coats. The more durability you want, the more layers of clear coat you use. When finishing guitars, I usually used at least 6 layers of clear coat. It's the layered clear coats that provide the durability.

The camera wood will flex so you want a "long oil" varnish like polyurethane for the clear coats.

[jp]

I thought B&J grey wooden cameras were the ugliest thing ever, till I saw Russ Young's pink B&J. I'd suggest either black or something completely adventurous, like the BMW art car's or Lennon's rolls royce.

[Tin Can]

When I get some spare change I want to powder coat one of my metal Elwoods, maybe hot pink or yellow, something that really stands out. I always regretted buying a common red Ducati, and way prefer the yellow ones now.

But black is always good, especially for a murdercycle. LOL


I thought B&J grey wooden cameras were the ugliest thing ever, till I saw Russ Young's pink B&J. I'd suggest either black or something completely adventurous, like the BMW art car's or Lennon's rolls royce.

[Regular Rod]

That's a splendid camera you have made! It reminds me of my Shen Hao.

RR

[Leszek Vogt]

How about maroon with silver flakes ? I mean something like cocobolo.....and it would work well with your bellows. Whatever you choose, hope you slap a primer on it, first.

Les

[Curt]

Paint it black! Burke & James battleship grey cameras have to be the ugliest ever built. :cool:

And: "if it's big and gray stay away"

[John Koehrer]

Weapons paint? Duracoat firearm finishes.

Check to see if it'll work on wood.

[John Kasaian]

Candy apple red would be nice.
My thoughts exactly! Add some gold pin striping an it'll look just like downtown!

[Alan Gales]

My thoughts exactly! Add some gold pin striping an it'll look just like downtown!

I don't know. I still think lime green with the red bellows would really stand out! ;)

[analoguey]

Lemon yellow with red stripes ;-)

[Dave Wooten]

Nice job.
Where did you obtain the extension rail slider set up?

[vinny]

You CAN use Duracoat on wood. I'm waiting for a response as to what to pretreat the wood with as Duracoat sounds like really good stuff that won't chip off.

Nice job.
Where did you obtain the extension rail slider set up?
Dave,
Hiwin manufactures the rails and linear bearing assemblies but I got them directly from hugo since I needed the stainless left-handed torqspline screw that I could only find in right-handed versions here in the states. That's the most expensive part of the camera besides bellows. I machined everything else including the knobs which went pretty well considering I'd never used a mill or lathe before this project.

[Alan Gales]

It looks like you did a really good job on it. You should be proud of yourself.

I think we would all like to see some photo's of it when you are finished.

[cyrus]

water based paints make the grain on wood rise, we were taught in woodshop...

[Patrick13]

water based paints make the grain on wood rise, we were taught in woodshop...

With a fine wood surface, a guitar in my case, the trick is to use thinner to raise that grain and fine-sand it down to a smooth surface again. Repeat until happy. After that the paint or lacquer is applied thinly, in multiple layers with drying between each. For dimensionally stable wood an epoxy coating would be applied, this soaks into the surface a little ways and really helps stop humidity expansion/contraction.

In any case, John Deere green would work and with the bonus that it'll look like a big bug on tripod legs :p

[smithdoor]

Try linseed oil this what use 100's years ago still works great today
I use today on gunstocks will last for ever. I buy it from walmart low cost or OSH
If you need black mix linseed oil with lamp black or buy it at a art store

Dave

[Stephen Willard]

The problem with all modern day paints is they use dyes for coloring, and dyes will fade. Paints that use real earth pigments will not fade and as a rule are much more durable than dye based paints.

I have spent two years researching paints and restoring the exterior of my house. I finally settled on a linseed oil paint that is made in Sweden that uses an old resurrected technology and is basically the same paint used by Michelangelo to paint the Sistine chapel. It uses real earth pigments, and I could paint my house jet black and it would never fade. The paint is marketed as a 50 year paint, but I suspect they are being very conservative.

Before I painted my house with this paint, I visited a house in Silverton Colorado. Silverton resides at 9500 feet above sea level and the weather and UV radiation is extreme there. Buildings there do not hold paint for more that a few years at the most except one house which used this linseed oil paint. After five years it still looks gleaming new.

Most people think paint is made for the homeowner, but in reality it is made for the contractor. All modern-day paints uses dyes and petroleum solvents so they can be use with a spray gun and dry quickly. This makes it very profitable for the contractor but severely compromises the durability of the paint. When you apply 100 pounds of modern-day paint to a surface you will be lucky if you have 40 pounds left when it drys. With this linseed oil paint you will have a 100 pounds left. It is hard and indestructible after it cures for a week or so.

At $160 for 3L (which is less than a gallon) the paint is not cheap, but you can buy it by the quart as well. You have to use a undercoating of their linseed oil which means that you should remove any paint on the camera to bear wood. I recommend two undercoats. The linseed oil you buy at home depot is junk that is impregnated with a lot of petroleum solvent to accelerates drying which compromises its durability. The linseed processed by this company is probably equal to or better than the linseed oil used by artists. In fact, the linseed oil paint you buy from art supply stores is also very expensive because they also us real earth pigments for coloring as well. Artist linseed oils are designed to last for hundreds if not thousands of years.

If you decide to use this paint I would recommend mixing it with some Zinc. All oil base paints are susceptible to fungus and Zinc will suppress fungus growth. The company sells the Zinc as well, and yes Zinc is a heavy metal just like the pigments they use.

The URL for the USA company is http://www.solventfreepaint.com and a comparison of this paint against modern-day paints is listed here http://www.solventfreepaint.com/zero-waste-paint.htm.

[vinny]

thanks stephen and dave but as I said in my original post, the wood consists of baltic birch and epoxied baltic birch. I'll likely do a thin layer of epoxy on the remaining raw wood before sanding again, then spraying on the finish. I also don't intend to store it outside so I'm actually not worried about it fading. My house on the other hand is fuct. It looks like yours on the south side, half the paint is loose or falling off. The $15,000 estimate I got last year at least included oil-based paint applied with brushes!