That's great progress, I wish my current restoration was all cleaned up ready. You might want to oil those chains,sprockets and anything else steel thats not being painted so they don't rust up. I would also be looking at getting that etch primer down on the parts you need to paint as I noticed it doesn't take long for surface rust to come back especially if we get rain or there is moisture in the air, last thing you want to do is clean them up again.
I'm going to to pick up the same tin of etch primer today for my edger, seems to be the cheapest name brand out there I could find.
Good point Bon. I didn't think about the chains so I'll get them into a snap-lock bag with some silicon tonight. All the washers will be replaced with SS304 and there's a few bolts with gouges and scrapes so they'll be replaced too.
The parts to be painted are all primed - everything except the catcher and the reel, and I went through one spray can. I only did the roller ends (because you can see them). We use Dulux exclusively at work and the boys swear by it. Bunnings is cheaper for the cans and very easy to use.
Dabbled a little with the reel and sampled removing paint etc.. The plan is to have the reel as a spare that can be used when say top dressing to save the main reel from the destructive forces of sand. I really don't want to buy a rotary mower and can change the reel and bed knife next season. It also gave me an item to add to my projects list - a backlapping system, but that's for another day..
Sounds good. I got the wife picking up a tin of Dulux etch primer from Bunnings as we speak, good to have a recommendation that it's good stuff as I don't want to be spending double the price for the primer as I I did with my 45, trying to keep the cost down on this one.
Yep the costs can quickly spiral out of control, especially now that many of these worn out machines are being sourced by flippers who are selling them at a starting price of around $300 and then all the costs start mounting up with the ridiculous pricing now on all these bits required.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Prices are crazy $300.00 is a cheap Machine by today's standards, I have seen them for $600.00 - $1,000 + for a rust bucket. This seems to be the trend today with everything not just SB.
Technology is the problem I could list a machine in my bed with no fees this second and have 20 people interested with in 10mins and it be sold and picked up in a few hours, once upon a time you would have to phone between work hours Mon-Fri while you were at work to place an add in the paper pay a seller's fee for each item you list wait a week for it to be printed then a buyer had to pay $1.20 to buy the paper go through multiple pages with out a picture to find what they think they wanted pay 30c for each phone call to call a seller, the seller then had to be home by the wall phone to answer a call to tell the buyer if it's worth going out to see it or not. Weeks would go by and sellers didn't want to be sitting around at home waiting for calls and people to come and snoop around their house hence why things were sold cheap just to get rid of them and not have an expired ad. It used to cost money and time for someone to sell something. The housing markets the same it's all about who can get in first now not what it's worth there's 100's more people in line behind you now interested not just local but interstate. Everyone's a businessman in their pyjamas buying and selling online junk making money and not paying taxes.
Not bagging this site or others but it's the way of the world now but information is at everyone's finger tips and so a lot of these projects would have been almost impossible for some people to do or to source parts for. I'm guilty to and grateful for it, maybe a lot of these machines would of been scrapped and lost to the world if not for modern technology.
It's just a shame that people are making it harder and harder for the newer generation to enjoy old fashion quality technology such as the SB.
Oh gee I remember those days all to well. I must say though you dealt with many more sincere people back then to not all these whipper snapper flippers as they are nowadays.
The prices on the East Coast may have jumped up tremendously but here in Adelaide $300 is still top dollar for a machine that requires to be rebuilt. One thing that most Sydney siders don't understand and that is that South Australia is the Centrelink state, thus prices are reflected in that slogan.
The asking prices are still stupid here but the actual prices achieved are much lower than advertised. Sadly this practise of asking high and reducing prices so as to actually gain a sale is just not being seen publicly which sadly makes it all a bit of a false economy as most folk think the asking prices are what the actual item sells for which in 99% of times just isn't the case whatsoever. The way most sales go now is that the prices are cut in half to make the sale happen. This is how the terminology of Lowballing became the norm.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Decided upon the colour scheme and this time round I'll go with Dulux Metalshield Epoxy Enamel in Gloss Blue for the chassis, chain cover etc. Opposing colour will be black for the reel, rollers (yes, plural), clutch, and groomer handlebars (Mower bars will be chrome and front roller new SS tube). Deflector will be 2-colour with blue on top and black underneath.
Groomer height adjuster, bearing housings etc will stay in their natural finish and some will get a buff with my jewellers wheel. Should they be degreased then clear coated when done? I'll play it by ear with regards the bolts themselves as they may appear 'funny' against the blue background if left in their natural state. I guess if I paint them black I'll also know when I whack them against a hard surface.
First image is from the spray booth at work before hanging out in the wonderful Friday sunshine.
I will be experimenting with a different finish for the rollers and more on that over the weekend.
I must admit I don't mind the blue as it's nice to see different colours being used for the resto's of some of these machines, but in saying that the Black will probably be something you'll regret.
If you look at the machines that Rover put out in Kermit Green they changed to Black ancillaries which truthfully look really dull and as such it was probably the colour scheme that didn't help them along in their quest of sales, where as the Red just popped along with the Chrome and black was a good complementary colour, but the Blue / Black, sorry it's definitely not on my colour pallet.
But in saying that, it's horse for courses I've always said and if we were all driving the car coloured in Henry Fords choice of colour we'd all look pretty average I'd say.
Now in saying what I have I just can't pick any secondary colour to play nicely with your blue. Maybe Orange ??? or even Silver, I don't know as it's hard to pick a colour that's seen as sensible on a mower and not look too kiddieish.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Certainly love the Pacific Blue look with Silver fittings and Red Reel that just pops. These are colours that strike against each other and don't make the machine look dull at all.
From looking at this photo I don't know where you came up with the Black accents scheme from as it wouldn't be doing the overall look of the machine any favours.
In actual fact I always loved the colour scheme used on the Model 45 Lawn King which is pretty much represented on the machine in that photo.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Paint job looks good, plus side of the black is that rust doesn't show as much as silver if it creeps through so your handle bars and reel won't stand out but as BB said it can shadow the reel inside the deflector area where it's already dark and look like it's an empty space. Stealth is definately the right word as long as you can see that blade in there when it's spinning and no one puts their hands in there thinking their eyes are playing tricks on them, I had to turn the brightness up on my screen to see the blade, blue is way better than Kermit green though.
Just to clarify - that photo is where the inspiration to go blue/black came from. It isn't my unit, yet. Also the clutch body will go blue too.
I have all the fittings, like the height adjuster, bearing housings, cutter adjustment screws, clutch adjusters, clutch fork assembly etc etc are all currently in their natural state and the unit will be built that way. I can always change it as its not like the unit will be needed for months.
Real roller has a fresh addition of a product called "Plasti Dip", which is a liquid rubber applied to the surface via spray can. Sourced from RMS Components (Qld based) as they had them for $10 and a delivery fee of $12 was cheaper than anywhere else.
2 reason I'm giving it a go. First, I don't have a lot of hard surfaces to roll over and second that surface is exposed aggregate, so generally quite smooth after 25 years of locating the sharp edges with my feet..
I was on a Bunnings BBQ all day yesterday so I didn't get nearly enough done as I'd hoped this weekend, but at least all parts have 2 coats of their final colour scheme and will have a good week of hardening. Had an issue with crackling on the rails of the main deck, so that set me back a little with giving a gentle sand and coating again but it seemed to be OK after that.
If you look at the gap in the fence behind the roller, you'll see the bain of my life!! A neighbour that doesn't put effort into any part of their yard and the resultant crabgrass that shows up each year. I'll hit it with pre-em at some point I guess..
I guess that's why I wouldn't have my grass butting up against a fence like that. I'd always have some sort of garden bed between as a barrier and thus you can intervene any stuff coming from next door before it plays havoc with your lawn.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Agree with you BB - we had gardens before the pool went in but removing that much play area (for the kids at the time) it made more sense to remove the gardens. We've got a passionfruit working its way across the fence which actually makes that little strip worse as it shades the lawn and it will turn to dirt. I've got to remember to trim the vine higher so there's less shade and I'll look into a mowing strip at some point. The sprinkler heads need to be re-done before the next growing season so it will be a good opportunity to get both done properly.
Every time I post it seems to add more things to my jobs list!
I agree that all fence lines should have a break from your lawn if you don't want it getting the neighbours crap then it's just easy to rip out the rubbish growing under or through the fence or hit it with round up. It also gives you a bit of room to manoeuvre the Scotty and not be running it hard up the fence, and I still think a lawn looks better with a boarder of some sort weather it be a garden bed, pavers, concrete etc. it's very hard to get a nice finish around a fence line as you spend more time cutting the fence with the whipper snipper than grass, and it looks untidy if the neighbour doesn't do their edges and the grass grows through the gaps a foot above the lawn.
Almost ready to put to bed for the Winter. I had the chance to start re-building the groomer unit over the weekend and I'm pretty happy with the result. The old reel is in place to make it easier to tighten nuts and bolts without risking the groomer blades removing skin and worse.
It was most pleasing when the engine started first pull, after remembering to put the oil back in of course. It's making me seriously think I should use this as the every-day mower and restore Big Red into the groomer. This engine purred nicely, and the other is definitely louder, almost 'rougher'.. Tearing the second unit down will likely provide me with answers.
Hoping to be 100% complete next weekend so more photos to come. The old reel will be cleaned, straightened and painted to be ready for later in the year.
