57 Chassis on a spit

[Ron in Indiana]

I've been working on this 57 W100 from Denver and it was time to paint the chassis. My neighbor who is a gearhead also loaned me his frame rotisserie he made 10 years ago. My son and I mounted the chassis so we could clean it for painting today. The frame had been sandblaster before it arrived so it only needed some degreasing around the front knuckles and scuffed with a Scotchbrite from end to end. I painted it this afternoon once we wiped it down with grease and wax remover. This is THE best way to paint a chassis or frame. I flipped it several times trying to cover every inch with paint. Just when I thought I'd hit everything I'd find more which took almost an hour to paint this. This is inside my new paint booth I built this winter. So nice to see what I'm painting and have a proper exhaust fan and heat. It's 20 x 25 with a 10 x 8 door in the end. The green column in the corner is one of two exhaust filter banks on each side of the door. The door goes up vertically by way of a small block and tackle set up.

[dougdodgeman]

No substitute for the right tools! Looks SWEET !! Doug

[Joe Cimoch]

Looking good Ron.

[DrPepper]

Wow....Impressive...!!!

So, did you pull your rear drums off yet...??
No, mine is still tight as a ...drum!
DrPepper

[Ron in Indiana]

The right toys make every job go so much easier. My neighbor built that rotisserie in a day with what he had laying around. He has small boat winches on each post to raise and lower the pivot point. Bad news the chassis was to heavy for them, good news I used my two post hoist to raise the chassis to the proper height. The real secret is getting the center right for the balance. Once this is off there I'm going to mount my A100 so I can spin it. Well maybe, I have another 57, 58 and 59 waiting for the same treatment. Not to mention two Town Wagons but they're down on the waiting list.

[Gordon Maney]

Everyone envies you....

[Ron in Indiana]

Everyone envies you....

It's all about setting a goal and working to that end. That plus working smarter not harder. I've done things the hard way which is no fun at all. We've all been there one way or another. I'm simply trying to set myself up to be efficient, productive and produce the best possible finished product.

Yes, I'm living the dream, and if anyone is envious I make no apologies. I worked in construction all my life and that was taken away from me. In the grand scheme of things I now see that was a good thing. I don't miss my previous vocation. I miss some of my toys but I've replaced them with new ones. It's all good in the end.

Now if I could only find a way to make sanding easier.....

[Bruce]

Gordon's Right

It's all about setting a goal and working to that end. That plus working smarter not harder. I've done things the hard way which is no fun at all. We've all been there one way or another. I'm simply trying to set myself up to be efficient, productive and produce the best possible finished product.

Yes, I'm living the dream, and if anyone is envious I make no apologies. I worked in construction all my life and that was taken away from me. In the grand scheme of things I now see that was a good thing. I don't miss my previous vocation. I miss some of my toys but I've replaced them with new ones. It's all good in the end.

Now if I could only find a way to make sanding easier.....

Mad Skills, you got 'em Ron!
Sweet pictures don't make it any easier. I liked this pic when I saw it on FB, but didn't make any comments then.

[jddcarr]

Rear Drums and Rotisserie

Ron,
Looking great man. Love the pictures. So amped. You know how to do it, that's for sure.

Hey Dr.Pepper.................Funny story about the rear drums. I did get them off to re-do the brakes. So I'm in my tiny garage and I have a giant three leg puller and I have this thing cranked down hard. Really hard. I step away for a second to get something to spray on the axle to see if I can get any penetration to loosen this up. As I am walking back to spray it, the drum brakes free and it sounded like a mortar round going off in my garage. I jumped so darn high that when I came down all I could do was laugh. I wish I had a video camera set-up to catch my expression. Priceless

[leop]

Please post a build thread or more info about the paint booth.

Please post a build thread or more info about the paint booth.

I'll bet you had some great ideas, things you wouldn't do again and new ideas. It would be great to hear them all - As a paint booth is definitely on the list of stuff to do this summer. Just a few questions that come to mind:

How big?
How many lights worked best?
How to keep paint off lights?
Inside another building or exposed to the weather?
Do you hose down the floor?
Drywall? Paint on drywall? Anti-static paint?
what kind of filters? What kind of fans? Push or pull on the fans?

Not that much information on the WEB about building your own paint booth so if you built something that works a description of it would have a large audience.

[Ron in Indiana]

No there isn't much info on booths

The most prevalent statement I found on building your own paint booth is, We don't recommend you build your own booth. The booth was already built in a spa factory that we cut up and moved. It WAS 20'x20' it's now 20'x25' with 9 3" ft ceiling height. The biggest problem I had was finding info on exhaust fans and filters. I bought a fan with the booth that is sized correctly my application. My HVAC contractor was a big help in figuring air flow and air changes per minute to size filters. I can start a thread on how I built mine which is unconventional but it works. I can tell you this it was a lot of work in how I did mine but the results in my paint work made it all worth it. I will ask Gordon where he'd like the thread to be posted. He may want me to write another story for the PWA magazine too. Stay tuned.

[Gordon Maney]

The most prevalent statement I found on building your own paint booth is, We don't recommend you build your own booth. The booth was already built in a spa factory that we cut up and moved. It WAS 20'x20' it's now 20'x25' with 9 3" ft ceiling height. The biggest problem I had was finding info on exhaust fans and filters. I bought a fan with the booth that is sized correctly my application. My HVAC contractor was a big help in figuring air flow and air changes per minute to size filters. I can start a thread on how I built mine which is unconventional but it works. I can tell you this it was a lot of work in how I did mine but the results in my paint work made it all worth it. I will ask Gordon where he'd like the thread to be posted. He may want me to write another story for the PWA magazine too. Stay tuned.

I would say yes, it should be an article for the magazine!

[leop]

An article would be great

I would say yes, it should be an article for the magazine!

It used to be that you could do your own prep work and rent a booth over the weekend. However the lawyers have now made that impossible so building a booth looks better and better every day.

[Ron in Indiana]

How am I going to get anything done if

I'm writing articles all the time? LOL I don't have a lot of good pictures during the move and install but I can share what I've learned. We built a booth in a building we put up for a friend of mine, actually two of them. One was in the original building the second was nicer in the addition to the first. We also put in a pit for a commercial down draft booth in 1988 for a crooked Dodge dealer but that's another story in itself best told face to face. I'll see what I can come up with.