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Farmall & IHC Tractors Discussion Forum
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Hand Painting/Spraying

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Mike Farmer

12-14-2007 14:42:51




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Hi. I assume that in keeping with most manufacturers, in the early years IH hand painted all their vehicles. Does anyone know approximately when they changed to spraying. Just an idle question. MTF




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Mike Farmer

12-15-2007 10:46:29




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 Re: Hand Painting/Spraying in reply to Mike Farmer, 12-14-2007 14:42:51  
I only assumed that hand painting would have been the norm in the very early days. Whilst it was just an idle question I hope to learn something form the answers. I normally hand paint castings and spray the sheet metal. I find that its possible to get a good finish if the paint is thinned with a slow thinner to allow a longer drying time that lets the paint "level" or smooth out, even at times in hot weather thinning with white spirit which causes really slow drying. (if white spirit is not a standard US name I'm afraid I don't know your name for it). I had one try at hand painting sheet and to put it mildly I don't expect to be employed as a painter. TC MTF

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Bob Kerr

12-14-2007 21:32:23




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 Re: Hand Painting/Spraying in reply to Mike Farmer, 12-14-2007 14:42:51  
I have done a fair amount of reasearch on this topic mostly with regaurds to the Oldsmobile factory, but most factorys were close to follow. As of Late 1924 All of Oldsmobiles enclosed car bodies were built by Fisher body and they were one of the early factorys to use spray guns. The spray gun was patented around 1921 and I think DeVillbiss had the patent if I am not mistaken. In 1924 Olds open car bodys like tourings, roadsters etc, were still being built by Olds (not Fisher) and were all hand painted. Most all companys by 1929 were spray painting as it was a huge labor saver since a crew of people to hand sand and rub the paint out on sheet metal panels was no longer needed and one guy could spray paint faster than 4 guys could brush. I have an early IH 10-20 overhaul manual and it shows an engine with the manifold off. You can see the brush strokes on the engine block that someone tried to make behind the manifold while it was installed. So I can say at least as of 1925 or when ever the picture was taken for the manual, IH was still brush painting. Tells me they were assembled and then painted. I was told by someone years ago that IH didn"t start spray painting till 1929, the guy new his stuff on a lot of things regaurding IH but I would still want to see the proof like factory records to verify it and not go on hear say. I am not sure if records exist for IH on this. Oldsmobiles records amount to nothing more than purchase orders for spray equipment as of spring 1925. I bet Guy Fay has more info on IH and spraying paint. I can tell you this. I hand brush painted the cast iron on my 10-20 with Centari and it came out absolutely beautiful! I tried to hand paint the sheet metal with it and it came out lousy. I have hand painted Lacquer on sheet metal years ago and it takes a special tecnique to do it and super slow dry thinner but will always leave some brush marks. A super good brush is a must also. To get those out the old car companys hand sanded and rubbed the paint out with rubbing compounds like Blue Coral. Real early Car companys say around 1910 and earlier used any decent paint they could get, which was real bad compared to now days, and would acually use Marine Spar Varnish as a top coat. Spar varnish was the best low cost finnish of the day for outside use, but had to be recoated yearly. I have a 1906 Olds 3HP stationary Engine with original paint and it still has some varnish on it, but most has flaked off. Varnishing was pretty much the standard for keeping buggys painted nice and can be rubbed out super smooth. paint back then was just not good enough to do that and hold up for long before oxidizing. Ford used Japan Enamel on Model Ts at one point as it was real cheap, but those cars would be lucky to have the factory paint left after one year, even if kept in a shed and the idea was to get them out the door as cheap as possible to run the other companys out of business. Didn"t work! Whew! My hands are tired from typing! Sorry about the long one!

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RustyFarmall

12-14-2007 17:28:21




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 Re: Hand Painting/Spraying in reply to Mike Farmer, 12-14-2007 14:42:51  
I don't know that any of them actually did hand painting. A lot of machinery was hand lettered, but before spray painting was common most parts were dipped in a large vat of paint as they went down the assembly line.



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Harold H

12-14-2007 17:26:34




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 Re: Hand Painting/Spraying in reply to Mike Farmer, 12-14-2007 14:42:51  
I would guess during the teens or a little earlier. Lots of parts were dipped. Early cars were hand painted to get a fine finish, but Ford was using spray paint in 1909 I have read somewhere. Custom built high price car bodies were hand painted until the early 20's in some cases.

Harold H



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