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Restoring PET cases

C

crock

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
285
Location
Zurich, Switzerland
So now I have my great new collection of PET 2001-8's. I have two fully working and I expect to get the other's working with my PETVet, currently enroute from gubbish.

The cases on many of them are rather tattty and having evidently being stored in damp conditions, rust has attacked many parts of the case as well. I'd realy like to get them looking 'as new' as I can. Has anyone tried renovating the metalwork? My plan was a general rub down the metalwork with a coarse wet-and-dry, clean the more rusted areas with my Dremel, prime then re-spray.

There is a car body shop in the village where I live which could sand-blast everything down to bare metal and re-spray if required but I think this may be excessive. Though, now come to think of it, maybe there's an opportunity to 'Pimp my PET' and to respray the machine in metallic purple? :cool:

Has anyone tried this or can anyone provide any pointers as to what will and will not work?

Cheers, Rob
 
This is just my opinion.. But I think it's best to clean them, and leave them in original condition... it also adds some personality to em, that they show some signs of ageing :)
 
I see where you're coming from, and the nicer ones I will leave in original condition. But two of them are just plain unpleasant. One was full of dead flies and a resident house spider and the other has a lot of rust around the edge of the monitor case and in the bottom ) and could not be much worse!

I am going to do the worst one and just see how it turns out. If it looks unnatural, I'll abandon the idea. (Still can't get the image of my Purple Pimped PET out of my head)

Rob
 
Perhaps you can coat the most unpleasant PET in crushed velvet in a suitable colour? I don't know what kind of glue you would need to have it to stick, but it would really make a PET to speak about!
 
If it's rusty, I highly recommend taking care of the rust, because untreated rust does tend to spread as they years wear on. After removing the rust, it becomes a question of whether to strip the old paint and repaint it all, or trying to match the paint and do a touchup job.
 
Drea said:
This is just my opinion.. But I think it's best to clean them, and leave them in original condition... it also adds some personality to em, that they show some signs of ageing :)
Click to expand...

You can always do what some museum conservators do--paint using a water-based paint that can be washed off if the original appearance ever becomes important.

Personally, I'd like to see one one in metallic candy-apple red hi-gloss lacquer with black accents. Or maybe done over on a "Hello Kitty" theme in pink. :)
 
Well, my first attempt on the most beat up monitor case went pretty well. The photo does not really do it justice, but here's a link :

http://inchocks.co.uk/commodore/PET/PetMonitorCase.jpg

I washed it thoroughly, sanded down to bare metal where the rust had got at it and lightly sanded the rest. Washed and dried again, two light coats of white primer and two coats of gloss white. This is spray by the way, not bathroom emulsion :)

This on the other hand is designed to give MikeS nightmares....

http://inchocks.co.uk/commodore/PET/PurplePimpedPet1.jpg

Rob
 
crock said:
Well, my first attempt on the most beat up monitor case went pretty well. The photo does not really do it justice, but here's a link :

http://inchocks.co.uk/commodore/PET/PetMonitorCase.jpg

I washed it thoroughly, sanded down to bare metal where the rust had got at it and lightly sanded the rest. Washed and dried again, two light coats of white primer and two coats of gloss white. This is spray by the way, not bathroom emulsion :)
Click to expand...
Beautiful! You may have inspired me to redo one of mine.

This on the other hand is designed to give MikeS nightmares....

http://inchocks.co.uk/commodore/PET/PurplePimpedPet1.jpg

Rob
Click to expand...
... Looking for my pills...
 
How has work on the resprayed Pet worked? When you did it how did you deal with the previous rust and paint? Did you wirebrush it off or use some kind of stripper? What types of paint did you use? How does the machine look now?
 
ChrisCwmbran said:
How has work on the resprayed Pet worked? When you did it how did you deal with the previous rust and paint? Did you wirebrush it off or use some kind of stripper? What types of paint did you use? How does the machine look now?
Click to expand...
It has worked very well. I sanded the cases to remove flaking paint and rust but I made no attempt to remove all the old paint. I used a dremel to remove really stubborn pitting. I used a basic metal primer spray, black for the base and white for the rest, followed by matt black and gloss brilliant white metal spray respectively. I think the machines look great but I understand that some might find them too perfect.

Rob
 
what ever you do make shore no luse rust can get on the electronics.
The commodore I am fixing is going to really show its age, I am not going to restore the outside of the case, only the inside and electronics, but it will get some upgrades.
 
crock said:
Well, my first attempt on the most beat up monitor case went pretty well. The photo does not really do it justice, but here's a link :

http://inchocks.co.uk/commodore/PET/PetMonitorCase.jpg

I washed it thoroughly, sanded down to bare metal where the rust had got at it and lightly sanded the rest. Washed and dried again, two light coats of white primer and two coats of gloss white. This is spray by the way, not bathroom emulsion :)
Click to expand...

Nice job!
 
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