Cleaned up and painted my Equinox... question about paint curing...

[mhrischuk]

This big mutha has been sitting out in the weather for a couple of months. I took great care in keeping it covered. Some rusting occurred, especially around the side door. I found it relatively easy to clean up but time consuming and required being a little meticulous in the nooks and crannies. I used three different size wire hand brushes, a rotary wire wheel and a dremel. I wiped it down with acetone, masked it and sprayed it with Stove Brite.

One thing I noticed was one of the legs old paint reacted to the acetone cleaning more than the rest of the stove. I wondered if the feet never cure all the way because they never get hot enough? I may hit the legs with my heat gun... what do you think? I'm gonna burn this thing outside before taking it in to cure it.

BEFORE CLEAN AND PAINT
Some of this was from previous use... not from sitting.

After painting... tomorrow I'll finish the doors.. new paint and gaskets.

 

[certified106]

Doggon it I wanted to see pictures but they aren't showing up.
I love the look of the Equinox stove and I would say hands down it is the top of my list in the looks department. I can't wait to see it installed on that huge piece of granite you have!

 

[mhrischuk]

I used an & in a folder name when I uploaded to my site. This created havoc here on this site as an image URL so I had to reprocess and re-upload without the ampersand. Should have known better never to use special characters in code.

Install is getting close. It's gonna be tricky dropping that granite.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Why didn't you bring the stove into the garage that I thought I saw in one of your old pics?

 

[mhrischuk]

Why didn't you bring the stove into the garage that I thought I saw in one of your old pics?

No way. Wife parks in there. I was gonna clean it up and paint it anyway. Besides, it hasn't been a good summer for getting things together for me.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Why didn't you bring the stove into the garage that I thought I saw in one of your old pics?

No way. Wife parks in there. I was gonna clean it up and paint it anyway.

With all the rain and wind we've had, my wife would have found her car parked outside.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Nice paint job, by the way.

 

[tickbitty]

Looks really nice! What color stove bright is that?

 

[mhrischuk]

Looks really nice! What color stove bright is that?

Flat Black.

I also replaced the ceramic baffle. I took the center bolt out that holds he secondary assy and removed the rectangular welded steel air passage that feeds the upper secondary assy out. That allowed me to get in there and clean out a little more. Overall inside was just ash buildup. The baffle was damaged by a chimney sweep's brush from the previous owner. I bought this stove for $2000. I put about $200 in it to get it back as new. Once I get the doors done and installed I'll fire it up to burn off the fumes before taking it in the house.

With it all taped off and painted it really highlights the intricacies of the castings. It's really a beautiful stove.

Gotta pick up another can of paint today for the rest.

With all the rain and wind we've had, my wife would have found her car parked outside.

With all the rain and wind we've had, my wife takes priority over the stove.

 

[Milton Findley]

In answer to your question about if the legs get hot enough to cure the paint, I can say that mine never have. I like the idea of a heat gun. A four inch square of newspaper I put under the stove last year to answer another question is still completely intact.

Nice job on the painting. She will be a beaut.

 

[BrowningBAR]

In answer to your question about if the legs get hot enough to cure the paint, I can say that mine never have. I like the idea of a heat gun. A four inch square of newspaper I put under the stove last year to answer another question is still completely intact.

Nice job on the painting. She will be a beaut.

I was also surprised as to how mild the temp was under the stove and in front of the stove. I saw several reports here that talked/complained about how hot their hearth pad got with a Heritage. I had the Heritage at, and over, 600° several times last season and the hearth pad temp was no where near as warm as I anticipated it being.

 

[snowleopard]

I tried to talk him into parking the stove in the garage weeks ago, BrowningBAR, and he wasn't going there . . .

The summer you've gone through is every parent's nightmare--and you've soldiered through and accomplished so much through it all.

Beautiful job on a beautiful stove, and in a few more weeks you'll have your installs wrapped up and you'll get to enjoy the well-deserved fruits of your labor. I looked at the enamel Hearthstones, and went with the flat black cast, and am very happy I did. Could not be happier with my stove.

BTW, I was really impressed by some pix you posted a week or so ago. Amazing control of the depth of field--looked like you could reach into the screen and pluck a leaf off the bushes. And these photos pick up the detail of the castings. What's your secret of photographic success?

 

[mhrischuk]

I tried to talk him into parking the stove in the garage weeks ago, BrowningBAR, and he wasn't going there . . .

The summer you've gone through is every parent's nightmare--and you've soldiered through and accomplished so much through it all.

Beautiful job on a beautiful stove, and in a few more weeks you'll have your installs wrapped up and you'll get to enjoy the well-deserved fruits of your labor. I looked at the enamel Hearthstones, and went with the flat black cast, and am very happy I did. Could not be happier with my stove.

BTW, I was really impressed by some pix you posted a week or so ago. Amazing control of the depth of field--looked like you could reach into the screen and pluck a leaf off the bushes. And these photos pick up the detail of the castings. What's your secret of photographic success?

Good camera and good luck. I take lots of pictures and change through the settings while doing it. I am not an accomplished photographer. My camera is a Canon EOS T1i. The pictures in this thread were taken in twilight. I used the "Night Portrait" setting but you have to hold her steady as the shudder stays open for a bit. It was a lot darker outside than those pictures lead you to believe. Many of the shots are lucky shots. If you take enough you are bound to find some good ones. I move them all to my computer and throw out the bad ones. The beauty of digital.

 

[mhrischuk]

Got it all done yesterday. Here is the finished product. Naturally they are calling for rain.

New baffle

New gaskets in side door, front door and glass

Side door opening all cleaned up before and after

Done

 

[Highbeam]

My heritage's paint is in bad shape and needs a redo. Would you say that the stove brite flat black paint was a good match for the original paint? Both is shine level and in shade of black? Did the tape work out for you, was it hard to remove and did you shoot paint through any of it? If so, how hard was the paint to remove from the stone/cement?

 

[mhrischuk]

The Equinox paperwork comes with a fold out Stove Bright card with instructions on how to apply it. I don't know what the factory color was but I like the flat. If you look at the picture all the way up top before I cleaned it up and then after I painted, it looks the same. That is what the dealer gave me so I guess I assumed that was the color.

As far as masking... I used Scotch blue paint masking tape. It's specifically designed for masking. Paint won't bleed through and it doesn't stick so much as to prevent easy removal. I filled in with paper. I had no issues pulling the tape and there was no overspray to cleanup. The nice thing is a lot of the cast pieces have a small space between them and the soapstone. I was able to tuck the tape edge inside there. I cut pieces shorter than the full length of the run and then put pieces in the corners. It's a lot easier that way.

Preparation is everything. The Stove Bright card also says do not use paint thinner or turpentine for cleanup as they leave oily residue. I used acetone... same thing the paint uses.

Also... this type of paint requires lots of agitation to keep it mixed. You have to shake it all the time or it will spatter. Even if it spatters, it does smooth right out on it's own so it easy an easy paint to apply.

 

[mhrischuk]

I should have the hearth set in place tomorrow. Couple of phone calls and some beer money and it should be ready. I will try to get some pictures during the lifting, flipping and setting if I can. It's a big step an I'm a little nervous.

 

[Todd]

Looking good, can't wait to see it on your hearth, great job.

 

[mhrischuk]

Looking good, can't wait to see it on your hearth, great job.

Me too... thanks.

 

[firefighterjake]

Looks great . . . love how nice it looks compared to the "before" pics.

 

[Stump_Branch]

Looking good, can't wait to see it on your hearth, great job.

Me too... thanks.

Ill add one here too. Maybe your just waiting till it fridgid so you can plop her down and kick off a fire instantly. Either way should look quite nice.