Painting plastics. Yay or nay?

[ballisticdoughnut]

This was my solution…

 

[Breckinridge Elkins]

Insect repellent with DEET.
DEET will soften many plastics, allowing you to polish them by buffing with a rag.
Another great product is Maxima SC1. It shines plastic and metal better than Armorall. It also prevents dirt and pitch from sticking.

 

[slabMan]

I would give Rit Synthetic dye a try if you want to change the color of your plastic. It will not chip off like paint.

 

[sean donato]

Rit dye works great, but you basically have to keep going darker in color for it to look decent.

 

[slabMan]

Or maybe a 3-d printer would be my second guess! And when you get it all dialed in and making custom plastics for saws, I might be your first customer! lol

 

[sean donato]

As much as I love my 3d printers, they aren't cost effective vs mass produced injection molded parts, and usually not quite as strong. They are better suited for prototyping and short run/one off projects when you're looking for any amount of scale or price point.

 

[Marley5]

Heat-gun works best for faded plastic. Imo

 

[slabMan]

I hear ya brother! I was pretty much kidding on that but there are some seriously talented peeps on this site who no doubt do those kind of fabs...Nice clean old 266btw!

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

It's your saw for your use do whatever you like. JMO

Lots of folks paint stuff so their saws are different then the run of the mill saws.

IMHO who cares what happens and paint scuffs etc. It's a freaking tool to be used not a shelf piece anyways.

If saw fixing to sell do it right. IMHO

 

[drumbum]

I would wet sand at the sink in the shop for about a half a day....lol, and then maybe a heat gun.

 

[tomsteve]

if you were to paint it, I'd give it a good cleaning, then I'd want to sand the oxidation out followed by an adhesion promoter then paint.

sanding and buffing the plastic is another way to go.