Restoring Machinery Tags, Plates & Badges

[@july8xx]

For damaged plates I have found that clear coating the plate before applying color fills many of the small voids and then when you wet sand the surface the voids aren’t filled with colored paint.

[@Sharklops]

If you ever need to hand-brush enamel paint again like that, make sure to thin it down with the mineral spirits. That will help it flow around the surface and seek a level better. It will take longer to dry but will give you a nicer end result.

[@alexku8452]

If you thin it down enough, you do not even need to paint it, you may just drip it into the lower part and it will float into the low part. A needle may help directing some into small corners and crevices. I think with real enamel (the molten glass type) it would even be kind of filled up to the higher levels.

[@Mishn0]

Or find someone with an airbrush or touch-up gun and shoot it on that way. A Paasche model H airbrush can be had new for less than $30 and would make short work of those tags.

[@hilltopmachineworks2131]

Good to know, thanks.

[@NGinuity]

Great comment. I do this for metal, wood and leather. I usually stay away from the edges so that when it is thinned down it flows towards them. Fantastic tip!

[@jacilynns6330]

actually with "touch up guns" you don't need a special compressor so they are easier to use. Some are better than others. I can use most enamels straight out of can without thinning on mine, I think I paid $20 for it new 20 years ago. There is another video kieth has of the oliver 80 tablesaw and someone else repaints a tag that is like four colors. It was just paint stripped.

[@gordonagent7037]

Keith, what an awesome result and a fine finishing touch to the machinery they come from. I couldn’t fault the way you did this. I watched a video a while ago and some guy did a similar thing but it was with printed tags, mostly warn away by years of rubbing. He reprinted them, but for the life of me I can’t find him or the video but it also gave a wonderful finishing result. One things for sure, old, vintage cast machinery was proportionally endowed with bulky signage….those were the days. Again, really good job and great outside the box video

[@tobyw9573]

Beautiful job on the tags, Keith! Thanks. Keith Appleton does a marvelous job painting everything on his top quality models with a brush. His secrets seems to be a blend of artist brush, paint properly thinned, and skill. He flows the paint. He takes time to explain. I do not recall him ever using spray paint. I have seen expert paint and body men check viscosity by carefully counting rate of drips from their stirrer.

[@UCpMA19LPZI]

Came out fantastic! I think I could not have resisted to paint the "Flame Hardened" letters fire red ^^

[@kenzpenz]

I have a SB 9 in Mdl A lathe and I removed it's badge when I restored the lathe. I ordered a replacement badge off EBay and installed it. Well it looks nice, but the original one restored like you have done here, just might be my next project. I was a bit leery about doing what you presented here. I think now with all that information you presented today, I believe I can restore that old badge. Thank you for this great video, and wish me luck on my restoration. Your restoration is just beautiful and inspiring.

[@mikus4242]

Great Tutorial! I am on a team restoring the Combat Information Center on the Battleship of Texas (BB35). Just about every piece of WW2 equipment in the compartment has tags that require restoration. Our lead on the project uses an almost identical process. I’m going to post a link to this video on our internal Facebook page. Thanks.

[@fredclark4033]

Clear coatings is the key to keep things looking good for a long time, great job. 👍

[@FredMiller]

Nice demo Keith. I have restored badges on some of my equipment and I used a small hobby air brush to paint the badges. That way you can use "can" colors and thin them down to the right consistency for the airbrush. You also have the ultimate in flow control for thickness as well. The badges look cool and really put the finishing touch on a restoration. Great Stuff !

[@CAPFlyer]

I haven't seen this specifically suggested, but in making enameled pins, they usually use a syringe to put the enamel into the voids. I would think that as suggested below that if you thin the enamel and then put it into a syringe (even a basting syringe) would allow you to evenly flow the paint into the "tray" created by the tag and minimize the amount of clean up required.

[@MrToasty222]

You don't have to be a painter to be an artist, Keith! In my opinion you are an artist :)

[@notsofresh8563]

Use the same super77 to glue a wood block to the back side of the badges to hold on to while sanding. If you spray both sides and let it tack for a few seconds, it will hold great. Also, a piece of leather glued to that surface plate and loaded up with polishing compound is a great way to polish the raised areas. Just like a razor strop. And as others said, thin your paint until it flows around the letters in the ditches.

[@markdotts6798]

I just wanted to say thank you for this tutorial. It helped me a lot

[@ml5091]

I would recommend that you use water when flat sanding the name plates on the 220 grit wet or dry paper. It will prevent the paper from clogging up with paint.

[@BlueYammer]

We always used a 50/50 mix of water and alcohol for lapping. The alcohol helped reduce the surface tension and disperse the grindings...

[@ml5091]

Haven't tried that. I usually use some dish soap when wet sanding paint. Does the alcohol evaporate when you use it that way?

[@terrycannon570]

Preval 2 Pack on Amazon will allow you to use your own paint mixture. I've used it on Cerakote works great

[@ron827]

An appropriate challenge in patience for a machinist because, "Machinists Have Tolerance Issues." Nice final touch to your beautiful restoration project. BTW, dry-ice blasting may be another option for cleaning up machine tags.

[@christopherscustoms3722]

Ron that would make a great tshirt "machinists have tolerance issues" ...gold. good stuff.

[@RyJones]

Dry ice is the way to go.

[@waynep343]

before you install those.. put them on a flat bed scanner with a piece of graph paper behind them.. so its fairly easy to scale them for duplicates later.. 3D printed versions.

[@ronwrob2819]

you can use grease for masking letters,soda blasting works great for cleaning

[@tobyw9573]

I have used spray paint mixed by spraying different appropriate colors sprayed into the cap to achieve the right shade. I then brush it onto the work. Proper thinning allowed the brush marks to level out.

[@Thurge]

That was great. How do you do a badge that has engraved model and serial number fields? I have a Duro F3034 Jointer that I want to restore but I can't figure out how to get the badge off. It looks like there are two pins holding it on to the blade guard and I see holes on the opposite side. Should I just stick something in the holes and try to tap them out? I'm not even sure what I should use in the hole.

[@rjkejk57]

You ought to use an air brush so that you can get a smoother finish and easily change the colors from the various cans of paint that you have. I use air brush to refinish delicate and fine metal pieces that I restore and always had a good looking finish. Just a thought if you do more of these labels.

[@Ender.wigginn]

One think you could try if you do this again is to use a fat syringe to flow the enamel paint into the depressed areas. Thin it a bit if it's too thick so it flows even. The paint should be smoother and you may have less sanding to do as well.

[@CraftedChannel]

It would be so cool to find a former operator of the machine and bring him in for the finale. Everybody has a story. Looking great!

[@chantelleart1]

This is just what I needed! Thank you

[@fm1224]

Always wondered an easy way to paint the top of the raised letter's? Other than with a brush..maybe a small roller?

[@shortribslongbow5312]

Hi Keith in my hobby world we use a product called ( "Master Mask" by Hobbico ) it can be found at most hobby shops. It is a liquid masking product we paint on the lettering and paint the overall placard when dried we peel off the masking material its very easy to use might want to check it out.

[@july8xx]

Shortribs Longbow + This is what I like most about you tube videos, the comments always provide additional information and processes and add multiple approaches to solve a problem.

[@kevinsage993]

Shortribs Longbow great recommendation, thanks. I’m in the process of refurbishing grandad’s 1952 Mercury outboard motor, the middle band that holds the upper gas tank on is made of aluminum casting with raised “Mercury” in each side. Do you think the “Master Mask” would stick to the aluminum? Been trying to figure out how to spray the field around the raised lettering and have a clean edge on them, thanks again.

[@WeTrudgeOn]

You could use baking soda in your blast cabinet to clean tags. It does a good job of removing paint and brightening meta but won't pit or remove metal.

[@alberttreado3713]

Keith, I’m going to restore a Shopsmith 10er. This video is very useful. As far as painting, I know paint isn’t your favorite…. Do you have a video? What do you recommend for rattle can paint and primer? I’m wondering if automotive paint and primer is tough enough for equipment.

[@jerrycoleman2610]

Tags sure lookin Great.!.!.!.

[@bradthayer6782]

One thing that makes the sanding easier is to to buy a couple of small suction handles. You flip the lever and they do a great job holding small flat objects. Work on belt sanders too.

[@MissChelle]

Thank you for sharing. I’m trying to renovate a plate of an old aquarium hood. It’s a thin aluminium and has raised letters & printed on letters…. Struggling to figure out how to not get paint on the printed parts. Any suggestions? Cheers from Australia ❤️🇦🇺

[@63256325N]

Looking just fine! Thanks for the video.

[@jordanzurbruegg73]

Is there a video of how to get the tag onto the piece of equipment with the rivets?

[@NoelBarlau]

Great stuff, Keith. As always. Thank you.

[@davidcurtis5762]

Hi Keith, I was wondering when you are going to finish the old home safe project?

[@nashguy207]

Great tutorial on making tags look new!!!

[@TheArsonsmith4242]

Great looking restore. Someday I hope to have a Monarch around 12-14" The grinder restore I recently published didn't get the full label treatment. I probably should although it's only a printed label so not as nice as the Monarch ones.

[@kmchartrand99]

What's your preferred method for getting the plates off the machine?

[@raincoast2396]

A nice customized feature Keith, would be to paint the words "Flame Hardened" in red.

[@Rustice22]

They look amazing. If you could fixture them somehow, could you sand them on the surface grinder? Plenty of reasons not too, but if the raised portions were tall enough and the part was flat...

[@garylollman5339]

Thanks Keith great information that you shared.

[@kenadams2694]

nice job, invest in a detail spray gun, also Duplicolor paint shop paints come ready to spray & have nice colors

[@lyntonr6188]

great work Keith

[@matthewhutchinson9719]

What happened to the little oval-shaped brass badge? Those are the kinds of badges I can't quite figure out how to restore.

[@BrianB14471]

Next time, try thinning the green paint and pouring it into the tag and let it self level. No ugly brush marks that way. You also could have used a bigger brush and it would have looked better.

[@alexku8452]

a disposabel pipet with a thin tip would be great to fill in thinned down paint, it should fill up by itself almost. otherwise a needle would help to get air bubbles out and float it into corners.

[@paulmanson253]

Would a trimmed piece of scraper steel for wood have been useful in removing the paint with minimal damage to the metal ? Especially with damaged or not perfectly flat metal ? Probably less important for cast plates but stamped raised letters always concern me with thinning through too much with sanding.

[@rolliekelly6783]

Keith, I have always thought the ultimate way to restore multi-color badges would be enameling. Maybe we could sweet talk Estafonia into teaching us. Rollie

[@richardreynolds9177]

how do you get the pins out that have been broken??????? Please Help

[@bsb0011]

Looks like a job for a surface grinder. Taking only a few tents at a time to get all the little pits out of the lettering.

[@thomasutley]

Nice job Keith!

[@loganhillman7448]

This is exactly what I want to do to some of the machines in my college workshop

[@TraditionalToolworks]

Keith for those of us that might use a blast cabinet to prep the tags, any recommendation on media to use for blasting them? I've used aluminum oxide 120 on some parts I cerakoted in the past, but they weren't machine tags. I will say that vapor blasting sounds cool, but if you couldn't do it yourself, I don't think I will even investigate. Would you have used aluminum oxide yourself if not getting them vapor blasted? Or would you use other media like sand or glass?

[@rexmenzer3202]

Have you tried soda blasting ? It is gentle on the media.

[@shinigami117s8]

What about squeegeeing paint over the plate?

[@erlingweiseth2774]

Put the sign on top of a heated surface. It will help the flow during the process.

[@skiptracer8703]

Very nice Keith -Jim

[@jeffryblackmon4846]

How will you remount the tags? Pop rivets?

[@michaelmcclain5091]

Also a prevalent spray setup would allow you to spray cheaply.

[@afpienaar4604]

Thanks for sharing. I'm looking for info on making tags de novo with CNC engraving tools

[@molaisonmaker6896]

Would the surface grinder work on these to remove the excess paint?

[@capnthepeafarmer]

You can also thin the enamel paint, put it into a syringe and then just let it fill the low spots.

[@outsidescrewball]

very nice....thanks for sharing

[@osgeld]

look into model paint if you want a smooth self leveling finish

[@AOPMOVIES]

what about doing them on the surface grinder ?

[@christopherscustoms3722]

AOPMOVIES ummm no. You need to grasp the world we live in.

[@krazziee2000]

nice work

[@stefanpariyski3709]

The sanding is so satisying...

[@julianreid8179]

you had the web site for a guy in Arizona who could replicate badges for machines tools. what was that address. presumably this could be done in any language that is for a citreoin cv?

[@acivaldosilva9824]

Very good, thanks.

[@BigRalphSmith]

The green paint was definitely too thick out of the can. A little bit of thinning goes a long way to helping it lay down smoother and look "cleaner". Still, great job! The more you do this, the better you get.

[@chrisnixon2179]

How do you get the badges off with out damaging them

[@ronwrob2819]

one shot sign painters paint ,no runs ,not cheap,covers great with one coat.

[@somedaysoon3784]

Ron Wrob ,you beat me to it. I use the same brand for airbrush work. Not cheap,but since it solves a lot of problems,it shouldn't be cheap.

[@elsdp-4560]

THANK YOU...for sharing.

[@vajake1]

Great video Keith! Hey! How hot is it in your shop on the day you filmed this?

Quality machines have quality tags, with a thickness that is forgiving. Modern tags would not have the thickness and would be more finicky to paint and highlight. Scoutcrafter does a good job on highlighting letters on hand tools but he has a lot of patience.

[@glennmoreland6457]

Firstly... Very satisfying work there Mr. Rucker... Secondly... Who is it that's going round giving stuff like this a thumbs down...? Pathetic... Why don't they try something like this themselves...rather than just going round in here attacking other people's efforts...?

[@shawnstrode3825]

Nice work

[@gavhva]

Now can you show us how to restore the "printed badges" having silk screening done is extremely costly.

[@paulmanhart4481]

Do you have a contact for Jeff Horton? I’d like to have my old tags cleaned. Thanks, Paul

[@rallymax2]

Thinned with mineral spirits and put into a little Badger air brush would have mimicked the spray can application of the others.

[@dwainloftin885]

Why not use drops or Syringe for paints.

[@2024bear]

looks great

[@KPearce57]

Nice job.

[@ThunderDog]

It's those pesky warped and super thin brass badges that are a pain. Regardless, nice job Keith!

[@fixituntilitsbroke2263]

You can add a fiberglass brush like this to get the sanded/grain appearance on the low spots of the raised sections: www.amazon.com/Scratch-Brush-Fiberglass-Colors-vary/dp/B0019V18D2

[@thedge7]

"Badges?..we don't need no stinking badges!"

[@StubProductions]

Great info!!! Thank you!

[@lyntoncox7880]

You might find that foam makeup brushes are easier for applying pain or small bristle brushes. Hair brushes aren’t great

[@shawnmrfixitlee6478]

looks awesome..

[@kraklakvakve]

What is Mioniairchi? :-)

[@catfishgray3696]

FEITH, GREAT JOB, PET THE DOGS AND CATS FOR ME, SEE YOU ALL NEXT TIME, GREAT VIDEO...

[@MaturePatriot]

Well done.

[@eXactModellbau]

Why glossy paint? Why such a small brush? Why no thinner?

[@kevCarrico]

fantastic!!!

[@carryitaround]

Interesting stuff

[@isbcornbinder]

The job would be easier if you were to use 3M wet sandpaper with a mild soap and water solution. Rather than gluing the sandpaper to a flat surface, use a flat sanding block with the 3M sandpaper. The tags will not move around if you use a wet shop cloth between the surface plate and the tag. Ĺ

[@josephwilson6651]

As a master engraver it is too bad that vinyl has become the standard way of "Badging" many machines as those most likely would never be durable enough to withstand the daily industrial usage the machines experience.Our instructor at the now defunct institute had the most extensive collection of exemplars of all machine badges Ive ever seen all U.S.A. made most pre-1975 era.Another lost manual art.

[@afpienaar4604]

Hi Joseph . I'm your second subscriber . Looking forward to your channel A F Pienaar Johannesburg , South Africa

[@afpienaar4604]

I hope the collection of machine tags haven't been lost

[@nothermarkgnomex]

If I was doing those green tags I'd be pulling out an airbrush. Much easier! ;-)

[@andrewholmes8337]

If you want to do this in a less abrasive way rap a fabric like a bed sheet around a board and damp it in solvent then wipe the board accross the plate sevral times

[@bcbloc02]

Plenty of tags on my Series 90 Monarch if you need more practice. :-)

[@johanandersson7382]

"An artist he is not" he said, and proceeds to take a rusy piece of junk and make it beatyful.

[@tpobrienjr]

He may not be an artist, but it's artful.