Painting tank stands

[tks4d2]

How difficult is it to paint an old tank stand? How would I go about doing this and what kind of paint should I use? Thanks!

[watermelon]

Spray paint is the easiest..If you go by house paint, that is too diffiucult and messy..

[boofish2]

How difficult is it to paint an old tank stand? How would I go about doing this and what kind of paint should I use? Thanks!

Are you talking about an iron stand? Wood? I usually will scrape a piece down really well before painting it to remove and loose chips, debris, anything basically that might muck up the new paint. I also like to use primer especially if I'm going from one color to another. Zinzer makes an awesome primer that will go over ANYTHING, just be careful 'cause it's oil based and unless you have mineral spirits, or turp, you can kiss that brush goodbye. Can you give us more info about the stand material and what you had in mind??

[tks4d2]

thanks for the replies guys. It's an old wooden tank stand. Is there a tool I can use to scrap the old paint off?

[tottenchris]

Sand paper or a putty knife will work. Just rember to clean dust off the surface to be painted for the pest results.

[boofish2]

yeah, it's called a scraper.... ;) Seriously, if you go to a paint store just ask for a scraper, they'll know. Or you can ask for a 5 in 1 tool. It does everything from scraping to opening paint cans. It looks like a funky shaped piece of flat metal on a wooden handle. hth

[reybie]

I redid an old tank stand I got from craigslist also... I stained mine though instead of painting. Sanded a the surface a little, I did not go all the way to the wood... just enough for the stain to cling to.

This is what it looked like before...
http://www.nuthin.nu/gallery/albums/userpics/fishtank_original.jpg

This is the end product...
http://www.nuthin.nu/gallery/albums/userpics/normal_tank-stand%20005.jpg
(http://www.nuthin.nu/gallery/albums/userpics/normal_tank-stand%20005.jpg)

[Soulcoffr]

If there's a lot of paint buildup, you might want to save yourself some heartache and go with some paint stripper. There are some on the market these days that won't gas you out of your house. I think one is made by 3M, and there are others.

Although, if you can do it outside, then nothing beats ZipStrip. It's volatile but effective.

[gvildawg]

You can use a heat gun to help strip paint also.

[boofish2]

I redid an old tank stand I got from craigslist also... I stained mine though instead of painting. Sanded a the surface a little, I did not go all the way to the wood... just enough for the stain to cling to.

This is what it looked like before...
http://www.nuthin.nu/gallery/albums/userpics/fishtank_original.jpg

This is the end product...
http://www.nuthin.nu/gallery/albums/userpics/normal_tank-stand%20005.jpg
(http://www.nuthin.nu/gallery/albums/userpics/normal_tank-stand%20005.jpg)

Good work, that looks 100 times better!