Midyear fan color

[Wayne M.]

Re: Midyear fan color

I'm always amazed at fans being described as "gloss black"; they came into the plant raw/oiled, and went through the same degrease/phosphate/dip-prime system as all the miscellaneous engine brackets and body metal reinforcements, wheels, etc.

John -- I offer this '64 specimen of fan assembly # 3770529 for your comments. I believe it is original, off a 8600 VIN range car that was being resto-rodded. I was recipient of a bunch of parts that he no longer needed .

6 pics in total; 4 is limit per post, so I'll do a second post with the 2 shots that show "ripples".
The fan was pretty much covered in road dirt and mild overspray of white ? paint. I took a Varsol-soaked rag and rubbed vigorously to expose what I feel is the original paint surface. I have not used any polishing compound, yet I would call the finish on the gloss side of semi-gloss, as others have mentioned.

But the main reason for this post is the paint imperfections; runs and some ripple effects (pics in post #2) which [I'm guessing] might be due to the freshly-dipped fan assembly being subject to an air current (blow drying), and/or the fan was not properly de-oiled prior to paint dipping (or both). Here's where your opinion would be appreciated.

There are some gravity runs; one on the edge of the blade that was thick enough that it chipped partly off, and the underlying metal rusted, over the years.

Two more pics in next post showing ripples (one on front corner of a blade, but mostly on just about the back of every blade).

[Wayne M.]

Re: Midyear fan color

Second post (as promised) showing ripples [paint did not flow smoothly], maybe due to blow drying or insufficient de-oiling, prior to paint dip ??

[Loren L.]

Re: Midyear fan color

Are we not just talking about asphalt=based p___ p___ quality "Gloss" black that will look like semi-gloss within 1 week?

[John H.]

Re: Midyear fan color

But the main reason for this post is the paint imperfections; runs and some ripple effects (pics in post #2) which [I'm guessing] might be due to the freshly-dipped fan assembly being subject to an air current (blow drying), and/or the fan was not properly de-oiled prior to paint dipping (or both). Here's where your opinion would be appreciated.

There are some gravity runs; one on the edge of the blade that was thick enough that it chipped partly off, and the underlying metal rusted, over the years.

Two more pics in next post showing ripples (one on front corner of a blade, but mostly on just about the back of every blade).

Wayne -

All of the (great) photos show conditions highly typical of assembly plant dip-priming or Flow-Coating. There was only one "small parts paint system" in each plant, consisting of a hot-degreasing stage (to remove the oil that kept the raw parts from rusting in transit), a hot rinse stage, a hot iron phosphate stage (to provide "tooth" for the primer), and the primer stage. Some plants had a dip tank, and some had a Flow-Coat booth (with lots of showerhead-type nozzles that deluged the parts going through with primer from all directions). A bake oven followed, then the parts were picked off the conveyor and placed in containers by part number to be taken to their point of use on the line.

Larger parts (like fan shrouds that had to be welded together prior to painting) had conveyor hooks made especially to hang them, medium-size parts had special hooks to hang anywhere from four to ten parts per hook, and most smaller parts (like engine brackets) were simply thrown in a wire mesh basket, 40 or 50 at a crack.

Runs, drips, fisheyes, gouges, scratches, pools of paint, and basket-processed parts stuck together by paint were common; this was NOT a concours paint operation.

The thousands of racks and hooks rapidly accumulated umpteen thicknesses of black primer, and they had to be cleaned constantly in a huge caustic tank on third shift or on weekend overtime.

The "small parts paint systems" were eliminated during the early 80's due to maintenance and utility costs and increasing EPA interest in VOC emissions, and parts that needed to be painted were purchased that way, painted by the suppliers.

[Wayne M.]

Re: Midyear fan color

John H. -- thanks for the detailed description of the "small parts paint system". So it looks like this poor specimen for flight judging might just have its original coating -- runs, ripples and all .

Loren -- I did a test on the back of one blade, rubbing a spot with lacquer thinner on a rag (got down to bare clean metal but it took quite a bit of effort -- I figured if it was just lacquer, bare metal would have been exposed in a flash). I'm thinking you're right in the coating being probably asphalt-based, as I tried another spot with gelatinous paint stripper [which works wonders with acrylic enamel] and got nowhere fast !

That's some tough original paint .

[John H.]

Re: Midyear fan color

That's some tough original paint .

That's primarily because of the hot iron phosphate treatment on bare metal; even cheap primer really sticks when there's clean "tooth" on the metal surface.