Prepping metal for refinish

[Chigworthy]

I've got an old steel footlocker that had about 3 coats of paint on it, a lot of shallow rust pitting, and some deep rust pitting, and what smells like 90 weight gear oil.

I am trying to reincarnate this box by stripping it down and repainting it beige or white.

I've gotten most of the paint off of it with various applications of citrus stripper and mineral spirits, with a few soakings in PB blaster to kill the rust.

I am not very experienced with this. One issue I'm concerned about is the rust pitting, which is pretty much everywhere. Will this fuck up the new paint? It seems like it would be impossible to get rid of it completely short of paying a metal stripping shop to soak this thing in the Fukushima reactor. I'm guessing about 1%-5% of the surface is pitted. The remainder of the surface will be scuffed bare metal when I'm done.

Another concern is with the joints and nooks around the corner seams and hardware. The hardware is all tack weld/riveted on, so I cant remove it to clean around it. The seams where the sheet metal was folded along the corners are pretty hard to clean thoroughly too.

Also, any suggestions on paint would be appreciated. This will be a box for camping, likely for food in bear country. I want the light color so it won't get too hot. Any special step after final mineral spirits scrub but before base coat of paint?

[disneyspy]

i'd just paint over the metal

[Bob Impact]

Best way to handle pitted rust is to sandblast the piece, secondary to that go to an autobody store and get yourself a couple of good wire brushes. I tend to go straight to a right angle or die grinder before I soak in anything. Go to town with sandpaper, grinders, brushes first, if that fails you can grab yourself some phosphoric acid or POR-15 to render the rust inert. For those areas you'll see the rust turn black and you're good to prime and paint.

[Chigworthy]

Best way to handle pitted rust is to sandblast the piece, secondary to that go to an autobody store and get yourself a couple of good wire brushes. I tend to go straight to a right angle or die grinder before I soak in anything. Go to town with sandpaper, grinders, brushes first, if that fails you can grab yourself some phosphoric acid or POR-15 to render the rust inert. For those areas you'll see the rust turn black and you're good to prime and paint.

I've read mixed reviews about por-15. Have you any experience with Loctite Extend? After toiling away all day on this thing, I think I've settled on getting all of the paint off, then using a rust converter/primer for a base coat. This box is going to rattle around in the back of my truck on trips, then be slammed onto the ground, so it's not gonna be pristine. Reading a little, it seems that good 'ol rustoleum exterior paint works pretty good.

[Chigworthy]

Also looking for advice on the moving hardware. Since I can't remove and disassemble it, I'm wondering how to go about painting the hinges and latches, specifically the pins that spin inside of sleeves.

[cougarjake13]

Also looking for advice on the moving hardware. Since I can't remove and disassemble it, I'm wondering how to go about painting the hinges and latches, specifically the pins that spin inside of sleeves.

wouldnt that make everything as stiff as the tin man ??

[Chigworthy]

wouldnt that make everything as stiff as the tin man ??

Hence the question.

[Bob Impact]

Also looking for advice on the moving hardware. Since I can't remove and disassemble it, I'm wondering how to go about painting the hinges and latches, specifically the pins that spin inside of sleeves.

get as much rust/paint as you can off and then soak 'em in Xylene for a while, that should effectively dissolve just about anything left, just watch that you're actually soaking them because it evaporates extremely fast. You also need a ton of ventilation or an actual OSHA approved respirator, Xylene can do nasty things to your insides.

[Bob Impact]

wouldnt that make everything as stiff as the tin man ??

Thin coat, reassemble, work hinge, repeat.

[Chigworthy]

But all the hardware is tacked and riveted to the locker; can't remove or disassemble.

[cougarjake13]

But all the hardware is tacked and riveted to the locker; can't remove or disassemble.

pretty much fucked then