I would replace the bolts with new ones, they are cheap and you won't have to worry about them chipping if they need to be used.

 

many of the bolts are new,The problem is I worry about the primer sticking to that shiny yellowish surface of the grade 8 bolts ..Theres too many to blast ,acid also takes too long ,and I already know they'll chip if primed before installation no matter what I do. that's why I'm going to install them first THEN prime with a brush regardless of how they are prepped. I was kinda hoping they wouldn't need any prep at all, other than soaking in W&G ...
I guess new nuts and bolts would be ok if they came in semi gloss black...I know a lot of bolt kits come in black but if I cant buy them in bulk that's out. bolt kits are expensive.
What about those viberating tumblers? That might be another option if they work and I could just load it and walk away. Anybody use they with good success

 

mike , i put them in one of the bed liner cans with holes in it . then blast them in my cabinet . i've never found anything that would hold up to a wrench .

 

if not blasted then i would go ahead and acid etch them to make sure they're clean .

 

I just got back from HF and they have the drum type and a vibrating cleaner for 50.00 plus the abrasive. I think I'll give it a try ,it seems like the way to go with the lest amount of labor .......went to tractor supply for bolts and nuts but everything I needed was empty. Theres a big bolt warehouse in town ,i'll see about some of those black coated bolts on monday

 

tumbler may take a loooong time to do anything
i have one from eastwood, i use for cleaning/polishing small parts.
it doesnt do much to steel, i can imagine it would help a lot.

i think the sand blaster would be much better/faster

 

Caswell Black Oxide Kit 1.25 Gallon

 

After seeing that video on the SPI epoxy, I would stick them through holes on a box, etch them a bit with a sand blaster and put a bit of epoxy on them.

Brian

 

That's the way I've always done it too. I'm looking for another less labor intensive way to do them.I decided to go ahead and get the tumbler to clean the nuts and bolts ,if it works all I have to do is load it and walk away ,that's perfect for the cleaning. After they are clean I'll install them then brush on some primer, I think this will work great for a couple reasons, like its pretty cold out so the epoxy wont cure very fast and I need to get it together asap installing them first then brushing on some primer sounds like he way to go. If anyones ever had to blast a few hundred nuts ,bolts and washers in a cabinet I think you'd like the idea of throwing into a drum ,turning it on and walking away ,come back and they are done...I'll drop 50.00 bucks to find out .I'll come back tonight and show how well this worked or didn't work.

 

I've tried many things and in the end nothing works. I used to sandblast my bolts and then epoxy them, but after a few turns with a wrench it eventually gets chipped off and they start to look like crap, though I will say the epoxy holds up a lot better than the base coat does. Usually the bc/cc comes off easily and then you can see the gray epoxy beneath. I have to be very delicate and careful when I wrench. Now I've just resorted to dumping them in a phosphoric acid bath with the mastercoat metal prep that has the phosphoric acid and zinc phosphate and the bolts have stayed nice looking for a year and counting so far. They come out looking parkerized.

For blasting or painting I take 2x4 scraps, drill a bunch of 1/2" holes in them and stick the bolts down in the holes. Then I just go over it a few times with the gun at some different angles until everything looks like it's been covered pretty well. Same goes for blasting. But that drum idea sounds like it'd work pretty easily.

Needless to say this will be the only project where I ever paint the bolts.

 

This gives me an idea..... I usually grab about 3-4 bolts put a towel between them and a large vice, hold them tight before hitting them with a wire wheel. Im going to try to drill a hole slightly smaller than the thread size on the bolt, thread the bolt in and wire wheel them while they are lodged into the wood... Ever tried that?

 

mike, i dont think the tumbler will clean them much. more for polishing but depends on media. i would still clean them well before painting. if there is any oil residue from mfg it will contaminate your media quick .

 

I have used a "Vinyl wash" etching primer from S-W that is very thin, very, very thin, so it hangs onto things like bolts more. The wrench won't chip it off like thicker materials. I experimented with it, even though it says to top coat only with another primer, I once painted over it because I wanted the film to be very thin. After doing a few abuse tests I found it to work just fine and applied it to the hubs of a vintage Harley so the paint would be very thin and not chip off at the spokes. It worked like a charm and saw the bike for years with no failure.

Products: E2G973 - VINYL ETCH PRIMER

Brian

 

I gave up on wire wheeling long ago. The acid bath by far works the best. Doesn't matter if they've got grease or paint on them going in, they come out clean and the paint is removed.


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I forgot about this thread. Update...
Well, I ended up buying mostly all new grade 8's and putting it all together and taking it all apart about three times THEN when I was sure it wouldn't need to come apart again I just carefully brushed on the epoxy I couldn't see spending a bunch of time on bolts.it seems to be holding up pretty well and you really have to look close to see any brush marks no body but me knows the difference. I did the frame in SPI black epoxy also, I really like the OEM look....I gotta tell ya that SPI is some pretty tough stuff ,I wasn't able to be as careful as I should have been ,doing it alone , but the epoxy handled the rubbing and scuffing like a champ with no touch up.:thumbup: