Refinishing my Featherweight....
 

DH and I are in the midst of refinishing my Featherweight. A few thoughts in retrospect:
:thumbup:
1) Be sure to buy automotive paint and look to see if it is high gloss.
2) 600 grit sandpaper is good but I'd go with higher grit.
3) When taking all the parts off the machine, be sure to tape all the pieces, screws, washers etc together and write down what each part is.
4) Toothbrushes, small brushes can help to get the stripper into the corners and small spaces.
5) Have lots of paper towels to clean off the stripper from the machine and parts.
6) Wear two pairs of rubber gloves and have spares handy.
7) Keep work are clean and dust free if possible.
8) Use tack cloth to clean the machine after dusting.

We've finished painting at this point and about to add the decals. Will post pics before and after later.

Can hardly wait to see the pics.

Here are a few pics of the stripping process...
 

This is just a few pics of the stripping process

How did you apply the paint? Spray? Special tools? I can't wait to see more. I want to get a really beat up featherweight and paint it blue like I've seen on some sites...can you estimate how much it will cost in supplies? Did it take a lot of elbow grease to strip it? Can you tell I've thought abut this a lot:) I just missed buying a featherweight for 100 bucks and would have loved to do what you are doing now and use it forever:)

Thanks,

Jen

Thanks for sharing pictures of your project. Am looking forward to seeing more. Nice job.

She looked so sad with all her paint stripped off. But she's starting to perk up now that you've got her re-painted. I'll be watching her progress.

We used Duplicolor automotive spray can paint. No special tools other than what I mentioned in my first post. Critical would be to have very good gloves, just getting a little bit of the stripper on your skin and it burns like heck! Cost of paint - $6.00 per can Stripper - $11.00 New decals - $13.50. Gloves - ? (depends on what you want to spend.) As far as elbow grease, no, let the stripper do it's thing. Take your time...and just be careful for the stripper - use a well-ventilated location as the fumes are can be bad. Throw away the paint as it comes off the machine...could be exposed to lead. Not sure...it's just messy and I don't like that part. DH will do that part in the future. I'll clean, sand and repaint. Not a fan of the stripping part.

We had a small problem last night with a few areas of the paint...but I think it's because my DH has a heavy hand and didn't understand the idea of 'light' sanding. More sanding and paint needed. Since this is our first attempt we aren't expecting perfection. This machine will go to one of our grandkids to learn to sew and they don't really care if the paint job is perfect. :-) More pics to come....this is a work in progress.

One more comment -- Don't expect perfection on the first try....give yourself the freedom to make mistakes....and learn from them. :thumbup:

This is just a thought, but could a paint shop strip and paint a FW? I know that local shop will strip and repaint metal doors with that car paint that is incredibly shiny. I want to do ours, but have never called for a price.

I'm sure they could do it, but they probably wouldn't want to deal with all of the little parts that have to be removed and they would most like loose something for sure. I'd rather do it myself, that way if a part gets lost then I can only blame myself. Also, I like learning how to do things like this and to be able to say I did it myself. :o