Hammering Thinners

[xbally]

Does anyone know of an effective and cheap thinners for Hammerite paint please?

[iansoady]

I seem to remember that acetone AKA nail varnish remover works. Carb cleaner is very effective on lots of things. I am fairly sure that cellolose thinners won't touch it.

[xbally]

Thanks Ian. That's what my supplier of cellulose thinners suggested. The wife has lent me her nail varnish remover so I'll give it a go

[CrazyFrog]

White spirit used to work, but they changed the formula of the paint a few years ago and I don't know if it works on the new stuff.

[xbally]

Yes they seem to have made the paint more eco-friendly but my thinners now can't cope.

[johnr]

Acetone by the gallon is cheaper than buying nail polish remover in bottles!!

[xbally]

Any idea where I could buy Acetone from please?

[Steve H]

Any idea where I could buy Acetone from please?

Bought mine from Ebay

[xbally]

Thanks. Yes I thought of looking there and there's quite a selectin. I'll order some up.

On a similar theme does anyone recommend any other brushing paint for motor cycle restoration?

[iansoady]

Pareagon coach enamel. Thins with white spirit, goes on thick and brush marks disappear. You can get it in brushing and spray - I did the unlamented Francis Barnett with it from bare metal. I use cheap toolstation primer which goes on well and doesn't seem to react with any paint I've put on top. https://www.stationaryengineparts.com/Paragon-Paint-Products/

For the XBR500 I needed to match the colour so took a panel to a place in Bromsgrove who did a great job making up aerosols and were very helpful. Their web site seems to have disappeared so I hope they're still around.

[xbally]

Thanks Ian, that's really helpful.

[Steve Lake]

if it's the original 'Hammerite' i.e. pre 1985, then i think you have to bite the bullet and use hammerite thinners/cleaner. once AkzoNobel took them over, the formula was changed (health & safety ... fumes etc) and post 85 hammerite will clean off ok with a proprietary brush cleaner (least, that's what i always use.) i'm not that impressed with hammerite these days, and have found several makes of bare metal paint which seem to work better.

[xbally]

Yes I don't think it's as good as it used to be. I'm researching Ian's alternatives.

[richardeblack]

I've used cellulose thinners successfully and I think xylene works although I might be wrong. I didn't try acetone but use it quite a lot for all sorts of applications and get it from Amazon although I'm not sure if they are cheapest but wanted high purity. Hers the link
Acetone 5 Litre Acrylic Nail Remover Premium UV/LED Gel Nail Polish Remover 5L https://amzn.eu/d/heFW2H3

[Itsme]

I recently cut some surplus brackets off the tank of my GW250 Inazuma for the project which isn't a project and then ground down the stubs, filled the area and sprayed it with Halfords primer. The next day the areas I had ground and which were bare metal had rusted through the primer. Spray on primer is rubbish as it is water based which reacts with bare metal obviously.

I know this isn't directly relevant to this thread, but it does show how the re-formulation of paint can be a tricky business.

Ian