Anyone ever repainted their Craftsman RAS?

[Louis Brandt]

I have an old Craftsman 1960’s RAS, model number 113.29401, and it’s the model that was built by Emerson. It’s one of the “heavy” cast iron arm models. I’m wondering whether anyone who has one of these has ever repainted the black portions of the arm and chassis to sort of “restore” it, or would I be making a mistake to do so? I’m talking only about this particular model of RAS, since other models or brands of RAS would probably have totally different considerations with regard to repainting.
Louis

[Shawn Honeychurch]

Hey Louis;

I have an old craftsman planer that I just finished repainting and am about to start on my old DeWalt RAS. My RAS is also an older cast iron one, as is the planer. I just cleaned it up carefully, and sprayed away.

I used the rusoleum, hammered metal look paint in the spray can and it worked great. Looks very good, easy to do, and once it has cured a bit, in my case 1 week, is a very durable covering.

Shawn

[Kirk Poore]

If it looks beat up, repaint it. The value is mostly what you'll use it for, and if it looks good, you'll want to use it more. If you're thinking resale value, from what I've seen people very rarely buy used tools based on the presence of original paint. They care more about current condition. For example, here's a Dewalt RAS as posted over on OWWM.org a couple weeks ago:

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p200/cruizin31/mbc2.jpg

If there's been a more kick-ass RAS restoration and paint job done, I sure haven't seen it. Who wouldn't want to use this machine?

Kirk

[Louis Brandt]

Kirk,
No, it isn't beat up at all, and I won't be selling it. It works fine, but I would just like to touch up the cast iron on it.
Louis

[Shawn Honeychurch]

Man that RAS is sweet, actually it was seeing that RAS that got me going on my own one. Different colours, but I hope to match the quality of that one.