Hey guys, I have a machine that I have broken down and am rebuilding at the moment. While I have it apart I want to sand it and do a repaint because the original paint is all beat up and has lots of scratches. I have painted a lot of cabinets but never anything metal. The machine’s base is cast iron and the smaller parts that I pulled off are mostly cast iron I believe as well. It’s a type of multiple head shaper sander. I initially wanted to have it sand blasted and power coated but my local guy is way busy and said it would be a month or longer before he could get to it. So I am looking for advice from you guys on sanding and painting this thing. I have worked at a cabinet shop most of my life and would consider myself a veteran of sanding and spraying cabinet coatings with a variety of paint guns.
My thoughts on sanding this beast are to use a grinder with an 80g flap wheel to hit all of the areas that are scratched and have surface rust. Then use my Festool RO125 5” ros to sand the rest of the machine starting with 120g going up to 320g. Would this be ok? I have never sanded or finished anything made of something other than wood.
My next question to you guys are what would be a good primer and paint to use? I would assume two coat of primer and two top coats would suffice. I don’t want to spend a ton of money on an automotive 2k type of finish. Just need something basic and somewhat forgiving that I can spray with cheap HVLP gun. I can find a TDS sheet on what ever primer and paint I choose for info on thinning and needle/nozzle size for my HVLP gun. Any help would be great!