Plastic Restoration

[jackjcc]

Hey guys

I had a sun baked 024 that had extremely faded plastics with some baked in oil stains. I found a thread on using boiled linseed oil and paint thinner to restore the plastic and remove the sun fading. I'm posting my results.

At first I took the top and air filter covers and gave them a wash with degreaser and a tooth brush, and they came out sparkly like that vampire in those vampire movies the girls watch:

Not sure how well that will turn out (I post from my phone) but the little flecks is the light reflecting back. I then took some 180 grit and gave the pieces a wet sanding. This got the oil stained bits cleaned up. The only trouble I had was getting in close on some edges and corners.

Then I mixed up my 60% paint thinner 40% blo and set up. I used two methods and the results were fairly similar. First method I just wiped it on, second method I buffed it in with 0000 steel wool. The stool wool buff jobs seems better than the wipe on method.

Looks good to me and it was a pretty simple process. The cost for the quart sized jugs was about $7 each for the thinner and oil.

Definitely worth it and if you can measure liquid proportions it's easy to do.

 

[DexterDay]

Looks great!

Congrats on the refurb..

 

[jackjcc]

Looks great!

Congrats on the refurb..

Thanks!

The only thing I'm wondering still is if there is a set amount of time I should wait between coats. The thread I read made it seem like once a week for a few weeks.

 

[kz1000]

You don't work on chainsaws, you have clean finger nails and no cuts????

 

[jackjcc]

You don't work on chainsaws, you have clean finger nails and no cuts????

I guess they are pretty clean...bit I spent 20 minutes in the sink sanding so they were fairly clean from that.

 

[cgraham1]

Looks good!

 

[tx omfs]

The stool wool buff jobs seems better than the wipe on method.

I'm surprised it looks orange after that treatment!

 

[JivaGo]

What about using some sort of polishing/rubbing compound to smooth/shine the plastic surface at some point?

 

[cgraham1]

I've done a few that I sanded down and washed and then sprayed an industrial clear laquer with extra catalyst added. They look pretty damn good when they're done. I guess I should test their resistance to gasoline and see if they hold up.

I know it's not plastic, but this saw was badly faded...