Outdoor metal storage and painting

[fordguy]

Two questions

1. Storing steel outside - bad idea? I see a lot of steel shops do it, how?

2. How do shops prep larger projects for paint? Think 20 foot i-beams and such. Do they really clean them and get them perfect, or is there industrial primer they use and just roll it on dirty? Hose it off before hand?

Thanks folks

 

[willis_racing]

Two questions

1. Storing steel outside - bad idea? I see a lot of steel shops do it, how?
Heavily depends on your region/location. In hot, arid New Mexico I can store steel outside for 20 years without getting anything worse than surface rust, which can be taken down by a grinder and a wire wheel when needed. Steel shops can get away with all kinds of storage hackery because the amount of rust a beam or plate fresh from the mill will gather in the week or so before it gets processed isn't a big enough deal to make a difference. That was my experience in structural anyway.
2. How do shops prep larger projects for paint? Think 20 foot i-beams and such. Do they really clean them and get them perfect, or is there industrial primer they use and just roll it on dirty? Hose it off before hand?
We sprayed em dirty as hell(mill scale/surface rust/welding bbs) with an airless sprayer system. I can go get the kind of paint next time I visit the shop if you would like. The man hours it would take to cover every inch of beam just for paint to stick would be insane, and the paint stuck fine anyway. Again though, that's experience from structural where the paint doesn't matter even a bit because it's all going to end up "indoors" anyway.

Answers in red. Does it apply to you at all or are you talking automotive parts like fenders and such?

 

[_ogre]

When I was doing structural steel, our Fab shop always stored steel outside, but we also had a wheelabrator shotpean before the paint shop. Continuous feed, 60ft was not uncommon.
That said, for a small shop store it inside if you can. Rust on steel is bubbles under paint. Our company did mostly automotive work, GM has a sec book for paint a foot thick, they'll reject a lot of work in spec, much less out of spec. I hated working automotive

 

[fordguy]

Answers in red. Does it apply to you at all or are you talking automotive parts like fenders and such?

that answers my quetions! No, not auto parts like fenders. Name of paint would be great! Primer first right? Thats what I think Ive seen shops use?