Airbrushed Airtanks?
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DOkie
Guest
Easyrider - Dumb question - do you have kids? My husband and I wanted a way to identify our tanks because the dive shop is always full of the same kind/same color... We gave our 10 year old daughter a ton of finger nail polish... We have tanks with hearts, flowers, "I love dad", "I love mom", Be Safe", fish, etc. painted on them. The pony bottle I got for x-mas last year has x-mas trees on it complete with presents. I'm sure it won't appeal to most, but you asked for suggestions (and EVERYONE knows which tanks are ours). Have a great day...
matjo1
Contributor
Don't worry over it, I have them all. I don't want to send you on a wild goose chase and use up your valuable time proving yourself wrong.
Besides, it is Christmas Season so I will refrain from being argumentative for a few weeks.
N
What part do you not agree with? You are more than welcome to correct me... Or are we splitting hairs here?
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
I've painted a few aluminum tanks and had them filled and hydroed no problem.
I airbrushed flame jobs on two tanks. A friend of mine bought them and is still using them 8 years later and they still look great. One I did a granite effect on under the flames. Both were near show perfect and stayed that way for a long time.
Here's how:
First, tape up the valve right at the base with duct tape or heavy masking tape. It helps to have a good work bench do do this next step. Sand all the old paint and corrosion off tank using a dual action (DA) sander first with 80 grit then followed it up with 240 grit. The aluminum will have casting marks on the surface. The tank is only as strong as the thinnest point so as long as you don't sand the thing down for hours and can still see traces of the casting marks (low spots) you'll be fine. After the tank is all stripped, scrub the surface with alumiprep 33, which is a phosphoric acid solution (wear rubber gloves) and use a scotch brite pad. While the metal is still wet rinse all the acid off the tank with fresh water and dry with a towel. The alumiprep 33 will thoroughly clean the aluminum and dissolve all the corrosion that may be on the surface or in the pores stopping it's dissolving action right at the clean aluminum. Next, brush on a few liberal coats of alodine and allow to sit on the metal for about 3 minutes. Keep the surface wet with alodine and do not allow to dry. After 2-3 minute dwell time rinse all alodine off surface with fresh water and dry with towel then complete drying with compressed air or set out in sun.
Your tank now has been cleaned and prepped with alodine which converts the surface of the aluminum with a chromate coating which will make paint stick like crazy. This is how aircraft are done.
I used one coat of self etching primer followed by a few color coats of automotive base coat, then the flames were taped out and sprayed. All the airbrush shading was done and when all the color was on I clearcoated the whole tank with DuPont Imron 333 industrial polyurethane clear. This clearcoat is extremely durable and can withstand lots of abuse. The tank did get some chips in it but that was from rocks on the beach and such. Where the cam bands got lached down there was never any sign of wear. The entire process was done cold and no baking was done. In order for aluminum to get structurally weakened it has to get into the hundreds of degrees. Even if you were to put the tank into an automotive spray booth and bake it at 140 degrees it wouldn't do anything to the metal. If you can lay your hand on it without getting burned it's fine.
Another trick way of customizing the tank is to simply polish it out. After the 240 grit stage keep going finer all the way up to 500 grit. Be sure not to over sand the tank. Make sure you can still see traces of the casting marks and you'll be fine. Another way of guaging this is to look for linear scratches down the sides from them dragging the tank out of the fill water tank. As long as you sand right to the point that these scratches disappear you're fine. At the finer grits it's pretty hard to take a lot of material off anyway.
Get a variable speed buffer (Makita is good) and you'll also need some metal polishing wheels. I get these at a Peterbilt dealership. Look for Zephyr brand wheels and rouges. I use the green wheel with the green rouge. Polish the tank out using Zephyr's metal polishing flappy fabric buffing wheels and brick rouge. Make sure you get the special adapter to hold the polishing wheels. Run the wheel first on the rouge block to load the wheel, then polish out the tank using a steady back and forth motion with the buffer running at about 2500 to 3000 rpm, continuosly moving around the tank to avoid one spot getting to hot. Reload the rouge on the wheel often to maintain maximum polishing action.
You can get a tank to look like chrome in a matter of about 3 hours start to finish. This finish in my opinion is the best way to keep aluminum. Out in the sun on a blaring hot day they will stay cool and they never corrode. To maintain a high polish use zephyr or lightning aluminum liquid hand polish when needed. Ocean water does not affect the polished surface nearly as bad as a clorinated pool. Save this tank for real dives.
I sold all my aluminums and went to steel. As a matter of fact I sold all the tanks to people on this board. Ask Firediver about his polished out tank.
And yes I do all this kind of stuff for a living
Have fun
Eric
I airbrushed flame jobs on two tanks. A friend of mine bought them and is still using them 8 years later and they still look great. One I did a granite effect on under the flames. Both were near show perfect and stayed that way for a long time.
Here's how:
First, tape up the valve right at the base with duct tape or heavy masking tape. It helps to have a good work bench do do this next step. Sand all the old paint and corrosion off tank using a dual action (DA) sander first with 80 grit then followed it up with 240 grit. The aluminum will have casting marks on the surface. The tank is only as strong as the thinnest point so as long as you don't sand the thing down for hours and can still see traces of the casting marks (low spots) you'll be fine. After the tank is all stripped, scrub the surface with alumiprep 33, which is a phosphoric acid solution (wear rubber gloves) and use a scotch brite pad. While the metal is still wet rinse all the acid off the tank with fresh water and dry with a towel. The alumiprep 33 will thoroughly clean the aluminum and dissolve all the corrosion that may be on the surface or in the pores stopping it's dissolving action right at the clean aluminum. Next, brush on a few liberal coats of alodine and allow to sit on the metal for about 3 minutes. Keep the surface wet with alodine and do not allow to dry. After 2-3 minute dwell time rinse all alodine off surface with fresh water and dry with towel then complete drying with compressed air or set out in sun.
Your tank now has been cleaned and prepped with alodine which converts the surface of the aluminum with a chromate coating which will make paint stick like crazy. This is how aircraft are done.
I used one coat of self etching primer followed by a few color coats of automotive base coat, then the flames were taped out and sprayed. All the airbrush shading was done and when all the color was on I clearcoated the whole tank with DuPont Imron 333 industrial polyurethane clear. This clearcoat is extremely durable and can withstand lots of abuse. The tank did get some chips in it but that was from rocks on the beach and such. Where the cam bands got lached down there was never any sign of wear. The entire process was done cold and no baking was done. In order for aluminum to get structurally weakened it has to get into the hundreds of degrees. Even if you were to put the tank into an automotive spray booth and bake it at 140 degrees it wouldn't do anything to the metal. If you can lay your hand on it without getting burned it's fine.
Another trick way of customizing the tank is to simply polish it out. After the 240 grit stage keep going finer all the way up to 500 grit. Be sure not to over sand the tank. Make sure you can still see traces of the casting marks and you'll be fine. Another way of guaging this is to look for linear scratches down the sides from them dragging the tank out of the fill water tank. As long as you sand right to the point that these scratches disappear you're fine. At the finer grits it's pretty hard to take a lot of material off anyway.
Get a variable speed buffer (Makita is good) and you'll also need some metal polishing wheels. I get these at a Peterbilt dealership. Look for Zephyr brand wheels and rouges. I use the green wheel with the green rouge. Polish the tank out using Zephyr's metal polishing flappy fabric buffing wheels and brick rouge. Make sure you get the special adapter to hold the polishing wheels. Run the wheel first on the rouge block to load the wheel, then polish out the tank using a steady back and forth motion with the buffer running at about 2500 to 3000 rpm, continuosly moving around the tank to avoid one spot getting to hot. Reload the rouge on the wheel often to maintain maximum polishing action.
You can get a tank to look like chrome in a matter of about 3 hours start to finish. This finish in my opinion is the best way to keep aluminum. Out in the sun on a blaring hot day they will stay cool and they never corrode. To maintain a high polish use zephyr or lightning aluminum liquid hand polish when needed. Ocean water does not affect the polished surface nearly as bad as a clorinated pool. Save this tank for real dives.
I sold all my aluminums and went to steel. As a matter of fact I sold all the tanks to people on this board. Ask Firediver about his polished out tank.
And yes I do all this kind of stuff for a living
Have fun
Eric
OP
easyrider003
Contributor
Easyrider - Dumb question - do you have kids?QUOTE]
I don't have kids but my sister is pregnant and I am sure that if my neice is around the tank long enough it will probably get something painted on it. I did buy one of the scubahides. Haven't dove with it yet. Only concern that I have is that it will slip once in the water, but I will find on on January 19 at Vortex. Here is a pic of what my tank looks like
Chapter 19 of Inspecting Cylinders: SCUBA and SCBA, Fourth Edition by William L. High is titled "Repainting Aluminum Scuba Cylinders" and (obviously) covers that topic in summary form, with several brands of strippers, paints, and so on, as recommended by Luxfer.
The two things to remember are "DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, HEAT CURE THE PAINT" and
The two things to remember are "DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, HEAT CURE THE PAINT" and
Personally, I'd rather strip the old paint if it comes to that and then just use stickers to decorate it. If there is any question about the cylinder behind the sticker, they'll certainly come off, but that's expected. (I've peeled far more than my share of stickers, but that's apparently because other inspectors in the area weren't doing more than the most cursory glance -- if the stickers have scratches, tears, holes, or "bubbles", they've got to come off to see what corrosion lies beneath.)
I don't know where the "if painted it fails inspection" BS comes from. I have two Catalina 80's which came from the factory painted. Neither of them has been failed either in a visual inspection or a hydro. I understand that some of us want to stand out, either from an ego thing or for practical purposes. I wouldn't worry about it if I was you.
The Anchor
Contributor
Once more it lurches from the cold earth to torment the living. It's alive!
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I thought an update was due.
I have been diving Scuba hides for 4 years now and haven't noticed any corrosion on my tanks. Each year when the vis is due, I cut the shrink wrap off and remove the skin. I have to replace the shrink wrap, but at 2 for $5, it is not a huge expense. I use metal tank band clamps, and the skins are getting mangled a little when the clamps sit, but are holding up well for 4 years of constant salt water immersion. Just make sure to rinse the tank by spraying a jet of water at the top of the shrink wrap to remove any salt between the skin and tank.
I painted up 2 of my tanks last fall. I checked with the dive shop to be sure they would still fill them, then I coated them with a layer of plasti-dip spray as my base layer. then painted my design on and top coated with clear plasti-dip. Again the dip is showing wear where the tank bands are secured, but I can re-coat and repaint as desired. It gives me the option of changing my designs frequently and allows for a visual of the tank each year as the plasti-dip peals right off.
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I thought an update was due.
I have been diving Scuba hides for 4 years now and haven't noticed any corrosion on my tanks. Each year when the vis is due, I cut the shrink wrap off and remove the skin. I have to replace the shrink wrap, but at 2 for $5, it is not a huge expense. I use metal tank band clamps, and the skins are getting mangled a little when the clamps sit, but are holding up well for 4 years of constant salt water immersion. Just make sure to rinse the tank by spraying a jet of water at the top of the shrink wrap to remove any salt between the skin and tank.
I painted up 2 of my tanks last fall. I checked with the dive shop to be sure they would still fill them, then I coated them with a layer of plasti-dip spray as my base layer. then painted my design on and top coated with clear plasti-dip. Again the dip is showing wear where the tank bands are secured, but I can re-coat and repaint as desired. It gives me the option of changing my designs frequently and allows for a visual of the tank each year as the plasti-dip peals right off.
iluvtheocean
Contributor
beautiful pix.. i like the R2-D2 the best
worst case scenario -- instead of having it airbrushed on --- get whatever pic/design put on a sticker of whatever size you want - in multiples from from local print shop. You get the design you want and it's removable/replaceable for viz/hydro. and easy enough to get different designs.
save the real airbrushing/painting for when you are going to retire the tank.. or buy an out of hydro AL on the cheap just to have a nice decorated tank to keep in the house or where-ever
only think i've had airbrushed so far is my dumbek which has a sea turtle on it among other things... need to find the pic of it since it's currently loaned out.
worst case scenario -- instead of having it airbrushed on --- get whatever pic/design put on a sticker of whatever size you want - in multiples from from local print shop. You get the design you want and it's removable/replaceable for viz/hydro. and easy enough to get different designs.
save the real airbrushing/painting for when you are going to retire the tank.. or buy an out of hydro AL on the cheap just to have a nice decorated tank to keep in the house or where-ever
only think i've had airbrushed so far is my dumbek which has a sea turtle on it among other things... need to find the pic of it since it's currently loaned out.
The R2D2 is cool. I want to cover up my LP 75.5 Sidemount tanks. They have ugly scubapro logos painted on them now. Bought em used. I want to do them up like engine nacelles on a starship.
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