Been wanting to do something crazy to this thing for years and finally got around to it last week. I commented on another post but started this thread to post a few more pics. While I was at it I went ahead and pressed in some new bearings and cleaned everything up. Love the final result. Would love to get some feedback, constructive criticism is welcome.

-Bob


Before


After


After the paint. This was the finish off the gun, I was satisfied. All rustoleum brand, etching primer/black automotive primer/automotive clear lacquer. The clear was shot with a mini hvlp gun with 10g of chameleon pearl I got on ebay for 12$, which brought the paint/pearl cost to about 35$. A few coats of clear on top with no pearl gave it a good shine.


This is what the grind chamber looks like with everything out of it.


Getting ready to press in the bearings.


Just got the shop press too. Makes bearing replacement a joke.


Pressing on the bottom plate before installing rotor.


Got a bit excited when bringing the grinder out of the press and knocked it against the press cylinder. Now I don't have to worry about it getting scratched. The paint held up pretty well for smashing into a solid chunk of metal.


Everything fully installed inside.


While we are doing all this might as well swap out a badge...


Final results.

Your grinder came out great! It's nice to see a departure from the norm.

It looks very good! I wish all Mazzers had the power cord routed out the back. I did a lot of chopping and shaving on my Major, but the one thing I didn't feel like tackling was routing the power cord away from the left side and put it out of the way in the back. I did shave off the indicator lights and shaved everything off my doser as well.

No one has yet stated the obvious...

Really..?

PAINT THE ESPRESSO MACHINE TO MATCH!

+1!

I'm also very interested in the painting technique. Can you give some tips on how to make it come out so perfectly?

Very 70's!

The painting and prepping process took about a week.

Sunday
Cleaned the whole thing with simple green and a scotch brite pad. Sanded with 320 grit and an orbital sander. Wear a dusk mask. This part took about 2 hours. I didn't try to get the paint old paint off but there were some pretty deep imperfections that needs to be sanded out. I had to use some 180 grit and do it by hand in some of the concave curves. Wiped everything down with a cloth with some rubbing alcohol. Tack cloth before painting. Like I said earlier all paints were rustolem automotive. I used a spray can of self etching primer and put one coat wherever I sanded all the way to the AL. Then 2 coats of black sandable primer over the whole thing, also from spray can. Giving about 10 min between coats per what the can said.

Monday
Did more sanding on the imperfections that were now visible after painting. 400 grit to clean those up, and a light scuff 400 over the whole thing. Same thing as yesterday clean with alcohol, tack cloth, 1 coat etching primer where I saw metal. 2 coats black primer. The can of black primer was now empty.

Tuesday
Looked good, nice uniform dull flat black. Scuffed with 400 grit. Alcohol wipe down, tack cloth. This is when I busted out my spray gun. Got a quart of pre thinned clear gloss lacquer and made a solution for the color. 10 g of pearl in about a half quart of the clear lacquer. Mini hvlp gun and a 1.0 mm tip. Sprayed on about 3 or 4 coats. 5-10 min in between. I sprayed in alternate directions but not sure if that was the best. The paint layed down better going the long ways.

Wednesday
Lightly scuffed with 400 and took out some imperfections. This was a mistake as the color was not even in a few spots and it's nearly impossible to make it perfectly even after that. If you use pearl or candy for the color wait till you clear coat to sand. Alcohol then tack cloth, I put on a few more coats of my color solution to cover the sanding error.

Thursday
3-4 coats of clear.

Friday
Light sand with 400 on the imperfections. Alcohol and tack cloth. 3-4 more coats of clear and done. Let it dry. Wx was in the high 70s low 80s every day and I painted in a wind protected area with 1 fan to move air out while painting. Used a good respirator. I'm not an experienced painter and really only got the spray gun for this project. Biggest thing i learned was get a light wet coat on the project then don't touch it. If you go back to spray a spot you missed you get overspray everywhere and the shine is gone.

Saturday
Reassembled.
Letting it fully dry for atleast a week before reassembly would have been better, but by that point my ability to be patient had run out.

-Bob

I would have done the machine too, but I think of it as temporary. Even though I have it for 5 years and have no plans to replace haha. The mods I've done on it have kept me happy.

This looks fantastic!

I've been on the fence as to wether or not I'll have my Major painted professionally, but your posts have definitely tipped me in the 'hell yea!' direction!

Now - to come up with some colours and a cool concept!

Now that's just awesome. Great job.