Painting My Shirley Smoker - Question

W

WeberWho

is one Smokin' Farker
Joined
Mar 4, 2017
Location
Minnesota
I noticed some areas on my 24×65 smoker where I'm getting some light surface rust. I just popped of my firebox door and sanded/painted. No big deal. I'll do the same with the warming cabinet door.

The doors are relatively small compared to the rest of the smoker. What is the best approach to paint the smoker? I'm pretty much forced to either a rattle can or a roller. My air compressor unfortunately won't keep up with any real painting tools. Do I rattle can sections where a roller won't fit? Should I only use spray paint? I'll probably be working on sections at a time and not all at once.

Just looking for some suggestions. Thanks!
 
Given those 2 options, get a quart can of Rustoleum High Heat grill pain in satin black and roll it on (after sanding rust). I would hit the sanded areas with Rustoleum High Heat Primer and a rattle can should be plenty for the primer.

Don't know what size compressor you have, but an inexpensive gravity feed HVLP is like $15 at Harbor Freight. It's not like you are painting a Porsche and looking for that mirror gloss 20 coat deep shine. Might be worth the $15 investment. I would plan on thinning the paint as directed on the can and do some test on some old cardboard or something. As long as you don't have to wait a long time for the compressor to recover, it should work. Only issue would be if you have to wait so long it starts to set on the tip and in the gun passages.
 
dward51 said:
Given those 2 options, get a quart can of Rustoleum High Heat grill pain in satin black and roll it on (after sanding rust). I would hit the sanded areas with Rustoleum High Heat Primer and a rattle can should be plenty for the primer.

Don't know what size compressor you have, but an inexpensive gravity feed HVLP is like $15 at Harbor Freight. It's not like you are painting a Porsche and looking for that mirror gloss 20 coat deep shine. Might be worth the $15 investment. I would plan on thinning the paint as directed on the can and do some test on some old cardboard or something. As long as you don't have to wait a long time for the compressor to recover, it should work. Only issue would be if you have to wait so long it starts to set on the tip and in the gun passages.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. I should be using my compressor. It's a 20 gallon. The 20 gallon compressor should be more than adequate for the gun. The issue I have is when multiple items are being used at the same time with the compressor. The compressor will trip the breaker. I should be able to find some time with just the compressor running. Thanks for the push. I'll have to go check out some spray guns or borrow from my Dad.
 
I saw a video on Youtube where Rich at Gator Pit mentioned putting some cooking oil on it that has a low smoke point. The oil will bake on creating a protective coat that wont rust or flake off. It wont have a showroom finish, but should be low maintenance and will never flake off or need to be painted.

Im betting Shirley Fab thinned out some Rustoleum with some paint thinner and sprayed it on. You dont know the dillution rate so it wont match Im betting. You could always just ask Paul? Worst case just rattle can it.
 
We do not cut our paint at all and it is rustoleum..... the rattle cans do not match the paint that comes in quarts or gallons.... I even had a paint store take the gallons and put in spray cans.... still will not match..... get the quarts or gallons and spray HVLP..... or roll it on.... rolling does a great job too...... just make sure you get a roller that will not leave fuzz in the paint..... or get the roller and run it over the sticky side of duct tape it will help with the fuzzy issue..... a paint store can hook u up with the correct roller.... or pm me and I will lead you in the right direction..... rustoleum high heat should not be thinned at all.... it will degrade the high heat properties of the paint
 
I just want to make this very clear that this is my own doing. This has nothing to do with Shirley Fabrication paint process. (Sorry. I should have put this in my first post)

The smoker gets used often. From small to big cooks. You can find all kinds of beautiful Shirley cookers here on the forum that are cleaner than most people's vehicles. The way I should probably take care of mine. I just keep tossing food in it and enjoying it. It's still in really good shape. I'm just being over cautious. Most wouldn't even think twice about it.
 
Dang! Just got schooled by Paul but I did this over the weekend on my LSG. Don't have high hopes and will see how it holds up but if need be I'll do it over right. Did hear that quarts or gallons are the right approach as opposed to rattle cans. Naturally.

Smoker holds up like a champ but firebox area was bad. She sits uncovered all year round and we did get a crap ton of rain this year.

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Sanded her down and repainted about 3-4 coats with this

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TuscaloosaQ said:
We do not cut our paint at all and it is rustoleum..... the rattle cans do not match the paint that comes in quarts or gallons.... I even had a paint store take the gallons and put in spray cans.... still will not match..... get the quarts or gallons and spray HVLP..... or roll it on.... rolling does a great job too...... just make sure you get a roller that will not leave fuzz in the paint..... or get the roller and run it over the sticky side of duct tape it will help with the fuzzy issue..... a paint store can hook u up with the correct roller.... or pm me and I will lead you in the right direction..... rustoleum high heat should not be thinned at all.... it will degrade the high heat properties of the paint
Click to expand...

Thanks for the post. Very much appreciated. That's interesting about the spray cans not being as strong. I think I'll end up spraying the whole smoker. Thank you for the tip about not cutting it. I've never used a HVLP spray gun before. I'll have to try it on my truck before it touches the Shirley! :becky:
 
When painting over sections of the smoker that don't need any attention do I lightly sand over that area first? Something that the new paint can bite into? Any grit recommendations or other options?

Sorry guys/gals for the questions. I'm somewhat new to this. The only other time I've restored a smoker I sandblasted and painted it. This just needs to look good again. Nothing like my other smoker. This one just needs a fresh coat of paint. Trying to figure out best approach with prepping.

Thanks for the help!
 
Rockinar said:
I saw a video on Youtube where Rich at Gator Pit mentioned putting some cooking oil on it that has a low smoke point. The oil will bake on creating a protective coat that wont rust or flake off. It wont have a showroom finish, but should be low maintenance and will never flake off or need to be painted.

Im betting Shirley Fab thinned out some Rustoleum with some paint thinner and sprayed it on. You dont know the dillution rate so it wont match Im betting. You could always just ask Paul? Worst case just rattle can it.
Click to expand...


I never paint smokers or grills.

I spray cooking oil on while it's hot. Quick and easy fix.
 
WeberWho said:
You're absolutely right. I should be using my compressor. It's a 20 gallon. The 20 gallon compressor should be more than adequate for the gun. The issue I have is when multiple items are being used at the same time with the compressor. The compressor will trip the breaker. I should be able to find some time with just the compressor running. Thanks for the push. I'll have to go check out some spray guns or borrow from my Dad.
Click to expand...


2 points....


As to the compressor tripping the breaker. I had the same issue in my garage with my 30 gallon 3.5hp unit. I have dedicated breaker & outlet in the basement shop, but I needed to do some work on the travel trailer which I had in the driveway (other side of house). The garage outlets are on a 15amp GFCI circuit and it would trip every time the compressor tried to restart after the initial start. I remembered the outlets in the kitchen were on a 20amp circuit so I used a 50' 12ga extension cord and plugged into one of those and ran the cord into the garage. Worked like a charm and never tripped the breaker once. So if you have an outlet on a 20amp circuit, try that.


The other point is I'm pretty sure the high temp rustoleum paint needs to be cured under heat after applied. So it may not be at final hardness until you fire up the smoker and let it run a while. It's been a while since I used the high-temp stuff and that was the directions I recall from back then. check the can and see what it says now.
 
dward51 said:
2 points....


As to the compressor tripping the breaker. I had the same issue in my garage with my 30 gallon 3.5hp unit. I have dedicated breaker & outlet in the basement shop, but I needed to do some work on the travel trailer which I had in the driveway (other side of house). The garage outlets are on a 15amp GFCI circuit and it would trip every time the compressor tried to restart after the initial start. I remembered the outlets in the kitchen were on a 20amp circuit so I used a 50' 12ga extension cord and plugged into one of those and ran the cord into the garage. Worked like a charm and never tripped the breaker once. So if you have an outlet on a 20amp circuit, try that.


The other point is I'm pretty sure the high temp rustoleum paint needs to be cured under heat after applied. So it may not be at final hardness until you fire up the smoker and let it run a while. It's been a while since I used the high-temp stuff and that was the directions I recall from back then. check the can and see what it says now.
Click to expand...

My garage outlets tie in with the laundry room and family room. The layout of my house is awful. It's split level with no straight runs. I'd love to rewire the garage at some point. My ultimate goal is to run a 30 amp outlet to the garage. Unfortunately I have a million other projectd before that happens.

I'll have to take a peek and see how the Rustoleum cures. That's a great point. I picked up a $28 hvlp gun at Harbor Freight the other day. It will be interesting to see how the compressor works out. Lots of prep prior on the smoker but hopefully worth it in the end.
 
WeberWho said:
When painting over sections of the smoker that don't need any attention do I lightly sand over that area first? Something that the new paint can bite into? Any grit recommendations or other options?

Sorry guys/gals for the questions. I'm somewhat new to this. The only other time I've restored a smoker I sandblasted and painted it. This just needs to look good again. Nothing like my other smoker. This one just needs a fresh coat of paint. Trying to figure out best approach with prepping.

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...


Yep lightly sand..... prolly 220 grit will do it...... then wipe down with a degreaser just to get the dust and any oil residual.....should be good to go then
 
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