Baby Blake Toilet - to paint or not

[Boathook]

The white paint finish on ours is falling off like mad. The thing works well so I would like to keep it. Do I - clean and repaint with enamel; clean and leave as bronze. The other (unwanted) option is to buy a lavac. Any constructive comments ?

 

[Mirelle]

Hammerite white

Been there, done that thing.

First time I overhauled ours, I was taken with the shiny bronze and polished it.

Mistake; shows the drips.

Second time I painted it red as I'd just done the insides of the Dorade vents.

Mistake; looked odd.

Last time I painted it white; looks like new.

Paint before re-assembly.

You never replace a Baby; they are indestructible. Ours is 50 years old, and not unusual.

 

[Talbot]

I re-painted mine first with enamel (plus suitable primers etc) and when that failed, I painted with appropriate primers and hammerite, and when that failed, I bought a Par Brydon (abt 10 years ago) and havent had to touch in until this year, when I figured it could do with a touch of grease.

I bought a service kit a few years ago, if I have got nothing else to do this winter I might give it a birthday.

 

[sinna42]

Yup ! been there & done that too !!
First refurb I carried out was a complete strip down - all parts thoroughly shot blasted to remove all corrosion - primed with red oxide primer followed by a nice coat or 3 of white Hammerite smooth.
All parts were fine ... except for the main pump out cylinder - the paint started to blister and had a distinct rusty colour in dribbles.

Managed to get an old Baby Blake - raided it for bits & pieces - especially the cylinder. Tried to really really make sure that this "new" cylinder was spotless before painting - but to no avail - I just couldn't get an all over bronze colour . There seemed to be small pits where corrosion had occurred.

I reckon that the bronze alloy Blakes used for this part is actually slightly inferior to the other parts AND it is thin walled too, which doesn't help.

Solution - make a complete new cylinder at my work using LB2 bronze !
Works like a dream now and the paint is perfect !

Another thing I had noticed is that many of the fasteners that Blakes used have suffered badly from dezincification - they just fell apart - especially the washers & some of the nuts . Yes some bronzes do contain zinc !

Moral of the story - keep it clean - pee & salt water are highly corrosive !!

 

[PCUK]

You could polish it and then lacquer the metal to preserve the finish. Screwfix do an excellent metal lacquer spray that seems to last.

 

[Boathook]

Thanks for your comments.
Paint it is (seems). The local DIY seems to have a good range so will start there .......

 

[David boater]

remove all bronz parts and find your nearest powder coaters and have them coated in white the toylet will look like new