Need help with repainting an IBM 5251 Bottom Housing

TNT · 15 Oct 2021, 14:15

I'm restoring a 5251 Beamspring atm, which I want to sell. The front of the bottom shell is in rather beat up condition compared to the rest of the board. How much effort would it be to faithfully recreate the coating on that plate? Anyone with experience on how those things were coated/painted? Is it something I could do at home with spraypaint etc.?

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wobbled · 16 Oct 2021, 00:51

Don't spray paint it, take it to a pro and get it powdercoated.

TNT · 16 Oct 2021, 01:07

That's what I thought. But from what I found, that's not going to be too expensive. Is there a code or something like that for the color?

wobbled · 16 Oct 2021, 02:47

TNT wrote: 16 Oct 2021, 01:07 That's what I thought. But from what I found, that's not going to be too expensive. Is there a code or something like that for the color?

Not sure of a code for off-white but you could ask them to colour match it best they can and maybe get your top case done too so it matches.

TNT · 16 Oct 2021, 02:56

Top case is in very good condition and given the fact you don't see the bottom shell that much, I'd rather just keep it as is. Thanks for the help!

TNT · 05 Dec 2021, 19:01

So, it turned out great. Unfortunately, they didn't have the exact color to match, but I discovered that the original paint seems to get greyer with age (underneath the rubber feet it was a lot brighter in comparison), so it actually gets pretty close and looks good imo

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