Primestar Paint Job

[stogie5150]

I never have really liked the finish on my old Primestar dishes, so I decided to spiff them up again, and try something new. I was walking around the Wal-Mart the other day and went into the paint section. Being a dedicated cheap ass I am always looking for cheap ways to do stuff, and what did I come upon? A gallon of Dutch Boy EXTREME ADHESION latex house paint, and at the rock bottom paint close out shelf price of 12 bucks a gallon. And it was gray! I says to myself, self, that sure would look nice on your dishes, wouldn't it?

So I brought it home.

Today I decided to spiff them up. I first cleaned them all with Castrol Super Clean, that stuff will take all the grease and oil off anything. Then I cleaned with soap and water, to get the residue off. Then I let them dry while I had some lunch.

After lunch, I took some 150-grit sandpaper and gave each a light sanding, just to give the paint a little tooth to stick to, wiped them off with a tack rag, and had at it painting. I used the shortest nap 4"roller I had in my paint locker, and rolled 'er on. I did four dishes, and by the time I was done with the fourth dish, the first was dry enough for a second coat. So what you see is two coats of 11.00 paint.

On the 1m dish I took the feed arms off, scuffed them off, primed them with some 98 cent primer, then shot a coat of clear over that. They don't match exactly, but they do look pretty good I think.

Now, will the latex paint stick? I have no earthly idea. Stay tuned.

Pics below, attention dialup users, they are bigguns.

 

[ghia]

Looks good to me, though the BITE ME stencil work was a nice touch on the previous paintjob. The first picture the lighter colored oval dish next to the tree, I can not see the mount for the lnb to the arm. Probably an illusion but it looks cool in the picture.

 

[stogie5150]

Looks good to me, though the BITE ME stencil work was a nice touch on the previous paintjob. The first picture the lighter colored oval dish next to the tree, I can not see the mount for the lnb to the arm. Probably an illusion but it looks cool in the picture.

Thats a metal bracket I fabbed up. It doesn't work that well at all.

I really need some factory arms for those dishes, because I suck at freeform LNB mounting. I have lots of dishes, but no LNB arms for them...LOL

 

[ghia]

I looked at the other pictures and I can see the metal mount now. The sunlight probably washed out the color on the first picture. That is a better job than I could have done fabricating a mount. That arm looks the same as a GLobecast dish I had once. It had a mount that slide into the rectangular arm. Maybe you could find one of those and give it a try.

This pic at Sadoun's site is what I'm reffering to.
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/GlobeCast/GlobeCast-Dish (12).JPG

 

[tvropro]

Looks nice I need to do that to my Primestar some day, unless you want to stop by and put a couple coats on for me.

 

[Anole]

too pretty

Fine lookin' job.
The original pebble surface didn't hurt, either.

Great deal on the paint. We should all be so lucky! - :up
There was a cheap gallon of white or gray at the last swap meet for way-too-cheap ($3?), and I knew I should have bought it.
Can always get it tinted (colored) if you don't like the original!

For anyone too lazy to do the search, here's the manufacturer's own words on painting:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/105645-how-paint-clean-your-primestar.html

 

[Cadsulfide]

Lookin' good bossman!

 

[turbosat]

Nice work Stogie, if you have any longer rollers-I'm getting ready to paint the house, lol.

 

[Dishman Dan]

Now, will the latex paint stick? I have no earthly idea. Stay tuned.

Looks great!

Back around 1980, a buddy of mine bought a 1968 Ford stepside pickup for $80 from a local municipality. It was a sewer truck! It was not much of a "chick magnet" with "sewer authority" written on the door. He went to Kmart and bought barn red latex house paint and painted the Ford with it. It really looked good! I do not remember how much it cost but he could not see spending much on a $80 pickup. The paint held up great for at least 5 years! Erie county PA spreads tons of roadsalt in the winter and it is like the salt capital of the US. This salt eats away vehicles in a hurry but the cheap paint did very well!!

I think that the Primestar paint job should hold up, if not, repaint it!

 

[Tron]

Looks great, Stogie! I will need to paint my 1 meter someday, but I'd really like to keep the original Channel Master logo (it was not a dish deployed by Primestar). Being beige-white in color, it attracts all sorts of stains...

I have an identical 1 meter Channel Master that was deployed by Primestar (its the one I ran across Causeway Blvd in morning rush hour traffic with). I had to paint the back of it, as the fiberglass was starting to shed. For that job, I used Krylon, and it seems to be working well. That dish is in storage, however, out of the elements for the time being.

 

[Pixl]

LOGO

I painted 3 of my dishes a week ago including my Primestar. My wife is very good a computer graphics and is going to design a replica of the Primestar Logo, so I can restore the dish to it's original luster.
As for paint on the dish, I was surprised when my friend, a professional painter, showed up to spray the dishes with ACE Hardware latex house paint. He said it would outlast any oil base paint as latex has come a long way. Even for direct application to my aluminum 8'er. If anybody is interested in a Primestar logo let me know, if it turns out good I'll post it in here.

Jim

 

[Tron]

I painted 3 of my dishes a week ago including my Primestar. My wife is very good a computer graphics and is going to design a replica of the Primestar Logo, so I can restore the dish to it's original luster.

There may be a way to use a hand scanner (if you can find one, most PC scanners are of the flatbed variety now) and actually scan the logo into a PC.

 

[Pixl]

There may be a way to use a hand scanner (if you can find one, most PC scanners are of the flatbed variety now) and actually scan the logo into a PC.

I actually found the logo somewhere on the Internet. My wife said she can send it to some place in Hong Kong that can print on vinyl suitable for outdoor use.

 

[Pixl]

Primestar Logo

Can someone with a Primestar dish measure the height and width of the logo, disregarding the extra tall "A" in star. The shadow of where mine used to be is already painted over.

 

[TTSE]

I never have really liked the finish on my old Primestar dishes, so I decided to spiff them up again, and try something new. I was walking around the Wal-Mart the other day and went into the paint section. Being a dedicated cheap ass I am always looking for cheap ways to do stuff, and what did I come upon? A gallon of Dutch Boy EXTREME ADHESION latex house paint, and at the rock bottom paint close out shelf price of 12 bucks a gallon. And it was gray! I says to myself, self, that sure would look nice on your dishes, wouldn't it?

So I brought it home.

Today I decided to spiff them up. I first cleaned them all with Castrol Super Clean, that stuff will take all the grease and oil off anything. Then I cleaned with soap and water, to get the residue off. Then I let them dry while I had some lunch.

After lunch, I took some 150-grit sandpaper and gave each a light sanding, just to give the paint a little tooth to stick to, wiped them off with a tack rag, and had at it painting. I used the shortest nap 4"roller I had in my paint locker, and rolled 'er on. I did four dishes, and by the time I was done with the fourth dish, the first was dry enough for a second coat. So what you see is two coats of 11.00 paint.

On the 1m dish I took the feed arms off, scuffed them off, primed them with some 98 cent primer, then shot a coat of clear over that. They don't match exactly, but they do look pretty good I think.

Now, will the latex paint stick? I have no earthly idea. Stay tuned.

Pics below, attention dialup users, they are bigguns.

Hey Stogie, can you tell me what kind of LNB bracket it that please on the dish with the tripod arm?