In my projects to refurbish my Monotype pump and install a latch mechanism, I am now at the stage of needing to repaint some parts, and I am finding it to be a tricky job.
For one thing, In can’t rely on the colour on other parts of my caster because they aren’t clean enough to use as a standard. The dirt on them is sufficiently tenacious that any attempt to clean them would also remove some of the paint.
As a result I instead have to use some new (or like-new) parts from my parts stock, and in doing so I am finding that Monotype did not seem to be consistent in its colour choice. I selected one (unidentified) part which seemed to be the correct colour to match the rest of my caster, and I’m now trying to get a matching paint.
I only need a half-pint of paint, and paint stores are generally unable to tint such small quantities. Furthermore, this is a rust-preventing metal paint, for which tinting choices are limited.
I have started with gray paint as a base, and I felt that the actual paint colour was bluer and darker than the paint I had, so (in a small cup) I mixed up several shades with a bit of blue and/or black added. I thought I was close (and it was getting late) so I painted all but one of the parts. Upon finishing I looked at them and felt they were way too blue, so I will have to try again on a second coat.
I took photos of some of the colours I had mixed alongside the reference part, and the colour-picker in the photo editor is telling me that the target colour is lighter and oranger than my original gray, just the opposite of what I thought! I tried to take the photo in a manner to avoid the specular reflection from the gloss paint, but the gloss reflection may still be messing up my measurements.
Leave a Reply