(ET) painting mower deck...

[dave barden <daveb speakeasy org>]

Well before putting the mower to use I decided to paint it.  Searching the
archives I decided to use POR 15 on the underside and rustoleum topside.

I had visions of quickly sandblasting the whole thing down to bare metal
with a friends compressor and sandblasting gun.  It didn't take long to
burst my vision.  It takes a lot of air to blast, I quickly discovered.
I've now lowered my expectations (and increased effort) to wire brushing,
disc sanding, and blasting only the small nooks and crannies the wire
brush and disc can't reach.  Perhaps my blast media is too course?  I'm
using (trying to use)  #35 Kleenblast which is copper slag medium fine.
For the blast gun tip size I'm using it recommends 10-15 cfm of air.  I
have 9 max.  I can blast about 40 seconds before the compressor motor
kicks in again.

So you folks that have done this before what are you using?  Do you remove
all rust and paint over the entire piece or just spot prep before
painting?  I know, it depends on how good you want it to look.  I don't
care much about looks I'd just like it to be effective and last a while.

Any other tips and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Oh one other
question.  I am debating whether or not I need to topcoat the POR 15.  I'd
rather not (it is  underneath where the shine don't shine so I'm not
worried about UV light) but would like as slick a surface as I can
reasonalbly get so the grass won't build up so bad.  I need to decide
before I apply the POR 15 as the primer/top coat needs to be applied
before it dries.  Will the POR 15 (brushed on) produce a reasonably smooth
surface??

Thanks much,

    dave