Painting a gate

[joeu235]

I have a 17 ft entry gate I just finished welding up. Was planning on getting it powder coated but the quote was $630. Steel has mill scale, some oil, and very light surface rust. If I paint this myself, do I need to media blast? Just wipe down with some solvent? Use special primer?

Thanks for the input.

 

[oosik]

Yea, powder coating is expensive. On my tubular steel gate - first I wiped it down with solvent, then sand paper & those plastic scratch pads, then another wipe down to get rid of all the sanded stuff. I used Rustoleum primer and paint - put on with a roller. That was around ten years ago and it still looks pretty good - except where the neighbors cows like to rub on it.

I guess if you have a lot to remove - rust & mill scale - and you have access to a media blaster - that would be the quick way to go. I hand sanded my 16' in an hour or so.

 

[TMGT]

Clean off any lose rust etc., wipe it down with a good prep/ cleaner and use a good primer & paint. I've had excellent results with Del-fleet, friend with a body shop used it when we painted my grapple and some other equipment and its held up great.