Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Metal Globe Body Lens Retaining Rings..Painted or?

Hi, Gang. I'm about to complete the assembly of some metal-bodied globes that I've had here for years. Is there any rule of thumb about the finishing of the lens metal retaining rings? Are they supposed to have a paint finish on them...body color...silver...or simply be left bare metal? Thanks in advance for any help. John

Not really sure John, but I usually paint the ring the color of the body. You got me curious now on the ring. I'm going to go and check some of my originals to see what they have on if anything.

I usually tell my customers to leave them in a natural finish.

If you get too much paint or powder coat on the rings along with the body, you can sometimes create a problem with the rings not seating. Too much 'stack up'. Plus the rings chip very easily if painted.

Better to just clean them once a year with a scotchbrite pad.

Later . . .

Jim

Most of mine are painted the same color as the body. It wasn't unusual for the globe bodies to be painted with a brush while they were on the pumps. That usually resulted in the rings being painted.

I leave mine unpainted

i have found that the painted ones tend to 'stick' to the body over time... so i leave mine bare metal to allow easier removal in the future if needed.

Thanks for all of the input, Gang. It looks like I'll be going "bare metal". I appreciate the time each of you took to help. What a great website, populated with good people, we have here. John