Prepping for paint question

[Charles in SC]

Hello, I am planning to paint my bus soon.  In thinking about how best to sand the rivets I am going to try using a small wire cup brush in a drill motor. Has anyone tried this and if so how did it work?
Thanks in advance!

[oltrunt]

I'll offer a suggestion or two. I've painted (and prepped) several hundred cars over the years.  If you are after a three year paint job, the wire brush will do.  You'll get away with about 80% of the rivets-- the other 20% will begin to peel.  If your bus has been painted before, knock off about 10% for each paint job as your work will only be as good as the last guys 80%.  If you want a 10 year paint job, sand every rivet to the metal particularly along the edge where the rivet contacts the body. TANSTAAFL--sorry.  Jack

[Charles in SC]

Thanks for the advice and I agree with you 100%. The thing is I have not figured out how to sand around a rivet all the way down to the junction of the head and the sheet metal. Any advice on how to do that? As with most busses there are a bunch of rivets.

[oltrunt]

I sometimes scratch around the rivet with a small flat blade screwdriver and then fold the sandpaper over a few times and feather edge the chipped area.  I've also had good luck folding sandpaper over a 2" flexible putty knife and sanded with that.  Still, there is no easy way to do the job.  Jack

[opus]

Sandblast?

[stevet903]

Never tried it for rivets, but one of these spot blasters may do the trick.  Pick a round nozzle larger than the rivet head and go to town...

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/clarke-abrasive-spot-blasting-kit

[Debo]

In the aviation world there's a tool that people use to score the paint around rivets so they can be removed without damaging the paint. Possibly some type of sharpened tool to score the paint and then sand with rough Scotchbrite or something? Just throwing out ideas...

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/screwpaintcutter.php

[Charles in SC]

Thank you for the ideas everybody! I have been trying to figure out how to clean around the rivets for some time now.  Your posts have sparked some ideas. I am going to check into something I remember from years ago that Eastwoods sold. It was a type of spot sand blaster. I want to not make any bigger mess than I have to.

[digesterman]

They use soda and water blasting a lot on a lot of things nowadays too

[johns4104]

Use paint stripper!! Very little sanding then. The aluminum rivets are soft and can be sanded down easily, especially with a powered sander. I used aircraft stripper on all my rivet lines then simply sand the rest with a da sander!

Good Luck and have fun!

[Jim Eh.]

I used a spot blaster with great success. Even worked well for the dzus fastners in the back. There is some sanding to feather around the rivets but should reduce the paint cracking later on.