djsymptoms.com

Technically it’s not much of a refurbish since I didn’t really replace anything, but these tables were pretty beat up and dirty on the inside so I figured I’d take them apart, clean them and respray them. I opened both tables up from the bottom, and found a bunch of sticky brown shit with mold on it in the base of one. I’ve had a lot of trouble getting the platter off of that one (even tried penetrating oil and the screwdriver trick to no avail), so that paintjob is on hold until I can get some more time. The other table is finished though.

I bought these tables off eBay a couple years ago. I picked up a real good deal on some new M3D’s, so it was time to fix these old things up.

Everything I used:
12 oz Rust-oleum paints/primer – $6.79 ea x 3 = $20.37
9″ x 11″ wet sand paper (1500 grit) – $1.39
14-day Clean Release Ace masking tape (.94″w, 60 yds) – $4.79

A (partially) disassembled Tech next to it’s assembled counter-part.

There really isn’t a lot to these things. They’re pretty easy to take apart and put back together. Anyone with a spare Technics that needs cleaning, I would recommend this project. The hardest part is being patient and waiting for each coat of paint to dry.

It looks like these things had been opened up before, as a couple of the screws inside were totally stripped. I couldn’t get the two final screws out to remove the power supply from the base, so I had to wrap it up and cover it, and hope that it wouldn’t get paint all inside it.

After cleaning and sanding down the original finish with 1500 grit paper, I applied a few coats of all white (Rustoleum) primer.

Once the primer dries, as long as it looks clean, you can add more coats pretty quickly. Here is the first coat of blue.

I waited about 48 hours to apply more coats of the blue. When I left the first coats to dry, the power cord that I was unable to remove scraped a little bit of the drying paint off. I waited for it to dry completely, then gave it another wet sand and cleaned it all off. Then I added another coat of blue. Apparently I also ate some salt and vinegar chips.

For the next step, which is taping, TAKE YOUR TIME. I tried to do it fast, and they weren’t even lined up. I had spray can in hand, ready to paint and realized how shitty it would look. So I had to go back and reapply all the tape. Also, make sure you get quality painter’s tape that has a long release, or you’ll rip off your fresh paint when removing the tape.

After getting the tape setup right, I cleaned up the table again and added several coats of glossy black Rustoleum paint. This is during the first coat:

A random shot of the center of the table during painting.

Make sure you’re happy with your final coats of black, and let it dry for a little.

Take the tape off before the paint fully cures, or you risk peeling off some of your dried paint.

As you can see on the close-up, there are some minor paint burns/runs. You have to make sure the tape is 100% sealed to the table or you’ll end up with these.

A side view:

Reassembly:

Drum roll please…

And there you have a one-of-a-kind black and blue Technics SL-1200MKII.