Revitalizing Old Primer: A Test of Plastic Coat's Enduring Power

I recently had the opportunity to reinvigorate six cans of original plastic coat primer that I have been sitting on for years. The can in question was a 10-year-old relic that had been stored on my top shelf, untouched and unloved. I decided to take it out and put it through a test to see if it still held up as well as it did when I first received it.

The primer is part of a series offered by Kiwi Co., which specializes in projects and toys that engage kids in STEM education. The kits are designed to encourage creativity, problem-solving, and hands-on learning, all while introducing children to important concepts like science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. I have had the pleasure of building several of their kits over the past year, including a ukulele and an excellent tilt and fold desk.

One of the things that sets Kiwi Co apart from other educational products is its focus on empowering kids to build and create something real rather than just buying something pre-made. The company also prides itself on being self-sufficient, with everything you need contained within the crate or box. This approach not only fosters a sense of independence but also teaches children valuable skills like resourcefulness and critical thinking.

As I began my experiment with the plastic coat primer, I realized that I needed to mix it properly. Using a little bit of the product, I applied it to the surface using a sea wrench to ferry a nut down into place. The result was surprisingly effective, with a beautiful vibration emanating from the can. This told me that the primer still had some life left in it and was ready for use.

One potential weakness of the plastic coat primer is its tendency to lack body or fill when sprayed too heavily. When applied in moderation, however, it dries quickly and sands well. I took this into consideration as I applied a second coat, using a bit more pressure to ensure that the primer would adhere properly.

As I continued with my test, I found myself getting lost in thought for several minutes. The process of applying the primer was meditative, and before I knew it, 15 seconds had passed. This experience reinforced what I already knew: plastic coat is an excellent choice for any project requiring a durable, long-lasting finish.

After completing my experiment, I realized that I had overlooked a crucial control step – one that could have compromised the results of my test. To rectify this oversight, I simply reapplied some bondo primer to the surface, which proved to be effective in filling small gaps and imperfections. This experience served as a reminder that even with well-established products like plastic coat, there is always room for improvement.

With six cans of original plastic coat primer now revitalized and ready for use, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. Each can holds a special place in my heart, and I am eager to incorporate them into various projects and experiments. I must admit that I have been waiting anxiously to see if the product would still hold up after all these years.

One potential area for improvement is the use of a six-inch quarter-twenty all-thread with nuts on both sides. This proved to be an effective solution in repairing a weak point in one of my creations, demonstrating the versatility and reliability of plastic coat primer.

As I continue to work with this remarkable product, I am reminded of its incredible qualities: it dries quickly, fills well, sands smoothly, and provides an excellent finish that resists drips. These characteristics make it an ideal choice for any project requiring a durable, long-lasting coating.

If you have a filler primer that you love but is not one of the plastic coat varieties, I would be delighted to hear about it in the comments below. Your feedback will help me continue to explore and discover new products that meet my high standards.

As I look back on this experience, I am struck by the enduring power of plastic coat primer. Its ability to revitalized old cans and provide a reliable finish is truly remarkable. Whether you are a seasoned DIY enthusiast or just starting out, I highly recommend giving plastic coat a try – you won't be disappointed!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enspecial thanks to kiwico for sponsoring the video you're about to watch more on them later  hey everybody adam savage with a with a tool tip that i am surprised that i am giving i'm surprised  because this is a tool that i've been seeing in the world for like a couple of years and i just  kept thinking to myself that's not real that doesn't really work um so i want to it's it's  sorry i always get frozen here because i know that you've clicked on this link you've already seen  like what this video is about so we're we're mixing paint we're it's it's just paint can mixerhowever like i kept seeing this on amazon like it would show up in my feed under my  recommendations and i kept thinking that can't solve that problem that well i mean come on but  it really really does okay so uh whenever you're painting stuff  mixing your paint is absolutely paramount and in a spray can it is one of the bigger  pains in the ass that i as a maker encounter um because you have to sit here but i knowi know that's not how to open paint okay so when you have a new can of  spray paint or even an old can of spray paint that you haven't used that day  you should shake it they say for like a minute but to be fair really you should  shake it for a lot longer or it turns out you can buy one of these things which is a chrome  cup with a foam liner that fits a can of spray paint you simply chuck it into your drillthere we goi reverse the direction like three timesand then that is a beautifully mixed can of spray paint i  i'm like blown away by how well these work i'm going to show youso here we gothatis a sheer pleasure to use a can of spray paint that you have mixed with this  but that's not the end of the tool tip because as soon as i realized that this was a real thing  and by the way uh if you read the comments on amazon for a few of these you'll find that people  complain that they fail right here at the join between the the uh hex uh shank and the cup itself  uh other people have said they've welded that it is built slightly off-center um  so that it adds a little bit of vibration to the can and that probably does put a large amount  of mechanical stress right here i have not had this break on me i have mixed over 100 cans of  spray paint in the last few months with it i'm really digging this but the reason i dig it is  not just because it mixes my bondo filler primer well which it does and i like this filler primer  i really really like it its coverage is good it dries quickly it sands well and that is like one  of the hardest things to find in a primer a lot of filler primers and to be clear a filler primer  is one in which just like any paint you've got a solvent and you've got the material that makes up  the paint which is a powdered pigment and a filler primer just has a much larger volume of powdered  pigment and other things so that uh basically when you spray it over an uneven surface it sort of  evens out some of the details in that surface you can go in and sand in and smooth things outbut within those parameters you want to spray paint that one dries quickly dries hard sands  well and fills well and in those categories the greatest primer i have ever encountered in my life  is this stuff plastic coat this was the house brand at industrial light magic when i first got  there and i fell in love with this paint they make it in gray black and red and i used it for forever  unfortunately one of the reasons it's so great is because it's a lacquer based primer as such  it uses some highly volatile solvents in order to do its fast drying and hard drying and excellent  sanding and thus this product is no longer legal in california you can't buy it here anymore  i don't even think you can get it shipped here you might tell me wrong in the comments that's fine  but california has outlawed this and that makes me very sad however i still have a few cans from  a case i bought like 10 years ago so this is i'm not joking this is a 10 year old can  of red primer now what happens to a can of primer like this when you leave it for 10 years well  inside the can are some volatile organic compounds there's some solvents there's some fillers there's  some stuff and they're all at different densities and they all have different specific gravities and  i can tell you if you cut this can in half right now you'd find a whole bunch of the filler parts  of this primer down here and the solvents and the the compression compressed parts up here  and that means that no amount of handshaking has ever allowed me to properly use one of  these cans over the past like seven or eight years no matter how much i shake it it clogs the  it clogs the the nozzle so i'll like i'll have some mission critical thing i really want to  prime and i really want to use this so i'll shake it for like five full minutes and then i'll spray  and freeze and then i got to pull the nozzle blow it out with thereand then i mean and it just it's this it's the gunk in here it's the unmixed gunk coming up  through the siphon out through the nozzle and clogging it so that had happened enough that i  started heating my primer i started running it in hot water and letting it soak in warm water  for like an hour before using it and that worked but it's like really the protocol i  ended up with to make these reliable was that i had to shake it for five minutes then soak  it in warm water let it sit there for an hour shake it for another five minutes after it had  soaked for an hour and put it back in the hot water i'm not kidding but ladies and gentlemen  this has reinvigorated the six cans of original plastic coat primer that i have and i'm going  to demonstrate it for you now and no lie this is a 10 year old can that's been sitting on the  top shelf in my materials area for the entire time i've been here at uh  at the cave okay so we're going to put this in i'm going to give it a little bit of a longer mixkiwi co offers projects and toys that engage kids in steam science technology engineering  arts and math and i've built a couple of their kits last year i made the ukulele  very recently i made this excellent tilt and fold desk and what i love about these projects what i  love about their products is first and foremost that a kid gets a box of parts and makes a thing  that is real power second of all i love that everything you need is within the crate itself  they also make excellent holiday gifts that teach kids not just to buy but  to build and kiwico has some special holiday projects available as a one purchase in  addition to their subscription offerings now regarding their subscription offerings we do  have a special offer for tested viewers go to kiwico.com tested and get 50 off your first  month of any of their subscription crates don't let santa have all the fun okay back to the videoyeah all right let's see here what are we gonna do here uh okay let's see here uh six inchesthere we go uh thati'm just using the sea wrench to ferry the nut all the way down that's itokayi think that's it let's see if i got ityeahwe're back in business got a nice vibration going onand one more reverse for 15 secondsokayif i've done that correctly this should spray beautifully and the only reason i didn't show  you a control was because i didn't want to clog one of these ancient beautiful cans of  awesome lacquer primer and make it unretrievable just to show you guys it not working that's all  so i recognize my experiment as missing a control but you're just gonna have to  trust me because i'm trustworthy that this was 10 years old on the show here we go okay but  by the way in the intervening five minutes that bondo primer is dry it is it's great stuff it  just doesn't quite have the body the amount of fill that the plastic coat had okay here we golook at that and i can keep goingso i have five more cans of this and i'm going to enjoy the spit out of every single  one because they're they're precious to me um i cannot recommend this thing enough  it has literally like revitalized what i consider an old and important relationship  yes uh the the the weak point that i described turned out to be real and practically weak um  i replaced it with a six inch quarter twenty all thread uh with a nut on both sides and  it worked just fine i would recommend if you buy one of these also buy a six inch long quarter 20  a piece of all thread and a couple of nuts and you should be uh you should be jakeyeah i think i've covered everything i'm just really surprised that this broke where i said  it was likely to break thank you guys hey if you have a filler primer that you love that's not one  of these that dries quickly fills well and sands well i would love to know about it so please tell  me in the comments thank you guys so much for joining me for this tool tip and i will see you  next time happy painting one more thing about why plastic coat is amazing you almost can't  spray it heavy enough to get a drip you might spray it and see a drip and then as  the lacquer thinner that is its solvent flashes off the drips  i'm not kidding mostly disappear like this is the least drippable primer i've ever been near\n"