Hermes knob - a solution

Impatient for a machined aluminium replacement, I tried a softer, more easily worked material. Ready-made shapes sprung to mind: draughtsmen (like you play draughts with),  a wheel from a wooden toy (which I didn't have) or some kind of turnery for cabinet makers. The drawer pull won the day for having a centre guide and I got them from the same shop I get replacement bushes for my Olympia SMs. Wonder if I could get them stock ribbons?

Strip show

By popular request, a slide show of the stripped plywood case from the Olympia SM3. The case had been somewhere damp as you can tell from the tarnished metalwork and black stain. I haven't tried to conceal any blemishes and the only work on the furniture was to polish the chrome and emery one of the handle fasteners which was all rusty. The tricky part (aside from removing the paint) was to protect the interior which is flocked (not fabric lined) and easily damaged by clamping in a workbench. It wasn't in great condition to start with. Clean flock by dabbing, not wiping.

You can see that the case was only intended to be painted - the joinery is crude and the beech veneer marked, though the original paint in those areas was intact. The rubber feet were compacted, crumbling and damaged. Since they are symmetrical, I sliced the damaged surface off, reversed them so the good side is on the outside, and glued them in place after varnishing the case - they'll need tidying inside with a patch of felt.

Anyone fancy a go? After removing the handle, catch and feet (4x metal and 4 rubber), here's a list of what I used:

1. 1/3 sheet orbital sander (beech is pretty tough and shows no sanding rings)
2. 40 grit Aluminium Oxide abrasive paper to remove the top paint
3. 80 grit once the wood starts to show through
4. 240 grit emery paper to hand flatten the surface prior to varnishing
5. Rag and spirit to clean between sanding and varnishing
6. 2 coats quick drying polyurethane varnish (at least)
7. Dust mask, ear protectors and forgiving neighbours.

Have fun...

True grit

Furniture screwed back in place. The varnish said "satin" on the tin - but it looks almost glossy.

So there I was, thinking I'd never get all the paint off the Olympia SM3's case, but I decided to try a new batch of paper on the orbital sander. Wow! 40 grit Aluminium Oxide paper really shifts paint without clogging. 80 grit swept away the undercoat and primer all the way down to bare wood. All in about half an hour. £3.00 well spent.

Thanks Richard the Bikecaster for the ID tip. Looks like it is a non-Deluxe SM3. I should have guessed by the way it doesn't say Deluxe on the type basket.

Striptease

Un-painting this Olympia's box could end up being a lost cause. The promise of a fine wooden finish seems out of reach because of the tenacity of hammerite primer.

Richard commented he was curious about how these boxes were made: the bottom and two sides are solid wood and the curved top is steamed ply. They are nailed and glued with any gaps filled with... filler. In short, they were made to be painted. But the same heavy duty sanding which originally profiled the corners isn't proving anywhere near as effective at removing the paint.

I'll persevere a little longer before preserving with varnish and replacing the hardware.

Also, I'd thought I had an SM3 but the manual I downloaded from MLG suggests otherwise. There's no tabulation and the paper support isn't push-button operated. These are reffered to in the manual. It DOES have spring-loaded key tops though. Any helps with ID welcome. The SN is 728899.