Paint Dipping Tube for Steel Pipe Up to 25mm in Cross Sectional Size

Painting steel pipe, whether it be round or square, is normally a messy and time consuming job, especially using the good old paint brush.

A friend suggested that I should either spray paint or dip paint the steel.

I don't own a spray gun, so the option was to go with dipping.

There are various methods available comprising of 220 litre drums cut in half or using gutter pipe.

Again I had none of these.

What I did have was 50mm PVC pipe.

What follows is the method that was used

This is quite complicated, so please follow carefully.

Materials needed:

1 x 1.50m x 50mm PVC pipe, (1.5m was chosen as a length, as the longest piece of steel that needed painting was 1.35m in length)

1 x 50mm end cap.

PVC glue

Coat the outside of one end of the PVC pipe with PVC glue and fit the end cap.

Allow an hour to dry

Your dipping tube is ready.

Prep the steel pipe first.

Drill a 3mm hole close to one end of the steel pipe.

Wipe the pipe down with thinners to remove oil and dirt.

Make a dipping and hanging hook from 1.6mm wire.

Insert the hook into the small hole in the steel.

Prepping the dipping tube:

Place the dipping tube in a bucket to catch excess paint.

Fill the tube with paint, (we used a cut-off soda bottle as a funnel).

Pour the paint into the dipping tube to about 4cm from the top, (this prevents paint overflow and wastage once you start dipping the steel pipe).

Hold the hook and lower the steel pipe into the dipping tube until fully submerged.

Lift the steel pipe out the dipping tube and allow the excess runoff paint to fall back into the dipping tube.

Hold the painted steel over the bucket for a while to allow the rest of the excess paint to drip off.

Hang the steel pipe and allow to dry

The pictures show what the final result of the dip painting technique look like.

I am happy.