Ensoniq Mirage rust

[synthmagic]

Hi,
Does anyone have any experience of removing rust and treating rust and also respraying the casing on a synth/sampler?
I recently bought a broken Ensoniq Mirage and have managed to bring it to life (except keyboard causes it to go crazy if I connect the Mirage keyboard ribbon cable,it works fine via MIDI).

There are rust speckles and in places the rust has eaten the paint. I'd love to restore it so it looks nice again. It is the MK1 version with the big black buttons.
Thanks.

[Watchful]

I imagine it's like removing/treating rust on nearly anything else.

1. Take out all the parts and pieces
2. On the inside of the panel, where it won't show, experiment with different spray paints to see which one blends in the best (taking note of matte finishes or semi-glosses)
3. With sandpaper, sand the rusty spots. Use a rough sandpaper to start in very small patches and then apply a very soft sandpaper to finish.
4. Apply one or more coats of paint to the entire surface. Let each coat dry in between to ensure you're hiding the treated spots and not making them worse.
5. Don't forget to use plenty of masking tape to protect the silkscreened logo, port labels, etc..

[synthmagic]

Thanks for the reply. yeah, that makes sense. I just need to find something that will neutralise the rust to stop it coming back.
Cheers.

[Watchful]

Generally, it's just eliminating it once it starts by sanding it. Be careful with a lot of common rust treatments, as they can wind up pitting the metal...and painting over that will look even worse in some cases. Good luck!

[synthmagic]

Thanks. I'm going to start the sanding tomorrow when I get some sand paper.
Cheers

[AnX]

don't forget primer

[synthmagic]

Thanks. Yeah, I ordered some.
Cheers.