Ok so this next week I am going to paint my bike. I was wondering what supplies I would need for that. I have a spray gun and air compressor. I know I need dropclothes (to create a clean room), ventilation, a full body suit, breather mask and paint (obviously). What else do I need? I am going to just clean the frame really well and respray that. I am sanding down the fenders, gas tank and oil tank and repainting those. So I will need primer for that. How much of each paint should I get?
Wipe the frame/tank etc down with denatured alcohol or toulene prior to painting to get rid of dust. If the frame/tank/whatever is going to stay bare AT ALL- look into a rust inhibiting sealer/primer. Get yourself a good air line too for blowing out dust from the area after sanding/prep- it will make life a LOT easier. I'm no expert, and it truly depends on how thing you want the paint, but I'd think a couple of pints of each would do it..... less if you aren't priming the whole thing.
You only need primer if you are sanding down to metal, body filler, bare fiberglass etc. If you are just cleaning and sanding a painted surface you don't need to prime unless you are doing a radical color change. As was said above, clean ,clean clean. Be patient and allow plenty of flash time between coats, follow the reccomendation on mixing ratios carefully (measure). Good luck!
Be carefull with the air pressure.
Same color for frame and sheet metal? Same color, you could probably do the whole bike with a pint. Don't forget to filter your paint before it goes into the gun cup. Tack cloth - tack things down, after that it's skin-free - gloves and bunny suit - wipe down with denatured alcohol, or favorite prep. Once the gun is set up - I keep a giant post it note in the room and do a few test swipes to make sure I'm happy with the set-up before paint hits metal. Personally, I like the surface to be the same so any absorption or light characteristics are the same - so everything primed - but that's just me. I'm assuming the air supply is filtered - room ventilated and dust free....
Frames are a big pain in the ASS! so many round tubes you end up missing of dusting sections. Take your time. Never hurts to prime, see if the body supply shop has "primer sealer" it works better over older paints. I hate spraying frames so bad i sand blast them and send'em for powder coat or just rattle can the bad spots. Make sure all your paints, thinners, sealers, hardeners and clean up chemicals are all compatible! BTDT oh the pain when it wrinckled...and i bought them all at the same time same place...
Yeah, painting frames SUCKS. But it can be done. A pint of each is more than enough.
Sealers work well when painting over multiple colors like maybe primer that then fades to a sanded paint coat. Light colors will really show the differences in the under coat in certain lights.
BTW, go over the tank etc with 800 or 1000 grit before sealing; 400 grit will leave scratches that are tough to see in the primer but are easily visible in the finished product (remarked the voice of sad experience).
Ok so I have the front fender completely stripped of paint. Any dents are knocked out and I went over it with 1000 grit sandpaper but I can still see scratches in places from the 320 grit sandpaper. How the hell do I get these out? Just keep going with 1000 grit?
you can try to hit it with a few shots of primer, acting like kind of a filler, and then sand that down, but your best bet is gonna be some 7-800 or so grit, then go back with the 1k. ~700 grit jump is kind of a big jump in my opinion. YMMV
You could use a "high build" primer which will more than fill those spots. You'll want to sand that primer before laying a color coat though. Also second 4cyl- a 700 grit jump seems like a lot- I'll bet if you used a 5 or 600 grit you'd get all those 320 scratches out.
I'd make sure you get the manufacturers tech sheets on any paint products you buy, and make sure you stick with on manufacturers group of products. I used PPG for my MG, and for my first paint (a rush job at that!) it came out great and still looks good 6 years later. I didn't spend a second on finish work (kept meaning to, but never go around to it).
I have PPG primer and PPG British Racing Green paint which I am going to paint it with.
Using high build primer on scratches can lead to a problem, as in: when the primer goes on and fills the scratches, all is well until you hit it with the topcoat (color). Topcoats can sometimes cause the primer to 'shrink', revealing the damn scratches after all. BTDT. 
The best thing to get around that is a product called 'Slick Sand', it dries really hard and won't shrink. Downside is it ain't cheap. So if you need to take the inexpensive way out, get back to it with the 1000 grit till the scratches are gone, then use a regular primer. Once the primer is dry, wet sand it with 600 grit first,then go over it again with 1000-1500 grit, you want to smooth it out good with the 600 then scuff it with the fine stuff till it has a uniform dull look to it. You want to keep the primer coat sort of thin to avoid the shrinkage problem I mentioned.
If scratches show in the topcoat, that can be wet sanded and buffed to fix them but that really means you are moving the primer prep step to the final step of the paint job, it takes the same amount of time and elbow grease just at a different step in the job. Oh, and if you manage to buff throught he topcoat it's much more difficult to fix. Again BTDT.
The smoother your primer coat is, the better your paint will look!
If you don't have a Dicassant Canister get one befor eyou paint.. It removes moisture and oil from the air in your hose.. Also drain your air tank as well to remove any water thats settles inside the tanks bottom. Good luck, be patient and have fun with it :)
I guest wrote an article for Roadracing World magazine a few years ago on this very topic. I'd been building the huge endurance race gas tanks and painting many sets of bodywork for my friends on the Army of Darkness WERA middleweight superbike national series race team, and Sam Fleming - rider and "team owner" - was a frequent contributor to the magazine. When the "How to go racing" series got to paint they asked me to put down the gun and pick up the pencil.
This explains everything with copious photos.
dansxr2 wrote: If you don't have a Dicassant Canister get one befor eyou paint.. It removes moisture and oil from the air in your hose.. Also drain your air tank as well to remove any water thats settles inside the tanks bottom. Good luck, be patient and have fun with it :)
He means dessicant. Also keep your air hose off the cold floor. As air is compressed it heats up, as it travels through the hose the warm moist air begins to cool and condense. The warmer you keep your hose the better ;)
Don49 wrote: You only need primer if you are sanding down to metal, body filler, bare fiberglass etc. If you are just cleaning and sanding a painted surface you don't need to prime unless you are doing a radical color change. As was said above, clean ,clean clean. Be patient and allow plenty of flash time between coats, follow the reccomendation on mixing ratios carefully (measure). Good luck!
I know it's not always required, but I like using a good epoxy primer as a sealer coat over the old paint.
Jensenman wrote: Using high build primer on scratches can lead to a problem, as in: when the primer goes on and fills the scratches, all is well until you hit it with the topcoat (color). Topcoats can sometimes cause the primer to 'shrink', revealing the damn scratches after all. BTDT.
I LOVE slick sand.....I mean really love it! I did a whole car in it one time to fill a lot of deep scratches and nicks. The paint was just real rough. It sands so easy and is great to work with. Expensive, but worth every penny.
I have a couple other questions. Where can I get the filters to pore the paint thru? I am going to be working in a two car garage. Do I need to figure out extra venting? How long will automotive paint keep?
Epoxy primer is the best thing to use on bare metal for adhesion and protection of the paint, resistance to rock chips. My painting order would be Omni Epoxy Primer first (white color) over 180 grit bare metal. Then I would choose either the SV hi-build 2k primer or polyester primer in gray. After that guide coat it with black. The Omni hi-build sands really well, the polyester clogs a bit more, but will have less shrink. I recommend the hi-build, let it cure for a week or so and then sand with 220, 320, 400 grit (wet sanding is my preference). If you are going to use a metallic base coat, go up to 600 grit. Guide coat it black after each sanding stage to make sure you don't leave any scratches. When that is all done, you can use the same epoxy primer reduced down 10% as a sealer, or get dedicated sealer(this helps fight die back from the paint soaking into the base primer). Then shoot your base coat and clear coats. I would probably go with a deltron or something like that if you are sticking with PPG products. I find the deltron covers better, shrinks less than the cheaper stuff for bases/clears. Sorry for the long post. Jcamper
Where can I get a strainer like this? Can I use like a coffee filter if worst came to worst?
Every place that sells auto paint will include them in the cost of your paint etc.
Teh E36 M3 wrote: Every place that sells auto paint will include them in the cost of your paint etc.
Umm the one I bought my paint from apparently didn't. Any ideas. The place is over an hour away and the weather is supposed to get nasty.
You can get them at Lowe's in the paint section.
Sweet to Lowe's again.
Coupled with all this: pretty soon I hope to shoot some fiberglass parts. I've never painted fiberglass before; I know I need to clean the gelcoat really well to get the mold release off and then scuff it for best adhesion, but are there any other things I need to do?
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