Good (home-done) paint jobs!!!

[American Vintage Bicycle Supply]

Ok guys I have been using a rattle for every rat bike I have built so far and I'm looking to upgrade. In the past I have used coat after coat of rattle can spary paint and a few weeks later the paint chips and It makes the bike look terrable! So this year I'm makin a new years resalution to spend the money on somthing that will leave a chip proof paint job. What do y'all use? Car paint, spray gun, gravity gun? I need to know because this year in build off 6 I'm not goin to worry about the paint chiping anymore!

Let me know,
Tyler

 

[Tailwinds]

Ditto on everything you just said.
On the on hand rattle can is great these days with so many color choices, clear coats, etc. But no matter how many steps you add to the preparation, the &%*$*^$*# paint will chip off if you look at it sideways. It simply is not durable in the slightest bit.

I too am ready to make the switch. Automotive paint comes out looking MILES thicker than rattle can. It can be damaged, but rarely through the topcoat.

Is one of those detail guns sufficient for bike painting?

 

[twomorestrokes]

Baked automotive urethane base/ clear or powder coat.

 

[American Vintage Bicycle Supply]

Baked automotive urethane base/ clear or powder coat.

The only problem with powder coating is i'm looking for a way to do it myself :?

 

[Tailwinds]

Hey powder coating is great, everybody knows that powder is 10 times harder still than auto paint. But it takes a big oven for a 41 x 24 bike frame, and the cooking process stinks, and you have to be darned good at it to do multiple colors, etc. etc. etc.

What 99% of us here are looking for is the "good" solution for a nice, tough, NOT RATTLE CAN, backyard paint job.

Compressor CFM?
Small Gun?
What kind of primer?
What kind of base/clear?

Prep, prop up in backyard on nice weather day, and get to work. Yes?

 

[American Vintage Bicycle Supply]

Hey powder coating is great, everybody knows that powder is 10 times harder still than auto paint. But it takes a big oven for a 41 x 24 bike frame, and the cooking process stinks, and you have to be darned good at it to do multiple colors, etc. etc. etc.

What 99% of us here are looking for is the "good" solution for a nice, tough, NOT RATTLE CAN, backyard paint job.

Compressor CFM?
Small Gun?
What kind of primer?
What kind of base/clear?

Prep, prop up in backyard on nice weather day, and get to work. Yes?

Right...sorry I didn't clear that up in my intro

 

[Yukon]

I was looking at this HVLP gun at Harbour Freight- seems to get good reviews and my compressor can run it.

http://www.harborfreight.com/hvlp-detail-spray-gun-46719.html

It is listed for $50, but you can usually find 10-20% of coupons for them.

I was planning on using Rustoleum, thinning it out, and spraying light coats with long dry time in between. I remember following a thread about painting cars with thinned out Rustoleum and they seemed to be getting pretty good results rolling it on. I am at least a month or two from painting, but will let you know how it turns out.

 

[Tailwinds]

Hey powder coating is great, everybody knows that powder is 10 times harder still than auto paint. But it takes a big oven for a 41 x 24 bike frame, and the cooking process stinks, and you have to be darned good at it to do multiple colors, etc. etc. etc.

What 99% of us here are looking for is the "good" solution for a nice, tough, NOT RATTLE CAN, backyard paint job.

Compressor CFM?
Small Gun?
What kind of primer?
What kind of base/clear?

Prep, prop up in backyard on nice weather day, and get to work. Yes?

Right...sorry I didn't clear that up in my intro

Hey no need to apologize, I'm just becoming borderline grouchy about the subject because this seems to be one of the "unanswerable" questions. Kinda like the home-brew media blasting mystery, I'm yet to hear a nice solution to that one also.

 

[DesignIt]

I agree with you, Double Nickle. I took the plunge a while back and bought an Iwata LPH 100LV spray gun. In the body shop I worked in long ago, we used to refer to a small gun like this as a "touch up gun". I bought mine from Coast Airbrush with a 1.4mm tip for standard automotive paint, and a 1.8mm tip for metalflake work: http://www.coastairbrush.com/proddetail.asp?prod=LPH100LV

This is by far the best gun I have ever used, but it costs accordingly. For a compressor, I use a 25 year old Devilbis with a 60 gallon tank. The motor and various parts have been replaced a few times, but it keeps on going. CFM? I dunno, but it's enough to power an HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) gun like mine with no problem. BTW, the HVLP helps to keep from wasting paint because less of the spray pattern becomes overspray. Bike frames take a crazy amount of paint for their size because a lot of it passes by the sides of the tubing that you are spraying. Make sure you get a moisture trap at the compressor outlet. I also use a disposable water trap at the gun.

I like PPG paints but it's what I am used to using. Any high quality paint should work well. The paint companies will tell you not to mix different brands of product, but I have had great luck with PPG DPLF epoxy sealer under several types of paint including Hou$e of Kolor.

Good luck! Remember, paint is 90% prep, 10% spraying it.

 

[DesignIt]

One other thing. The Kustom Kulture Lounge is a great forum for finding information on high quality and trick painting: http://www.kustomkulturelounge.com/forum/index.php

If you're familiar with custom automotive painting, you might see some big names you will recognize on that board.

 

[Tailwinds]

^ Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about. Thanks DesignIt!

 

[g-ratter]

It may be just my experience but one of the things i find is the thicker the paint (no matter what kind) the more chance it will chip. I am thinking it is because the bottom layers really do not get a good chance to dry when you layer it on to much.

 

[PhillyDev]

The Roth boys ( Ed Roth's kids) reccomend a 2 part urethane spray by a company called Spray Max. It's an areosol can, but it's kinda pricy. As far as I've reat, it's auto grade type stuff. I would imagine that a couple of good coats would make it pretty difficult to chip any paint job.

 

[scrumblero]

the biggest drawback for me is the cost of the paint.. I have all the equipment but only use it for high end stuff ...and anything bigger than a touch up gun is too big for 1" tubing IMO..

If your doing a bunch of bikes one color I guess it gets better, but take Imron for example, good DuPont stuff right?

so you got..

1 qt. paint $30
1pt. hardner $60 you'll only need 1/2 pt. , but you gotta buy a pt.
1qt. reducer $30 " qt."
1 qt kit epoxy primer $40 " "

so, your in $140 not including the gun and compressor / air filtering... ya, you'll have some stuff left for next time, but it doesn't keep all that well once its been opened so you better use it up inside 6 months.

at best if you had all the chems already paint is still $30 for each color... so maybe $50 a bike? I don't think I can get an extra $40 selling the quality of Imron over Rustoleum on the same bike...

dont get me wrong! theres nuthin better than a gun full of Sikkens and yards of white primer in front of you, I am just stuck with rattle bombing most bikes for monetary reasons... :roll: