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What brand of automotive paint are you going to use?

Joebikesbaby wrote:

What brand of automotive paint are you going to use?

Nothing too serious for my first time. Plascon for the solid base color, clear, matting and hardener, Standox for the metallic base.

Since I don't have a proper spray booth and my"well ventilated area" is really outside in a nicely shaded area, I'm heavily reliant upon decent weather. Had some time for that this weekend, and finished up the gold parts, all matched up to the stem - the only part left OG anodised.



You'll see there's a sort of satin sheen to the gold. Did some experimenting with matting agent included in the clear mix to dull it down slightly so that the gold has a similar shine to the ano stem.



Before and after of the brake lever (the left won't be going on this build).



I also shot the primer for the frame and forks.



Working really hard at this to get my technique right. Took me two attempts on the forks to get the finish I wanted just from spraying (no sanding whatsoever). It's a little difficult to see because the primer is so flat, but I think you get the idea. It's also not laid on thick like a filler, but really thin and just a couple of coats.



It's actually really cool to see the finished lines coming out right from the start without having to do the slog work of sanding and so-on that I've been used to with rattle-can jobs.

The weather played nicely again yesterday morning, so had time to shoot the color and clear for the forks. They're busy curing right now (no oven yet), so once they're ready I'll post those up. The frame is the big one, so I've left that for last and will hopefully have some decent weather for long enough sometime soon to finish that up.

Things to do while waiting for paint to dry



I've got a bunch of 195mm spokes which I need cut down and threaded to 188mm / 190mm for the hubs and rims I plan on using for this build. About halfway there now.

Wow, that gold turned out really nice.  I've seen people do the red and blue a lot here but never gold and definitely never as nice a job as yours.

Genix9 wrote:

Joebikesbaby wrote:

Nice job. I'm at work right now reading this thread on my phone, do you see any signs of "orange peel"? I also wanted to ask, what kind of sprayer are you using?

I had orange peel on the first pass of the primer on the forks, so that was stripped and started again. Adjustments made to spray volume and distance I was spraying at sorted that out. All a learning process for me as I go along, keep trying to get my technique dialed in.

I'm using these guns. The silver Asgo is a nothing special generic, used ONLY for the primer application.

The DeVilbiss is where I did spend some cash and invested in a decent gun for the basecoat color and clear applications. It's a finishing / small application gun so perfect for bicycle parts. Both are HVLP guns, so they also need a decent compressor to push out the volume of air these need to spray effectively.

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab35 … 43599b.jpg

When I set up the rig for the frame work I'll take some pics of that so you can see what else there is with this lot.

I have a few builds I want to do and I was looking into spray guns instead of rattle cans and sanding.

Nice DeVilbiss! Really you should buy another when you have the funds and use one of them (new one) for clear only, that is the key my friend

Here's the forks done and dusted. Just sprayed, no sanding, polishing or anything else





Unfortunately no time to do the frame yet, but hopefully early this week if all goes well. Getting pretty excited about this project

WOW!  That's gorgeous Grant!  What a difference from rattle can.

That's also a nice looking baby blue - I see a nice color combo looming here.  With your skills it is sure to be a winner. 

You will never paint orange peel free, the better you get at it the less you will have.

What better skill will save you in the long run is time color sanding and buffing. Even the runs can be sanded out before buffing. If you have enough paint on it to color sand smooth you should be good.