paul8valve
Devout Dirtbag
excellent information, have been happily rattlecanning for a number of years; bike frames, alloy wheels etc.
Prep is everything.
Great work.
Prep is everything.
Great work.
Paint your wagon! Or rather a shiny frame the rattle can way
- Thread starter allenh
- Start date
Thanks for all this info! I might have a go myself sometime next year.
At the start you mentioned not removing all the old paint but just sanding down and applying the new paint over the old - this would certainly remove a lot of prep work and time from the whole process, but does the finish turn out as good? The frame I'd be painting is currently white, and I'd be using a darker colour so I imagine that would help.
Also, any tips for masking chrome lugs and rear triangle?
At the start you mentioned not removing all the old paint but just sanding down and applying the new paint over the old - this would certainly remove a lot of prep work and time from the whole process, but does the finish turn out as good? The frame I'd be painting is currently white, and I'd be using a darker colour so I imagine that would help.
Also, any tips for masking chrome lugs and rear triangle?
Re: Re:
Unless I'm going for a very specific colour I tend to go for value for money here so for plain colours I use 151 paint (which was used on this one), my local pound shop stocks it in a reasonable range of colours.
Other than that I can get Silverhook paints from a local market which cost me £5 for 3 big cans, although there is a caveat with the Silverhook metallics as the red is more like magenta, I like the colour but the guy I get it from will only get it in as a special order as he gets so many complaints about the colour.
Both of these are very cheap but give very good coverage and most importantly are consistent between cans and batches.
For primers I use Silverhook or even the stuff from the pound shop
One caveat with pound shop paint is the gloss white from poundland which does not like lacquer over the top as it cracks and crazes so I avoid this but the black, silver and primer are fine.
For metallic white I use the one from Paint factory and I get this in bulk from ebay. This must have white primer underneath but you can get some very interesting effects by having a light dusting of this metallic white over different base colours.
For coloured lacquers I use Canbrush, it is a bugger to put on a frame and must be built up from thin coats but is worth the effort
The Paint factory coloured lacquer goes on well but the colours dont match the can, the blue is actually mint green and I thought I'd give it a try as it';s stocked locally but it meant I had to start again using Canbrush with my French bike which almost ended up Italian because of it.
Pictures below of the various paints mentioned above
For specific colours if pushed I go to Halfords but I have a good car paints mixer nearby who will mix cans for me so I much prefer to use him.
Good point yes that probably would be helpful.jimo746":17ulyr75 said:What brand of rattle cans did you use for this frame?
Bookmarked this thread by the way for next time I want a frame respraying
Unless I'm going for a very specific colour I tend to go for value for money here so for plain colours I use 151 paint (which was used on this one), my local pound shop stocks it in a reasonable range of colours.
Other than that I can get Silverhook paints from a local market which cost me £5 for 3 big cans, although there is a caveat with the Silverhook metallics as the red is more like magenta, I like the colour but the guy I get it from will only get it in as a special order as he gets so many complaints about the colour.
Both of these are very cheap but give very good coverage and most importantly are consistent between cans and batches.
For primers I use Silverhook or even the stuff from the pound shop
One caveat with pound shop paint is the gloss white from poundland which does not like lacquer over the top as it cracks and crazes so I avoid this but the black, silver and primer are fine.
For metallic white I use the one from Paint factory and I get this in bulk from ebay. This must have white primer underneath but you can get some very interesting effects by having a light dusting of this metallic white over different base colours.
For coloured lacquers I use Canbrush, it is a bugger to put on a frame and must be built up from thin coats but is worth the effort
The Paint factory coloured lacquer goes on well but the colours dont match the can, the blue is actually mint green and I thought I'd give it a try as it';s stocked locally but it meant I had to start again using Canbrush with my French bike which almost ended up Italian because of it.
Pictures below of the various paints mentioned above
For specific colours if pushed I go to Halfords but I have a good car paints mixer nearby who will mix cans for me so I much prefer to use him.
Attachments
A bare metal re paint will always be a better final finish than leaving any paint on, basically because what you are putting your paint on will be clean, uniform and the finish depth should be correct but that said it does depend how blemished the original finish is as you may give yourself more work filling in little pits and blemishes than you would have done just taking it all off.foz":6ys5f1um said:
It really does depend on how much effort you want to put in and that effort always squares with the quality of the end result. The risks with not taking the original off are:
You don't know if you are going to get a reaction although this can be mitigated with a barrier coat
You don't know what's underneath the original
the finish may well look too thick especially around lugs, joints and transitions as you'll have way more paint on than necessary.
When rubbing down if you have areas that are good and areas that are bad your coats will not be uniform as you'll have taken more base off from the bad areas, again this can be mitigated with filler primers but is it worth it?
And for chrome the masking is a lot easier than masking fresh paint as the glue won't damage the chrome and you can leave it on for a lot longer. I would still only mask the edges and use masking paper wrapped around the stays for the rear triangle held down with tape.
For the lugs I mask the whole area and then use a sharp scalpel to carefully cut away the tape from the areas I need to paint, obviously you need to take extra care when rubbing down around here but this method is fine when detailing intricate painted or chrome lugs. The riskiest bit is getting the tape back off and here I remove it very carefully about 10 minutes after the last coat of top coat has gone on, when removing do it slowly and watch the paint edge very carefully, if it looks like it's trying to lift stop, leave it a little longer and try again.
glpinxit
Retro Guru
Picking up on avoiding overspray- my local art supplier stocks sets of aerosol nozzles that range in spray width. Very useful for spraying skinny tubes, I have found- https://artdiscount.co.uk/products/montana-caps-nozzles
Mine have done 2 frames so far and still have plenty of life in them.
Mine have done 2 frames so far and still have plenty of life in them.
rogerzilla
Retro Guru
My tips would be:
1. Prep - get all the paint off with paint stripper and a scraper that won't gouge the metal. It takes ages with modern paint strippers - the old Nitro-Mors was nastier but more effective. Consider having it blasted but...
2. The frame MUST be primed on the same (dry) day that it is taken back to bare metal, or rust will already have started. Rust under paint will always come through later. Always use a compatible primer. Same brand is best.
3. Only paint in dry weather when it's at least 15 degrees C.
4. Don't start or stop the flow of paint while the nozzle is pointing at the frame. You get blobs.
5. Use thin coats but don't spray from so far away that the paint dries before it gets to the frame and leaves a gritty finish.
6. Flat with 2500 grit wet and dry paper between coats, but don't flat the last basecoat of a metallic colour as this messes up the flake effect.
7. Lacquer will virtually always run somewhere on the frame, because it's so thin. Slight runs can be sanded out with wet and dry when the lacquer is sufficiently hard (two weeks).
8. For the best finish, flat the lacquer completely with 2500 grit wet and dry, then polish to a shine with a fine cutting compound. I like Meguiar's ScratchX - T-Cut is a bit harsh.
Chrome appendix: chrome can easily be painted over (if the chrome is good enough to keep, you'll still be masking and painting over bits at the edge) but you must roughen it completely using an abrasive pad so all the shine is gone and it must be primed with acid etch primer. This goes off with age, so buy a fresh can and don't use the one that's been in the shed for five years. if you use normal primer and don't roughen the chrome, your paint will peel off just like a sticking plaster.
1. Prep - get all the paint off with paint stripper and a scraper that won't gouge the metal. It takes ages with modern paint strippers - the old Nitro-Mors was nastier but more effective. Consider having it blasted but...
2. The frame MUST be primed on the same (dry) day that it is taken back to bare metal, or rust will already have started. Rust under paint will always come through later. Always use a compatible primer. Same brand is best.
3. Only paint in dry weather when it's at least 15 degrees C.
4. Don't start or stop the flow of paint while the nozzle is pointing at the frame. You get blobs.
5. Use thin coats but don't spray from so far away that the paint dries before it gets to the frame and leaves a gritty finish.
6. Flat with 2500 grit wet and dry paper between coats, but don't flat the last basecoat of a metallic colour as this messes up the flake effect.
7. Lacquer will virtually always run somewhere on the frame, because it's so thin. Slight runs can be sanded out with wet and dry when the lacquer is sufficiently hard (two weeks).
8. For the best finish, flat the lacquer completely with 2500 grit wet and dry, then polish to a shine with a fine cutting compound. I like Meguiar's ScratchX - T-Cut is a bit harsh.
Chrome appendix: chrome can easily be painted over (if the chrome is good enough to keep, you'll still be masking and painting over bits at the edge) but you must roughen it completely using an abrasive pad so all the shine is gone and it must be primed with acid etch primer. This goes off with age, so buy a fresh can and don't use the one that's been in the shed for five years. if you use normal primer and don't roughen the chrome, your paint will peel off just like a sticking plaster.
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