Any painters out there?

[earlfor]

Once the paint has hardened for three days, brake fluid will not remove it.
Of course, soaking the painted part in brake fluid overnight will soften the paint. :-) If you spill or drip brake fluid on it after the paint has hardened for three days or so, just wipe it off with a rag and some alcohol. It shouldnt have any effect on it at all. Gasoline has absolutely no effect on it. Neither does battery acid. :-)

Its the torment part I particularly enjoy. :-) :-)

OH, one more thing. Just before you paint, wipe your parts down with alcohol to remove any residual oils from handling them. While you're at it, wipe the bike parts down too.


Earl :-)

Nice. Gonna be painting my master cyl again. Maybe the handlebar clamps, clutch lever clamp and some other small parts. And I won't have to worry about brake fuild, huh Earl? You are a wealth of information. And torment. Sometimes torment, too, but mostly information.

[alan]

Sounds like all us guys who wanna repaint our bikes need to just go in on a gallon of all the stuff, we can probably paint 20 bikes for $20 a piece :twisted:

[Hoomgar]

Earl's torment service LOL

Now you've done gone and made me want to try it again.
You have me thinking hard. I guess I need to look further
into it.

I just need a good place to work.

[Jethro]

alan Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:24 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sounds like all us guys who wanna repaint our bikes need to just go in on a gallon of all the stuff, we can probably paint 20 bikes for $20 a piece

Don't be so sure of that...

I just got back from the paint shop 10 minutes ago. On Earls' recommendation I went to about 3 hobby shops looking for a catylized paint system. They all looked at me sideways. Anyway, I finally found an auto parts shop in Manchester that sells paint to auto body shops and such. They hooked me up with exactly what I needed- a quart of Dupont Centari Pitch Black, a quart of Dupont Mid-Temp reducer, a half pint of Advantage hardener (more on this item later), a portable paint sprayer that uses small cans of compressed air, and some mixing sticks and filters.

I am only looking at painting my carb tops and the right and left brake assemblies. Everything cost about $70. The kicker is the hardener- a half pint (that's about 20 tablespoons!!) was $18. You could buy the paint and reducer for a whole bike for about $70, but you have to buy the hardener too and that is the expensive stuff. Keep in mind, this is all for a simple gloss black color, anything nice for body work would be twice if not 3-5 times that depending on what you wanted.

Anyway, by Sunday I should be a paint expert myself!

A couple of questions for ya Earl, if I'm just spraying small items like my master cyl and the tops to my carbs, do you think I'll need a resperator mask? I am thinking I'll only need about 30 seconds of spray time for these parts between coats, then I'll get the heck out of my mock paint booth.

Also, the place I got my supplies at was supposed to give me a print out that gives tips and such. What I need to know mostly is how long should I wait between coats, How many coats should I do, and how long until it is entirely cured?

Also, they didn't sell me any primer, do I not need it with this type of system?

[earlfor]

I have a fairly extensive supply of the modeling catalyzed epoxy paints.
Consequently, it has been some time since I ordered any new stock. In checking this evening on the web, I find that the Hobbypoxy and the K&B superpoxy I recommended was removed from the market by our ever so helpful EPA. I did some checking and found a replacement hoppy paint that will meet all our needs for painting motorcycles and is highly gas and solvent resistant. The online order page and pricing is

http://klasskote.com/paint_store.html

Earl

[earlfor]

Jethro, the stuff is extremely toxic. Some people have some tolerance to it, others have none at all. If you are one of the extremely sensitive ones, you will fall over and pass out in less than two seconds. I have painted small items without a mask. I hold my breath, paint he part, and do not take a breath until I am out the door, door closed and ten feet into open outside air. I would wear prefer you wear a respirator. (its a case of do as I say, not as I do) LOL

For your purposes, you can do without using a primer as you are not striving for a glass smooth, showroom finish. Primer will increase adhesion somewhat, but again for this, I would not want to increase the overall cost either.

For Centari, you have only to wait about 10 minutes between coats. It will
be about surface set in that time. For black, two coats should give good coverage. No more than three should be needed. You will need to thin it about 35% if you are using a compressed air can to power an airbrush.

It will be dry to the touch in about 3 hours. Set to where you can reinstall the brakes in 48 hours. It continues hardening for 30 days. At 30 days it is about 98% as hard as it will get.

Earl

A couple of questions for ya Earl, if I'm just spraying small items like my master cyl and the tops to my carbs, do you think I'll need a resperator mask? I am thinking I'll only need about 30 seconds of spray time for these parts between coats, then I'll get the heck out of my mock paint booth.

Also, the place I got my supplies at was supposed to give me a print out that gives tips and such. What I need to know mostly is how long should I wait between coats, How many coats should I do, and how long until it is entirely cured?

Also, they didn't sell me any primer, do I not need it with this type of system?

[Jethro]

You will need to thin it about 35% if you are using a compressed air can to power an airbrush.

So, just so I have this right, I need to add more reducer. The reducer is actually a thinning agent, right? The people at the paint shop said I should mix it 4:1:1, if I go with 4:2:1 (Paint:reducer:hardener) I should be able to spray it ok? Also, I assume I can use the reducer as a thinner for clean up? I was planning on keeping a small amount of it on the side, then dipping the spray tube into it to clean the spray gun between coats.

[earlfor]

Yes, the reducer is a thinner. The proportion of paint to catalyst stays the same regardless of the amount of reducer you add. Always mix paint and catalyst together, then add reducer.

I usually use acetone for cleaning the spray gun. Acetone is $7 gallon at Home Depot. Reducer is $25 a quart.
Earl

You will need to thin it about 35% if you are using a compressed air can to power an airbrush.

So, just so I have this right, I need to add more reducer. The reducer is actually a thinning agent, right? The people at the paint shop said I should mix it 4:1:1, if I go with 4:2:1 (Paint:reducer:hardener) I should be able to spray it ok? Also, I assume I can use the reducer as a thinner for clean up? I was planning on keeping a small amount of it on the side, then dipping the spray tube into it to clean the spray gun between coats.