Painting my 450

[nvr2old]

It's looking better and better all the time, Pete. If you still wanted to make the tank touch up look a little better (even though it's hidden) you could mask the stripe next to it, and then just lightly fog a bit of the color over your repair before the next clear coat session. Same for the tail section. If you can't get anything finer than 1200 as a final grit, sand it against itself a bit. That'll make it a very used piece and basically simulate a piece of 1500. It'll take a little more buffer action then with 2000 grit, but it should still polish out as long as you start with a more aggresive (tan-colored) rubbing compound before moving on to a medium (white-colored) grade then a final swirl remover. 3 pads..wool to start, then a yellow foam with the medium grade compound, and finally a black (or blue) foam polishing pad for the swirl remover. If you don't have, or are uncomfortable using a full-size buffer, all 3 of those 3M pads can be bought in a kit as velcro quick-release mini-buffer pads, including the adapter, that you can chuck into a good drill. I do all my small parts with one of those, but you could do a tank with one, too, if you wanted. The whole set costs about $30..and is way easier then taking the chance of having a full-size buffer shoot your smaller parts across the floor.. Ask me how I know..

[pete]

I 'think' it's mostly caused by gun set up. all part of the learning process. if I may say so again, a wonderful first time job at it!

those stripes look awesome with that colour!

I've a sleeve of 1500 in the garage. say the word and a few sheets could be mailed out easily.

Thanks Dale, definitely appreciate the compliment and feedback! Feels good to get it to this point and at least have it looking half decent... I know it's no professional job but I'd have to be some sort of painting genius to do that first time around...

Looking forward to getting that little spot repaired and the rest of the clear on on Monday, then it's just a matter of waiting then sanding/polishing to get that shiny goodness happening

I'm pretty sure the refinish place will have paper and I can get my house mate to pick some up, but if I get desperate I'll let you know, and thanks again for the offer

Edit: Forgot to reply to your setup comment! Sheeesh... yes it could be too for sure, I won't rule that one out! I'll do it a little differently on Monday and try to get a little less material coming through and see how that goes. Worst case is there's too much orange peel which simply means a bit more elbow grease to get it looking good... I can cope with that

[rustybronco]

going by the bits you noticed the irregularities on I think it would come back to technique rather than air pressure.

I 'think' it's mostly caused by gun set up. all part of the learning process. if I may say so again, a wonderful first time job at it!

those stripes look awesome with that colour! and what more can I say about that tail piece but nice job building it.

I've a sleeve of 1500 in the garage. say the word and a few sheets could be mailed out easily.

[pete]

I think I found what to do to get my tank badges back in reasonable shape too, looks like hot soapy water and a tooth brush is the trick:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=161367&highlight=tank+badge

[pete]

I managed to get to a couple of different local hardware stores today and only one stocked 600 grit wet/dry paper and they also had 1000 grit wet/dry, but noone locally has anything higher than 1200 wet/dry, so that's gonna be fun when it comes to sanding and polishing time when I need 1500 and 2000 grit...

Anyway, I very gently wet sanded with the 600 grit to scuff the surface tonight, and these photos are taken after doing that then wiping down with a clean damp rag:







Unfortunately I had one little slip-up... literally.

I slipped while sanding the top right corner of the tail piece which caused the paper to take off the clear coat and paint of a very small area right on the corner:



I should be able to fix that very easily with a touch of colour and a touch of reducer in a little container that I can apply with a small brush and I can just do a couple of touches of that tomorrow night.

It does mean that one tiny spot will only have the 2 or 3 coats of clear I apply on Monday but big deal, it's only one tiny spot and I don't have to do a major repair on it...

[pete]

Ok pic's are up.

First of all a few to attempt to better see the finish that was already on there before scuffing them up tonight.

I really wanted to get it out in the sun to take some today but the only opportunity I had it was weeing down cats and dogs...





While the repair is obvious due to my taping the cardboard instead of holding it slightly away from the surface, it's at least a little blended in after the clear:



Lucky it'll be covered by the seat...

[pete]

The reason for asking if the compressor keeps up with the paint gun was to find out if the pressure is dropping in the tank because too much air was being used by your gun. if the air pressure drops too low, the paint wouldn't be atomized as well as it should be and you end up with a textured surface.

when I'm using the 1-HP compressor in my garage, the compressor will start and run quite often while spraying. try not to worry about it unless the pressure starts dropping below 80 psi or so.

The compressor I use is a 1 HP 6.9 scfm @40 psi (195 L/min) and had no problem keeping up while shooting things like this. http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...9&postcount=81

Ok cool.

The one I have is 2.5HP I think and is supposed to do 200 or 230 L/min from memory.

I've only actually watched the pressure drop once and that was when cleaning gun and I knew I'd held it on too long. I didn't look during the clear coat though as I was just focussing on the job, but going by the bits you noticed the irregularities on I think it would come back to technique rather than air pressure.

I did get the scuffing done tonight and I've got more pic's uploading now so will update again shortly once that's done...

[rustybronco]

The reason for asking if the compressor keeps up with the paint gun was to find out if the pressure is dropping in the tank because too much air was being used by your gun. if the air pressure drops too low, the paint wouldn't be atomized as well as it should be and you end up with a textured surface.

when I'm using the 1-HP compressor in my garage, the compressor will start and run quite often while spraying. try not to worry about it unless the pressure starts dropping below 80 psi or so.

The compressor I use is a 1 HP 6.9 scfm @40 psi (195 L/min) and had no problem keeping up while shooting things like this. http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...9&postcount=81

[pete]

Pete, these...

http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt26/starpoint73/GS450/The%20Paint%20Job/?action=view&current=IMG_3778.jpg

http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt26/starpoint73/GS450/The%20Paint%20Job/?action=view&current=IMG_3774.jpg

I started looking a because of the bits of clear splatter I see around the pattern on the lower right of this pictute> http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/t...b/IMG_3763.jpg

you can see them in the flesh, all I get to look at is the pictures.

Ok cool, my issue right now is that I don't know what I'm looking at... I need the eyes and voice of experience

I think I see what you mean in those photos, and given it's the top of the tank and the rear guard, then I think it maybe a spraying issue with the angle.

It was really hard holding that guard steady against the pressure of the gun so I'm pretty sure I got some funny spraying angles on that one. The front guard was much easier to hold.

I suspected I may have got some funny angles on the top of the tank too, so I expect that's what that will be.

I do know that spray pattern you're referring to was not quite flush as I was pointing the gun straight but the cardboard the paper is stuck too is on an angle. You can see where I managed to compensate for that with the other pattern tests but I didn't with that one.

When I do the next coats I'll take more care with the angle and make sure to stop spraying and wait if the compressor motor kicks in.

Hopefully that will take care of that along with winding the fluid control in a little more...

[rustybronco]

Which photos are you seeing that in? I couldn't make that out...

There were a couple of times when I was painting a piece and the motor on the compressor kicked in. Normally I can do a couple of sweeps and it won't drop the pressure off if I stop then, but maybe with the higher pressure for the clear it dropped?

Pete, these...

http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt26/starpoint73/GS450/The%20Paint%20Job/?action=view&current=IMG_3778.jpg

http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt26/starpoint73/GS450/The%20Paint%20Job/?action=view&current=IMG_3774.jpg

I started looking a because of the bits of clear splatter I see around the pattern on the lower right of this pictute> http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/t...b/IMG_3763.jpg

you can see them in the flesh, all I get to look at is the pictures.

[pete]

Oh, and just to address my paranoia of screwing it up royally...

Before doing the last 2 to 3 coats, wet sand with 600 grit to scuff it, then I can just rinse with water, wax and grease remover, then tack coat... right?

And I just realised if I run out of time to do it tonight, I can potentially do more tomorrow night which will at least let it sit from Sunday night to Monday morning...

I just really don't want to screw it up at this stage...

[pete]

Your bike is going to be beautiful!
Can't wait to see it running down the black top.
It has been too long in hibernation.

Daniel

Thanks Daniel! The plan is still by Christmas and it's still possible

It has definitely been far too long...

I even have Scott from Dynatek telling me he wants to see it done! Haha

Your bike is going to be beautiful!
Can't wait to see it running down the black top.
It has been too long in hibernation.

Daniel

[pete]

BRAVO BRAVO

A sand and a polish to get it smooth and that is going to look better than super sweet, congratulations on a job well done, you must be as happy as a dog with a belly full of pee and a street full of lamp poles.
I am really so chuffed that it all came together and worked out for you in the end.
Now go and you deserve it.

Thanks Stan! Love the dog pee reference... hahahahahaa

And yes I did have a couple of beers to celebrate

I still think I probably should do more though...

I've got a spray gun now so will be doing something similar to my tank and rear tail section soon, WAY better than pressure pack!

With the photos you will never get a good shot in that setup, you will need to get some natural light on them so maybe wait till monday when you can move them and open the garage door and get some photos.

Is it a good one? Or is it a cheapie SCA one like mine are? They worked ok but if I was to do this again I'd seriously contemplate getting better guns...

Oh, and the 1.4mm gun can cope with about 55 PSI to do the clear too...

It's peeing down at the moment and supposed to be doing so all day so I probably won't get a chance to do that until tomorrow if I can get some time, although it's MotoGP at Philip Island tomorrow too...

The reason for holding the cardboard above the surface is so you don't get the hard edge you see when directly taping around the repair.

Oooops! I just re-read your post on that... for some reason I thought you meant holding the gun 25mm away which I thought was weird. Don't worry, I wasn't game to do that and I didn't, I sprayed about 20cm away...

The hard edge has blended in somewhat with the clearcoat though thankfully, and you can just make that out in the last photo of the tank from the right rear angle.

The next time you shoot the clear, back off on the amount of material being sprayed (turn the knob in). that should break up the paint a bit more and make for a little less orange peel. don't get me wrong! it looks pretty good for 'most anyone's' first time.

Cool, that makes sense. I did notice the coats were going on very wet and I thought that was ok for the first lot, so will definitely wind it in next time.

And thanks for the compliment, it's still turning out about 10 times better than I thought it would

so whats the next plan? wet sand it and hit it with 2~3 more coats on Monday?

I think the sensible thing is to wet sand today or tomorrow as per Larry's suggestion earlier then give it two or three more coats on Monday... the big question there is getting time to do the wet sanding after promising my wife I wouldn't do any bike stuff this weekend...

Maybe I can duck down tonight when she goes to bed if it's not too late, although I won't have particularly good light to sand in...

***edit***
is the compressor keeping up with your gun? or is the pressure dropping to where the paint isn't atomizing properly. the reason I ask is, some pieces the orange peel is minor, on others it's greater.

I can't lean over your shoulder, all I can do is interpret the pictures.

Which photos are you seeing that in? I couldn't make that out...

There were a couple of times when I was painting a piece and the motor on the compressor kicked in. Normally I can do a couple of sweeps and it won't drop the pressure off if I stop then, but maybe with the higher pressure for the clear it dropped?

Also, I was literally falling asleep at the keyboard last night so forgot to say that I ran out of clear while doing the fourth coat partway through the tank, so I quickly did another small amount to finish the tank and do the tail piece.

If what you're seeing is on the left side of the tank, it could be where I ran out of material on one of the sweeps perhaps? I thought I had got coverage again after refilling but maybe not...

Oh, and as to pressure, the gun was around 55 PSI (bit hard to tell from the guage so could've been a bit lower).

looks good so far...man theres nothin like the feeling of seeing your own paintwork completed.
nice job.
t

Thanks mate! That's so true... I'm pretty stoked with how well it's coming out even with the obvious imperfections so far...

+1. Don't stop at just 2 coats. I guarantee you'll go through..and that opens a whole new can of worms. I would recommend at least 4. Wait a good 20 minutes between coats. Let it dry overnight, open it up (just scuff it) with 600, let it set another day to breathe, then add another 2-3 coats. That should be enough to sand it safely before polishing.

Larry, how critical are the time frames on this? As in if I wasn't to get to wet sand it with the 600 until Monday morning and then spray is that not going to get the same benefits?

I'm hoping I might be able to get it done tonight but that's very uncertain as I said above...

I'd really like to do those other 2 - 3 coats if I can work it, I still want to stick with the better safe than sorry thing...

looks good so far...man theres nothin like the feeling of seeing your own paintwork completed.
nice job.
t