The great general painting thread

[DoomBuggy]

I've done a fair amount of painted outside in Phoenix, here in Illinois not so much. Now they are talking snow this afternoon!

[Hoghead]

I've done a fair amount of painted outside in Phoenix, here in Illinois not so much. Now they are talking snow this afternoon!

No Polar vortexes this year I hope...

[DustyDave]

I've done a fair amount of painted outside in Phoenix, here in Illinois not so much. Now they are talking snow this afternoon!

Until they put water in the acequia out there works well. Once there's water the bugs come n I gotta move back inside.
Dusty

[DoomBuggy]

I was out there in the fall to visit my Mom, took her down to Lake Pleasant for lunch. As much as I like Lake Michigan, there is something about a desert lake that can't be beat.

[DoomBuggy]

It was "decent enough" to shoot primer yesterday and I think the missus has had enough of me in the house with this lock-down so I decided to at least get primer on the tank.

Back in the day, the guys I learned from pretty much eyeballed their paint mix. Yes everyone had a viscosity cup, but once they knew what worked they would eyeball the mix ( usually mixed and stored in an old beer bottle ). The new systems don't tolerate that, particularly the activated epoxies like this primer or like the Imron I used to spray.

To that end I use mixing cups. You can get the quart size at Home Depot or order the pint size at a fraction of the cost.

Attachment 101342

Since the body work is pretty good on this tank and I am not trying to hide any flaws I plan to mix this batch as a medium fill primer. This calls for 4 parts paint, 1 part activator, and 1 part reducer, again I will use a slow reducer on this step. I learned a long time ago to mark off the ratios on the cup just to make sure....

Attachment 101343

Now I want to adjust the gun to get the right fan and material volume. I have a bunch of old beware of dog and for sale signs that I test on. The upside is I then use these to test designs and airbrush ideas, that is to come a bit later. But first I want to set the gun so that moving at a steady rate, I am just laying down a light even coat. For each pass I want to overlap 1/2 of the previous stroke. On the drawing below, each color is another pass across, hope you can visualize it.

Attachment 101344

Ok, so on our test sheet the tack coat should look like this:

Attachment 101345

And now on the tank the same thing, just transparent, but still covering every inch.

[DoomBuggy]

I let that sit until it "flashes", that is it changes from a shiny to dull finish. On a light coat like this usually about 5 minutes ( in a 70* garage ). Next I readjust the gun to giver a slightly heavier coat. The next two coats should be just wet enough that it looks shiny to the eye, but not so much that it sags. Again I use the test sheet(s) that we used earlier. I am doing two of them at the same time so I can test out my design ideas.

I should have noted earlier, I use 30 psi for this gun with the trigger pulled and air flowing out the nozzle. Follow the manufactures recommendation for pressure and then adjust either the volume or the speed at which you are moving the gun. I move at a nice steady pace, slow enough that I can see the paint as it applies, but not so slow that I am pushing a lot air causing over spray on everything.

OK here is the tank right after shooting a medium coat. Notice the arrow on the right side, you can see the reflection of the cabinet in the paint, this is what i looks like while wet.



Then it will dull a bit about 10 minutes into drying, and then go fully flat at about the 15 minute mark. It is ready to put on another coat after it goes totally flat. I have a total of three coats on this one. The thin flash or tack coat then two medium coats.



Finally, you should clean your gun every time you use it, but on these catalyzed primers you need to really clean it well, that means tear it down, wash every bit with Lacquer thinner, and then carefully reassemble. Next to clean air, this is the most important thing you can do for a consistent job.



Today I plan to give this a light sand and apply a finish coat of primer. Then we have several days of rain coming so I will work on my designs while I wait. I ordered stencil material from another source and the right stuff arrived in 3 days so I am finally ready to move forward on that!

On another note, my little spray hood is working out nicely. So far it is capturing the over spray and keeping the rest of the garage clean and tidy. I used one filter for the fill primer and will change that out before I move to the next step.

[DoomBuggy]

Next step is to go over the entire primed area and even out any orange peel or edges. Here is a picture of the sign I painted over where I have some divot areas that will smooth out as I sand.



For this task I use 320 Wet & Dry sandpaper, but use it dry. I will tear ( or cut ), a 3" wide strip and then fold it twice, no sanding block, just fingers. If you keep knocking the build up off of the paper you should only need two strips of it for something the size of this oil tank. Use a semi circular motion with a light to medium force, let the paper do the work. You only want to sand enough to get everything the same light color, you need to go no further once you get that. If you do sand down to metal it means your primer was a little thin in that area, be conscious of that when you start spraying color and clear.

So of the three coats of primer I put on, in reality I will sand one full coat off. You want minimum build up to achieve a smooth surface.

I blew off the tank and then wiped it down with the HOK post sand cleaner. Next I wanted a thinner surfacing coat next, so I mixed this batch 4 parts paint, one part catalyst and 2 parts slow reducer. Make sure you take your test panel and adjust your gun to the thinner mix, if you do not you will get runs!

And here is the tank after a final wet coat with the thinned out primer. You can see that the entire painted surface is smooth and even. Ready for a black base coat, as soon as the weather breaks again.

[Hoghead]

Wow. That looks as smooth as a baby's butt. I hadn't thought about how these new materials need more clean-up... Glad the cabinet keeps overspray down,we use to have separate sheds for paint and engine work when I was a kid at home... Fire risk from the old lacquer paints was higher, too.

[DoomBuggy]

The primer and the final clear are both catalyzed so once they kick lacquer thinner doesn't even touch them.

I wish I had dedicated space, maybe the next house...

[DoomBuggy]

I finally got the stencil material I was waiting for. Spent a good part of the day refining what I had to make it usable. Once I had a template I liked I grabbed a sign I had previously painted black. Wet sand with 400 grit and then I applied the stencil, taped around it and it looks like this.



Next I loaded up some silver in my airbrush ( a cheap ass Harbor Freight unit ), and put the highlights where I wanted them. I have to admit I am used to adding shadow to a light object, not the other way around, and hey I kinda liked the way it was looking.



Then I mixed up a little of the Root Beer ( had to get that in here ), and covered everything with a nice coating. I did not add extra metallic as I did when I painted the bike. The nozzle on this airbrush does not like the flake I have so for this experiment I am ok with what I have. When I do the tank for real, I will use a real gun for the root beer rather then an air brush.



And then it was just a matter of pealing off the stencil.



I'll clear coat it tomorrow to see what it looks like.

[Hoghead]

Man ,that is art deco. Love the colours

[DoomBuggy]

I decided to take a mental health day today and blow off work, good to be the boss ( small 'b' boss )! I figured I would get out early, get a base coat of color on there and let that cure a bit.

With the HOK paints they recommend spraying an intercoat sealer. I like it cause if gives me another layer that I can sand AND it allows me to put tape on without worrying about marring the basecoat.

For this step we will use some 400 grit wet & dry paper, with water this time. All we want is to just break the surface. That is another thing about this paint, if you work within flash times you can put one layer on the next, but if you let it dry overnight then you have to scuff up the surface to get good adhesion.

You can just see in this pic how lightly I sanded the right side compared to the unsanded right side:



Also when I taped this off I put a strip of tape over an area that I had sanded pre-primer. Now I pull that strip back when I sand, this allows me to knock down the little ridge where the primer built up. I then retape leaving a bit of the unprimed area for blending as we go along.



After sanding a good wipe down with the post sanding cleaner and while that is drying gather the pieces needed.



For this application I am using an old Devilbiss Starting Line gun that I retrofitted to use their new disposable DeKups system. It makes color changes and clean up REALLY convenient. I am setting up one cup with the black base coat and the other with the intercoat clear. Both are mixed 2:1 with the medium speed reducer. I also put just a tiny pinch of metal flakes in the intercoat. This will give a little pop to the black like the rest of the bike. ( The inclusion of the metal flakes in the first go around was a pleasant mistake on my part ).



I shot a tack coat of the black and then a wet finish coat. I let that kick for 15 minutes, until it dulled slightly, and then applied a wet coat of clear on top of it. I will now let this cure for most of the day and if I think it set well enough tonight I will redo the striping on the top and bottom.



I am happy with the design I came up with for the right side of the tank, but am still working on what I want for the left side. Just need a little more time to draw it out.

[Hoghead]

Maybe on that side you need a silhouette of some hot chick with a afro??

[DoomBuggy]

That would be consistent with the theme for sure...

I have something in mind, but have not pulled it off. It combines some of my early R&R /surf influences with an automotive deco staple. More to come once I get it there.

[DoomBuggy]

So I have two designs, one features a stylized Surfers Cross ( Maltese Cross ) the second, well I will let someone else guess what it is. I can't take credit for the cross, I took what someone else did and customized it a bit to make it work for me.





Open to opinions as I am not sure if I will get to it before tomorrow ( feeling like crap today, reward for spreading mulch yesterday! )

[Hatchet54]

Don't know what it's called, but one of those vinyl turntable clips, right? It was used to play 45s on a bigger table? I might be way off...

Anyway, I vote for that one. Maltese cross is everywhere, your design is much more unique for a unique bike.

[DoomBuggy]

DING DING DING, first guy gets it, an old 45 adapter.

[Hoghead]

I think the cross design is neat. The Kosovo cross is an interesting variation.
Those old surfer crosses used to be based on the German Army Iron Cross, but there's a 1000 year old saxon ring in my city museum of exactly the same design...

[Hoghead]

There's another reason I like this thread. Ever since the days when my brothers and I were so broke we used to sling our own cellulose lacquer based paint, we got older and wealthier, and 2-pack came along with a belief that it was more dangerous... So we all stopped painting (1990 for me!).

Now I can't get stuff done for months with UK painters, i'm tempted to go back to doing my own!

[DoomBuggy]

I think the cross design is neat. The Kosovo cross is an interesting variation.
Those old surfer crosses used to be based on the German Army Iron Cross, but there's a 1000 year old saxon ring in my city museum of exactly the same design...

I am a huge fan of Roy Orbison and he always wore one on stage. I am really liking this little paint hood, I am already thinking about the next iteration. I will admit, it is not as clean as building a spray booth, but it is a hell of a lot easier to put up and take down, lol.