Thickening Up Paint

[The Lone Rider]

I've got some black satin high temp paint here, working on doing a cooling fins detailing job. However the paint is watery as. Took me ages to paint one, and it's not even evenly coated.. very rough and nasty and the metal is still showing through. Considering how long it took me to paint this with such watery paint, it would be a long time before I could put the bike back together.

How to thicken this Red Enz High Heat Enamel paint!?

[MVnut]

Is it in a spraybomb (can) or in a tin ????

[The Lone Rider]

Is it in a spraybomb (can) or in a tin ????

Tin thanks

Have some spray stuff as well but its not suitable for detailing

[MVnut]

I take it you are not thinning it and it is already too thin. Not a lot you can do really but try leaving it in the sun for a while, or if you notice thinner liquid on the surface when you open the tin, try and drain some off. Good luck you may need it.

[The Lone Rider]

I take it you are not thinning it and it is already too thin. Not a lot you can do really but try leaving it in the sun for a while, or if you notice thinner liquid on the surface when you open the tin, try and drain some off. Good luck you may need it.

Thanks, letting it sit for awhile is what I read online via google search as well.

[Owl]

My guess that coverage is so poor is that it's loaded with flatting base (which is transperent) to get the satin look.

Perhaps you could try using the same paint in high gloss to get your coverage and spray 1-2 coats of the satin over top.

[scumdog]

I've used a water-based matt black primer from a 1/2 litre can on H-D mufflers and other high temp engine parts without problems.


It's thick enough that one or two coats do the trick and it is easy to touch up.

Will post it's brand name when I get out to the gargre to check, however I think it's Reidpaint.

[The Lone Rider]

My guess that coverage is so poor is that it's loaded with flatting base (which is transperent) to get the satin look.

Perhaps you could try using the same paint in high gloss to get your coverage and spray 1-2 coats of the satin over top.

Its not a spray I'm using.


However I'm going to give one of the cooling fins I haven't painted a go with the high temp spray stuff I do have, and then hope that I can easily remove/wipe off paint from the fin tips where I don't want it and let it dry.

And also going to leave my high temp stuff in a tin can out in the sun to thicken it up while I do it, kill two birds with one stone.

[Owl]

Its not a spray I'm using.


However I'm going to give one of the cooling fins I haven't painted a go with the high temp spray stuff I do have, and then hope that I can easily remove/wipe off paint from the fin tips where I don't want it and let it dry.

And also going to leave my high temp stuff in a tin can out in the sun to thicken it up while I do it, kill two birds with one stone.

My apologies!

As a spray painter, I often forget there are other options besides spraying! I presumed you’d be using a spray gun.
Also, how wide are the tips or the area you want to keep paint away from? Could you get away with 3mm or is that too fat? If it’s not, go buy some 3mm masking tape. It may help avoid a headache!

[The Lone Rider]

Its pretty easy what im doing, and just sprayed one now and wiped off paint where I dont want it.

All i'm doing is doing a contrast paint job on the cylinder cooling fins, so that the tips of the fins stand out more. So spraying the whole thing and then wiping the fin ends with a rag and turps a few times gets paint off them.

[xwhatsit]

I keep reading up things about enamelling engines, as my engine looks a right mess with all the original blacking peeling off in some places.

One interesting thing I came across was to be very careful with how thick the paint is on air-cooled engines (well on the cylinder head and barrel anyhow). The paint acts as a very good insulator and it's surprisingly easy to make your engine cook itself if you're not careful. So perhaps it's good that it's a little thin?

[smoky]

There was a house painter in our town years ago who use to thin the paint down to save him money – but ripping the punters off.
He got the job of painting the local church once; of course he thinned the paint out as much as he could. While he was up the ladder there was a thunderbolt from heaven – knocked him off his ladder, and a voice from heaven said;

"Repaint, repaint - and thin no more"

[The Lone Rider]

I keep reading up things about enamelling engines, as my engine looks a right mess with all the original blacking peeling off in some places.

One interesting thing I came across was to be very careful with how thick the paint is on air-cooled engines (well on the cylinder head and barrel anyhow). The paint acts as a very good insulator and it's surprisingly easy to make your engine cook itself if you're not careful. So perhaps it's good that it's a little thin?

Yeah but my bike is water cooled. This thing I'm doing I got of a website with mods and stuff for my bike and their forum has a lot of people who've done it as well with no problems.

That joked sucked smoky :P

[xwhatsit]

water cooled

Oh. Why's it got cooling fins then?

[The Lone Rider]

Oh. Why's it got cooling fins then?

No idea, but the bikes got a nice big liquid filled radiator.

Of course I know nothing about mechanics but I'm told I'm am a pretty good cook (and sometimes lover, but not both at the same time or even same day)

Edit--

Just about to put on my last coat on the last fin set, then going to let it dry a tad, then chuck it in the oven to harden the paint.

Then the arduous task of putting the bike back together.