Spray Painting - Open Invitation

[NinjaNanna]

Hi Guys

Today I will be attempting the seemingly impossible !!!

Painting my bike with Candy Paint (3 step Process, base/candy/clear) and I have never used a spray gun before.

I am no artist and am only passibly handy in a general sense.

So if anybody wants to come along and see the process from a complete beginners point of view (who knows perhaps it will give you the confidence to try it yourself) then you are more than welcome

Of course if there are experienced veterans out there that have nothing better to do than come and offer your advice then you are MORE THAN WELCOME TOO !!!!!

I will be painting at:

Gencom Technology
7 Airborne Rd Albany.

Call me on 0211 904 281 if you feel the need.

Cheers
Shane
aka Ninja Nanna

PS BYO sense of humor as mine could quite possibly run out

[imdying]

Haahaha jumping in at the deep end! Spraying a candy on your first time out, that's hard out, and I salute you

[crazefox]

your keen man let us no how it goes

[NinjaNanna]

Well I'm almost finished - one more clear coat to go (3 on 1 left)

Am I happy with the finish? Well if I'm not too critical of myself I'd have to say - yes (seeing as its my first time) and the colour is absolutely AWESOME!!!!!

I think I have done a reasonable job on getting the Candy consistent (but I guess I won't know for sure until the things are dry and back on the bike in the daylight.

The one thing I am not happy with is the number of dust particles and fluff that found their way onto the surface during the process.

I am blown away with just how clean the area must need to be to get a professional finish.

Today I have only done the rear fairings as a bit of a training exercise. Next week I will do the tank and front fender (its a naked you see). Hopefully I can do a better job of the cleanliness factor specifically for the tank!

With what I have learnt today I suspect I may even have enough paint left over to re do the rear if I feel it would be worth it.

SO the question is - what have I learnt that can be of benefit to other first timers?

1. Give it a complete coat of primer! I used the spray putty/primer but when I rubbed it back I exposed areas of the original red and bare plastic. The base coat eventually covered this up but it sure makes for an expensive primer!

2. Thinners dissolve primer/putty. Don't ask!

3. The first coat NEEDS to be very light - subsequent coats can go on progressively thicker but be careful with the first one in particular.

4. Clear Coat/Hardener goes a very long way - further than the base and candies so you don't need to mix up extra to allow for the extra coats.

5. Buy a syringe for mixing up the quantities. This isn't really necessary for the accuracy but is mainly for ease. Pooring paint and thinners from the can is messy and wastes a lot .

6. Of course the biggest lesson is do it in a VERY CLEAN area.

Pics will follow later

So go on, paint your bike, you know you want to !!!!

Cheers

Shane

[DEMONICST8]

I would be really interested to see how you got on, I'm thinking of painting mine but im just not to sure, I'm a bit scared I will stuff it up.

[TOTO]

would it be cool if I came to see ? 021 878 404

[NinjaNanna]

Well all I can say is that I am now one disappointed little man.

Whilst I haven't put the fairings back on yet, I did get the chance to hold one against the bike, and I'm gutted the dust and lint that I spoke about really destroys the paint job.

Basically unless I can solve the cleanliness problem I'll be forced to give it to a professional spray painter. Dissapointing really as the spray work, while not perfect by any means was certainly acceptable to me.

Oh well, I guess I'll mull over the problem and see what cames to mind after a wine or two

[NinjaNanna]

few more pics

[TOTO]

The colour is very nice. Cant see much of the lint. Is it really notisable. Never done any stray paint jobs myself So I dont imagine I would do it better. From what I see I like how it looks. will be interesting to hear if you find a solution and if you finally deside to go to a professional spray painter.

How much did it cost you in terms of materials and strays and stuff to do it at home?

Good On You For getting Your Hands Dirty.

[NinjaNanna]

Another thing that I thought would be worth sharing is the choice of using a cloth drop cloth on my painting surface.

In hind sight I suspect this was actually a significant source of the lint and dust that has ruined my finish. It would possibly have been better if I'd taped down newspaper or plastic rather than using the cloth.

Also whilst I cleaned out the little booth that I used at my work, I only did the walls and floor. I should have done the Ceiling as well. I'm thinking that some more of the crap that ended up on the job was actually caused by the atomised overspray from the gun sticking to the ceiling then the additional weight on the dust and crap caused it to fall from the roof onto my work.

Also another thing that I noticed as the day warmed up was that I started to get water leaking from my spray gun. This didn't seem to have any noticable effect on the paint at the time - but it is possible that it may have contributed to the ever so slight "fish eye" effect that I noticed on parts of job. I'll have a chat to the paint place on monday and find out if I need to use an inline drying filter or something like that.

On a more positive note, I have just remembered that my next door neighbour who owns a kitchen manufacturing business, also has a painting booth at his factory! Best go have a chat with him tommorrow me thinks.

Well in summary whilst my first attemp hasn't exactly been rewarding, I truely believe that anybody who can control the dust in their painting environment should be able to do a candy paint job. I'm not saying you'll get professional like results but I do think you'd be happy with the results. After all the colour is AWESOME!!!! and well worth all the hassles.

I will make sure I report back on my second attempt.

Cheers
Shane

PS sense of humor did take a battering but is back intact again!

[Sketchy_Racer]

A quick idea would be to wet the work area. get a spray bottle and spray the whole place. makes all the dust etc to heavy to float around and land in your nice work!

How ever water coming from your gun while working is a bad thing. you could start by cracking open the drain bung on the bottom of the compressor to get any moisture out of the tank might make a difference.

Good luck, and well done for doing this yourself!

[Swoop]

I'm thinking that some more of the crap that ended up on the job was actually caused by the atomised overspray from the gun sticking to the ceiling then the additional weight on the dust and crap caused it to fall from the roof onto my work.

Q: What extraction is there in that "spray box"?
If there isn't any airflow, the overspray will just settle on your work. Possibly better to spray outside and then carry the item inside and place in your box at that time.
Newspaper is great for under the area where you are going to be spraying. Not cloth!
The floor area: Even if you have swept the area out, you may still get dust rising from where you are treading.
Solution: Get a garden watering can and sprinkle water over the surface of the floor. This will help keep the dust down.
Water in the line? If the compressor is portable, make sure it is in the sun on the north side of the building (driest air).
Also get a water trap for the line. This will eliminate any chance of that happening.

[NinjaNanna]

The colour is very nice. Cant see much of the lint. Is it really notisable. Never done any stray paint jobs myself So I dont imagine I would do it better. From what I see I like how it looks. will be interesting to hear if you find a solution and if you finally deside to go to a professional spray painter.

How much did it cost you in terms of materials and strays and stuff to do it at home?

Good On You For getting Your Hands Dirty.

Yes I agree the colour is nice - Candy paints are the ducks nuts. What you see (well as good as a camera phone will show) is Shovelhead Red. It is a Metalic Gold Base coat with a Red candy coat over the top.

The photo doesn't show the full extent of the lint and dust. Tomorrow afternoon I will be going back to refit the fairings to the bike - if you want you should come and take a look then so you see the environment that I was working in, let me know and I will call you when I'm leaving.

Material costs aren't cheap but they aren't super expensive either.

Super Cheap Auto:
3 cans of Primer/Putty $15ea - total $45
Wax and Grease Remover was $10
Small can of filler (for dent in fuel tank) $15
800grit Wet n Dry Sandpaper - 1 sheet $1.25


Car Colours (Albany)
500ml of base and 500ml of Candy was $150
500ml of Clear and 250ml of Hardener was $40
1L High Quality Thinner for mixing was $30
1L crap thinners for cleaning was $12

Spray gun was $110

Decals yet to be confirmed but probably about $60
for 2 by "KAWASAKI" for the tank
2x custom "ZR 250 Balius" for the rear.

The guy at Car Colours in Albany was very helpful and whilst I am certain to be paying "retail" prices the service and advice for an inexperienced beginner warrants this and is well worth the extra cost.

Well as I have said Take 1 doesn't really cut the mustard but I'm pretty sure next time round it should be a better result.

Cheers

Shane

[NinjaNanna]

A quick idea would be to wet the work area. get a spray bottle and spray the whole place. makes all the dust etc to heavy to float around and land in your nice work!

How ever water coming from your gun while working is a bad thing. you could start by cracking open the drain bung on the bottom of the compressor to get any moisture out of the tank might make a difference.

Good luck, and well done for doing this yourself!

Thanks Sketchy will do that for Take 2

Cheers

Shane

[NinjaNanna]

Q: What extraction is there in that "spray box"?
If there isn't any airflow, the overspray will just settle on your work. Possibly better to spray outside and then carry the item inside and place in your box at that time.
Newspaper is great for under the area where you are going to be spraying. Not cloth!
The floor area: Even if you have swept the area out, you may still get dust rising from where you are treading.
Solution: Get a garden watering can and sprinkle water over the surface of the floor. This will help keep the dust down.
Water in the line? If the compressor is portable, make sure it is in the sun on the north side of the building (driest air).
Also get a water trap for the line. This will eliminate any chance of that happening.

Thanks Swoop - I think you are right on all counts.

There is no extraction in my workspace - the box was only built to protect surrounding areas more than providing the ideal environment for painting.

Will definately be asking about the water trap before trying again as well

Thanks for your advice.

Cheers
Shane