Anyone do their own paint??
Road Master
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 921
Likes: 22
From: Houston, TX
So on a factory paint job, no need to sand down to bare metal? Would I need to use a wet paper in say 800-1200 grit or can I go rougher? I would imagine that the wet 800-1200 could be for in between coats? With the "hot rod" stuff, with it only being the base coat, do you have any problem with it chipping or flaking? What about fading? How do apply the other two part matte paint? Obviously the paint first, but could you have two colors or more with the matte clear over it all?
Dave
Dave
If you're going to use a deep black or any color you will need to add another wet sanding moving up to the 1500 then 2000 then apply clear coat, wet sand, clear again.. You can put down as many colors as you like and clear over the top..
General rule of thumb in painting is if you can feel it, it will look huge when you put paint on it so make sure your surfaces are free of any dust, dirt, lint etc.. Take your time and don't rush the process.. Prep work is 90% of painting...
If you don't have any of the guns, equipment etc and this is the only time you're going to paint then you might want to look at having it done professionally.. If you think you might like to paint this and other toys then go ahead and buy the gear..
Banned
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 481
Likes: 2
From: Bgosh,WI
You don't have to go to bare this time and don't use laquer it cracks unless you put a Urethane clear over it. Start with a 400 wet if you've got the gloss finish, then go over with 600. That should be fine enough, you don't have to start too fine, it takes too long and your first new coats will fill in anyway, use 600 wet between coats. I don't know if H-D is using water base stuff yet like the car co's. If you have any striping or lettering under the clear you'll have to level it out even with the rest of the paint (don't think the Rockers have anything like that, do they?). I never worked with the flats as a finish so I don't know the limits are, you'll have to play with it, keep things clean of dust, tack rag etc. If you're just using Fizz cans you don't have to go real fine. If it doesn't work, wipe it off with solvent and start over, use Laquer thinner it cuts the Enamel.
Last edited by 78fxs78; Feb 18, 2009 at 05:25 PM.
Road Master
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 921
Likes: 22
From: Houston, TX
There's a little more to it then how I simplified it but it's really pretty simple.. The biggest thing I see people do is try to paint the entire piece in one pass or they have way too much flow from the guns.. Runs aren't the end of the world but they are a PITA to get out properly..
The older Binks guns were very good for their time but with the new paints there are a lot better guns that are made for them.. SATA USA makes the SATAjet HVLP digital guns that are so efficient you can paint all your tins with about 3 oz of paint and pretty much zero overspray.. The more expensive paints today are virtually dry to the touch in 10 minutes.. There are just a lot of advances in painting since I last did a fair amount of it..
The older Binks guns were very good for their time but with the new paints there are a lot better guns that are made for them.. SATA USA makes the SATAjet HVLP digital guns that are so efficient you can paint all your tins with about 3 oz of paint and pretty much zero overspray.. The more expensive paints today are virtually dry to the touch in 10 minutes.. There are just a lot of advances in painting since I last did a fair amount of it..
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Cruiser
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
From: Temple, Texas
Thanks for all of the info guys!! The more that I thought about it, I thought that 800 would be too much to start with. I am thinking about going with the factory black and flames as is, and then going over the front half of the tins and tank with some sort of orange that would fade out in flames back into the black. I am also looking at maybe putting silver leaf on the flame designs in the original black paint. Those would be partially covered up by the orange to look like a 3 layer design. Any thoughts on that? The silver leaf that is.
Dave
Dave
Tourer
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 392
Likes: 0
From: Ne Kansas
Leafing is hard to do your gonna have to mask out your designs lay down special glue for leafing then apply your leaf then get a piece of cotten and brush the leaf or get a piece of cotten wrap it in velvet and spin the leaf which gives it a machined look then clear it and its recommened to reclear it like every 4 years or so because clear isnt to permanent on the leaf. I would recommend you have a professional do it.
Also if anyone cares Harleys paint is ppg my paint rep mixes it for the kc plant.
Also if anyone cares Harleys paint is ppg my paint rep mixes it for the kc plant.
Tourer
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
night train...
Man your Night Train in your sig is off the chain!
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Tourer
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 416
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lookin' at old post's thinking about the matte look myself... I'm with you, I like your oild tank with the silver and those groves in the stock tank to me are right on. just my .02
Great lookin' bike!
J
Great lookin' bike!
J
Thanks for the compliments.. I painted the tins, signals and wheels.. Had the triple tree, risers, forks sliders, swing arm and few other misc parts powder coated.. The swing arm was down in gloss black to make the frame and the other parts were coated in 30% matte.. Kind of a nice tweener color so if I decide to one paint things deep gloss black I can without have to recoat everything..
Thought about painting the oil bag and also looked into just replacing it with a stock C black bag but right now I kind of like the contrast the silver gives it.. I'm about to finish my 103 build and went with black jugs so once I can see how the contrast is then I might go with the black tank.. Hard tellin..
Thought about painting the oil bag and also looked into just replacing it with a stock C black bag but right now I kind of like the contrast the silver gives it.. I'm about to finish my 103 build and went with black jugs so once I can see how the contrast is then I might go with the black tank.. Hard tellin..
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