This is gona be a big write up, so here we go.
How to Paint your Bike or Bike Parts
At some point you may find that you want to change the color of your bike, or maybe you have damage caused from a fall or someone bumping into it. Well, no need to take the bike to a body shop to get repaired or repainted, because with a little time and effort, you can do it yourself.
The paint I am using in the folowing write up is a chamelion color changing paint, and tkaes multiple coats, and is a bit more time consuming. To do a regular color would proabably be abit easier, but still, the difficulty is not anywhere near the high mark.
What you need:
- A partner. Weather it be Man, Woman, Or child, this will really help.
- A Radio. Hey, you are about to spend a lot of time working on something you love, might as well listen to some good tunes!
-A clean, uncluttered work space (Yeah Right, uncluttered about the fist hour)
-Proper Safety equipment is a must. You may be dealing with harsh chemicals in some cases, and gloves are cheap. I do not recomend latex anything. Even if you do not have a alergic reaction, latex products WILL irritate the skin after a while. Either go with Nitrile gloves, which are much stronger than latex and powder free, or vinal gloves work well also. Also, a side note is that some gloves will not be chemical resistant for long. We used Vinal gloves, and paint stripper and paint thinner ate through them!!! If you may have a bad reaction to some of the chemicals you may use, get chemical resistant gloves. You can get boxes of the rubber (Vinal or Nitral) gloves at the painting section in Home Depot, along with the chemical resistant gloves.
-Eye Protection. Either Clear Safety Glasses (Cheap, but trust worthy) or full face screens (Like we wore) work fine.
- Repirators / Dust Mask. Painting will create a lot of dust as the excesss paint dries in the air. If you do not wear soemthing, you will find your nose full of paint goo. It is nasty. A dust mask would be your lowest leval of protection, but if you are only doing this once, or maybe a small project, then that would probably be the way to go. Otherwise you can get a respirator which is a rubber mask fitted around your nose and mouth. Cartradges fit to either side of the mask to filter all air coming in. Quite nice, but a bit bulky. This is the way to go for full protection. Your local hardware store or any Menards, Home Depot can help you choose your size and what cartradges to use for your projects. Also note that if you have a lot of facial hair around the area it is to seal, it may not seal properly. It will still be better than a dust mask though.
- Fire Extinguisher. Once again, chemicals are in play, and its better to be safe then sorry.
-Liquid Refreshment. Stay hydrated!!! Drink lots of water (And Beer if you are over the legal drinking age). Don't drink to much beer though, remember, you need to be able to concentrate somewhat, after all you are painting your baby!!!
Ok, now the actual equipment you will be using.
-Sandpaper. Grit size will vary depending on how much, and what type of body work you will be doing. To remove the big bumps, gouges, scrapes, we used 160 to 180 grit paper, then worked our way up from there. Emery paper is nice as well. 400 grit to wet sand (Scuff up the surace a bit so the paint/primer has something to stick to) and you may want to use all the way up to 1000 grit. The highest we used was 400 grit, and that smoothed everything out enough.
-Distilled water to wet sand. Yeah, you could use tap water or a hose, but distilled water has all the crap out of it, and its only .53 cents at walmart for a gallon!
-Water bottle with spray attachment on top. Used for wet sanding and spraying your partner. Can also be used to begin washing areas of your skin off incase of a chemical spill, like when your friend "Accidently" gets paint stripper on the back of your neck, and in your hair. Like I am not missing enough hair on my head anyways. Thanks Corey.
-Heat Gun! You don't have one you say? Don't feel like spending the money to buy one??? RENT ONE! They are cheap to rent, and can be had at most rental shops and/or auto parts stores. Trust me, we used this a lot. Helps the paint to dry faster, and to set, and is great for getting sticky stuff off. Also can be used as a regular gun when posing for a picture while riding a vacum cleaner, and having your hat turned up like Robin Hood... You will see later.
-*Paint Remover. Only if you plan on stripping paint on anything. Let me tell you, if you strip the paint, be prepared for some work ahead of you, espcially with the tank. Yeah, it looks so nice when done, but man a lot of work. There are a few types of Paint Remover. Liquid and Gel. The gel is nicer I think, because as it melts the paint off, you can scrape it back into stubborn areas. Some are even safe for plastic, but not many! The one we got came with a plastic spray bottle for free (Home Depot). I can't remember the name if it, but hey, if it can be put in a plastic spray bottle, must be safe on plastic...right?????
-*Paint Thinner. After using the Paint Remover,you need Paint Thinner to remove the Paint Remover. It helps if you have a tool bath to let the stuff soak in, but I know not a lot of people have those.
-Various Scrapers. These are used to remove stubborn glue, epoxy, and anyother gunk that is being a pain in the arse. Another suggestion here would be to use rubber scrapers, such as those used when doing body work, to spread bondo and stuff. They can be cut to different sizes, are strong enough to really put some elbow grease into, and make cool throwing stars to throw at your partner like a NINJA!
Ok, now for your paint supplies.
*If you are going to be bringing your tank, handle, or any other metal parts down to the metal surface, I suggest getting a Rustoleum Brand primer. It is supposed to help to prevent rust. Doesn't really matter what color, you are going to be painting over it anyway. I am just paranoid though, but better to be safe then sorry.
For the Plastics.
-Primer. Make sure you get a sandable primer. Also look for a Fill Primer. Those work well to fill little nicks and scratches. Those are also sandable. When using a fill primer, make sure to lay light coats, sand and repeat. Heavy coats are not good! If using multiple layers of Primer, you do not need to sand in between coats. Primer sticks to Primer. Doesn't matter if it is differnet brands or different colors.
I suggest using Dupli-Color Primer and Brand paints. No, I do not work for the company, but there paints seem to be of high quality, and the tip they use on there spray cans are very nice. You get a much smoother finish out of them, better control, ect. Trust me when I say that between a Dupli-Color tim, and a regular tip can, the cances for a run will increase wuite a bit. I noticed that some of the Dupli-Color tips did seem to leak a bit around the base though (Hey, we went thorugh a ton of cans, some are bound to have problems). Easy fix, take a tip off of a used can, or even a new can. The tips come off easy, and interchange quite easy.
-Paint. Here comes the time to choose the color of your desire.
*Before using any new can of paint, spray off to the side to make sure the stream is spraying correct. We found one can the literaly srayed out like a watergun! Also, this helps to get the soap and stuff they use in the head and hose out so that does not mix in with the paint on your bike.
*Before purchasing the paint, make sure to shake it well to see if it has the ball bearing in it. 2 cans that we purchased did not. Trust us, we shook, and shook, and banged, and banged, and shook some more. No Ball Bearings!
Like I said earlier, Dupli-Color I believe is the way to go if you are going to be using can spray paint, because of the quality of there paint, and the nozzle design. Yes you can get a good paint job out of a spray can! You are only painting a bike, not a car, and many of the peices are not that big. You do not need any big compressors, no special paint guns, just old shake, rattle, and roll spray cans. Choose your color wisely!
Get a clear coat to match the type of paint you are using. Also, many canned clear coats are not gasoline resistant. This means that if you are doing your tank, you will need to either bring it to a body shop (Macco, Abra) to get a automotive clear-coat put on it, or attempt one yourself. If only doing the tank, it really shouldn't be to expensive though. Check around to see what you can find price wise.
-Tac Cloth. Removes stuff water and shop towels don't. Get a few of them. You can find them in single packages at walmart for like .97cents in the home painting section.
How to Paint your Bike or Bike Parts
At some point you may find that you want to change the color of your bike, or maybe you have damage caused from a fall or someone bumping into it. Well, no need to take the bike to a body shop to get repaired or repainted, because with a little time and effort, you can do it yourself.
The paint I am using in the folowing write up is a chamelion color changing paint, and tkaes multiple coats, and is a bit more time consuming. To do a regular color would proabably be abit easier, but still, the difficulty is not anywhere near the high mark.
What you need:
- A partner. Weather it be Man, Woman, Or child, this will really help.
- A Radio. Hey, you are about to spend a lot of time working on something you love, might as well listen to some good tunes!
-A clean, uncluttered work space (Yeah Right, uncluttered about the fist hour)
-Proper Safety equipment is a must. You may be dealing with harsh chemicals in some cases, and gloves are cheap. I do not recomend latex anything. Even if you do not have a alergic reaction, latex products WILL irritate the skin after a while. Either go with Nitrile gloves, which are much stronger than latex and powder free, or vinal gloves work well also. Also, a side note is that some gloves will not be chemical resistant for long. We used Vinal gloves, and paint stripper and paint thinner ate through them!!! If you may have a bad reaction to some of the chemicals you may use, get chemical resistant gloves. You can get boxes of the rubber (Vinal or Nitral) gloves at the painting section in Home Depot, along with the chemical resistant gloves.
-Eye Protection. Either Clear Safety Glasses (Cheap, but trust worthy) or full face screens (Like we wore) work fine.
- Repirators / Dust Mask. Painting will create a lot of dust as the excesss paint dries in the air. If you do not wear soemthing, you will find your nose full of paint goo. It is nasty. A dust mask would be your lowest leval of protection, but if you are only doing this once, or maybe a small project, then that would probably be the way to go. Otherwise you can get a respirator which is a rubber mask fitted around your nose and mouth. Cartradges fit to either side of the mask to filter all air coming in. Quite nice, but a bit bulky. This is the way to go for full protection. Your local hardware store or any Menards, Home Depot can help you choose your size and what cartradges to use for your projects. Also note that if you have a lot of facial hair around the area it is to seal, it may not seal properly. It will still be better than a dust mask though.
- Fire Extinguisher. Once again, chemicals are in play, and its better to be safe then sorry.
-Liquid Refreshment. Stay hydrated!!! Drink lots of water (And Beer if you are over the legal drinking age). Don't drink to much beer though, remember, you need to be able to concentrate somewhat, after all you are painting your baby!!!
Ok, now the actual equipment you will be using.
-Sandpaper. Grit size will vary depending on how much, and what type of body work you will be doing. To remove the big bumps, gouges, scrapes, we used 160 to 180 grit paper, then worked our way up from there. Emery paper is nice as well. 400 grit to wet sand (Scuff up the surace a bit so the paint/primer has something to stick to) and you may want to use all the way up to 1000 grit. The highest we used was 400 grit, and that smoothed everything out enough.
-Distilled water to wet sand. Yeah, you could use tap water or a hose, but distilled water has all the crap out of it, and its only .53 cents at walmart for a gallon!
-Water bottle with spray attachment on top. Used for wet sanding and spraying your partner. Can also be used to begin washing areas of your skin off incase of a chemical spill, like when your friend "Accidently" gets paint stripper on the back of your neck, and in your hair. Like I am not missing enough hair on my head anyways. Thanks Corey.
-Heat Gun! You don't have one you say? Don't feel like spending the money to buy one??? RENT ONE! They are cheap to rent, and can be had at most rental shops and/or auto parts stores. Trust me, we used this a lot. Helps the paint to dry faster, and to set, and is great for getting sticky stuff off. Also can be used as a regular gun when posing for a picture while riding a vacum cleaner, and having your hat turned up like Robin Hood... You will see later.
-*Paint Remover. Only if you plan on stripping paint on anything. Let me tell you, if you strip the paint, be prepared for some work ahead of you, espcially with the tank. Yeah, it looks so nice when done, but man a lot of work. There are a few types of Paint Remover. Liquid and Gel. The gel is nicer I think, because as it melts the paint off, you can scrape it back into stubborn areas. Some are even safe for plastic, but not many! The one we got came with a plastic spray bottle for free (Home Depot). I can't remember the name if it, but hey, if it can be put in a plastic spray bottle, must be safe on plastic...right?????
-*Paint Thinner. After using the Paint Remover,you need Paint Thinner to remove the Paint Remover. It helps if you have a tool bath to let the stuff soak in, but I know not a lot of people have those.
-Various Scrapers. These are used to remove stubborn glue, epoxy, and anyother gunk that is being a pain in the arse. Another suggestion here would be to use rubber scrapers, such as those used when doing body work, to spread bondo and stuff. They can be cut to different sizes, are strong enough to really put some elbow grease into, and make cool throwing stars to throw at your partner like a NINJA!
Ok, now for your paint supplies.
*If you are going to be bringing your tank, handle, or any other metal parts down to the metal surface, I suggest getting a Rustoleum Brand primer. It is supposed to help to prevent rust. Doesn't really matter what color, you are going to be painting over it anyway. I am just paranoid though, but better to be safe then sorry.
For the Plastics.
-Primer. Make sure you get a sandable primer. Also look for a Fill Primer. Those work well to fill little nicks and scratches. Those are also sandable. When using a fill primer, make sure to lay light coats, sand and repeat. Heavy coats are not good! If using multiple layers of Primer, you do not need to sand in between coats. Primer sticks to Primer. Doesn't matter if it is differnet brands or different colors.
I suggest using Dupli-Color Primer and Brand paints. No, I do not work for the company, but there paints seem to be of high quality, and the tip they use on there spray cans are very nice. You get a much smoother finish out of them, better control, ect. Trust me when I say that between a Dupli-Color tim, and a regular tip can, the cances for a run will increase wuite a bit. I noticed that some of the Dupli-Color tips did seem to leak a bit around the base though (Hey, we went thorugh a ton of cans, some are bound to have problems). Easy fix, take a tip off of a used can, or even a new can. The tips come off easy, and interchange quite easy.
-Paint. Here comes the time to choose the color of your desire.
*Before using any new can of paint, spray off to the side to make sure the stream is spraying correct. We found one can the literaly srayed out like a watergun! Also, this helps to get the soap and stuff they use in the head and hose out so that does not mix in with the paint on your bike.
*Before purchasing the paint, make sure to shake it well to see if it has the ball bearing in it. 2 cans that we purchased did not. Trust us, we shook, and shook, and banged, and banged, and shook some more. No Ball Bearings!
Like I said earlier, Dupli-Color I believe is the way to go if you are going to be using can spray paint, because of the quality of there paint, and the nozzle design. Yes you can get a good paint job out of a spray can! You are only painting a bike, not a car, and many of the peices are not that big. You do not need any big compressors, no special paint guns, just old shake, rattle, and roll spray cans. Choose your color wisely!
Get a clear coat to match the type of paint you are using. Also, many canned clear coats are not gasoline resistant. This means that if you are doing your tank, you will need to either bring it to a body shop (Macco, Abra) to get a automotive clear-coat put on it, or attempt one yourself. If only doing the tank, it really shouldn't be to expensive though. Check around to see what you can find price wise.
-Tac Cloth. Removes stuff water and shop towels don't. Get a few of them. You can find them in single packages at walmart for like .97cents in the home painting section.
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