Painting basics

I have a gun and do nice paint jobs on my street bikes. The race bike gets the rattle can. The first time plastic touches the pavement you'll wonder why you spent all those hours and all that money.

 

How do you guys support the parts being painted? I am also looking at doing my own work, just wondered on what to use to hold the parts.

Brett

 

I cut an 8 foot 1x2. 2 short pieces to make a T for the base, the long piece goes perpendicular to the floor and I just hung the bodywork on them. Worked well and I made 4 of them for $8. Use deck or wood screws.

 

Maybe it was 2x3.

 

Still need to paint the tank, but here is a rainy day pic after clear coat.

 

Thanks for the info and photos. So I got the lumber and plastic today and built the stands and sectioned off the garage with the plastic. I also got the following hardware from Harbor Freight:

Gun
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-to...ow-pressure-gravity-feed-spray-gun-47016.html

Compressor
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-to...on-125-psi-portable-air-compressor-67501.html

Now it's only to get the prep gear and figure out where to get paint.

This should be a learning experience.

 

I used wire hangars.

 

My local NAPA paint guy was very very helpful in picking paint and giving tips (of course that's luck of the draw, yours could be an inpatient tool). He even mixed my pints in quart cans and pre-thinned it for me. Not a big deal but certainly helpful. They can pretty much do any color or 'sparkle' additive you could want.

 

LOL, yeah my fiance wanted to put in some glitter. I'll check with my NAPA guy here in San Diego. I do appreciate all the info and hope I didn't jack the thread to much.

Brett

 

Hey how did the compressor work on painting those plastics. Contemplating on buying a compressor myself for painting basics and i came across that particular compressor. Just didn't think it was going to cover the painting part. I figured it would cover power tools more than anything.

 

I recommend wet sanding the primer and then again after applying the final base coat. . . . It's always seemed to help for a better application of the clear. . . I was never so much worried about the clear being pretty, but the better applied the clear is, the better it holds up to the rocks and debris that inevitably kick up into your bodywork . . . Either way, remember, it's a race bike, so it's only gotta look good at from 10ft away or at 100mph . . . don't stress over it too much . . Just my .02