Anyone painted a frame?

[Levo-Lon]

Needs to be painted in a warm ish place too or it will bloom ,go all hazy.
dont bother painting outside at the mo.
ive done a bit of painting but Powder coat is king..

 

[derrick]

Two packed my Tandem a couple of months ago, it looks good, the pic does not do it justice.

 

[screenman]

Water based or solvent first?

 

[rualexander]

Yes, painted my old tourer with black hammerite by brush, perfectly good and easy to touch up as the years went by.
It was a workhorse though, not a show pony.

 

[Doyleyburger]

I was going to wait till spring to do this anyway because as some of you have mentioned it's a little damp and cold out there at the mo plus I'm still using it.....
Well it seems that powder coating is currently getting the vote, as long as I can find one in this neck of the woods. Does powder coat require a primer first ?

 

[screenman]

I was going to wait till spring to do this anyway because as some of you have mentioned it's a little damp and cold out there at the mo plus I'm still using it.....
Well it seems that powder coating is currently getting the vote, as long as I can find one in this neck of the woods. Does powder coat require a primer first ?

For £40 they will prep and finish it for you. Never heard of a primer as such, some may use an etching agent, but I doubt it.

 

[Onyer]

I was going to wait till spring to do this anyway because as some of you have mentioned it's a little damp and cold out there at the mo plus I'm still using it.....
Well it seems that powder coating is currently getting the vote, as long as I can find one in this neck of the woods. Does powder coat require a primer first ?

If you are considering adding decals afterwards have a look at this site http://www.hlloydcycles.com/page3.htm
Their recommendation is not to use powder coating

 

[Gravity Aided]

I would think auto paint, properly prepared, would be durable and less expensive. I've used tractor paint with air compressor and HVLP gun, and it worked well and stayed put. If you use cans, use a metal etching primer, then sand, then apply and sand a bit more primer, then go on to your color coats, sanding between. If you sand it well, and apply it properly, paint can also be done with a brush or foam roller and primer, as @rualexander says. Both the autobody HVLP gun and brush painting have given me good, durable, but not stellar, results. For stellar results, go to the professionals. They will do a better job and you'll have less than half the frustration in the end.

 

[Doyleyburger]

Thanks. I will be using my air gun. Failing that, there is a brilliant painter down the road from me who repaired and painted the side of my van last year. May be worth asking him to price it up.
Thanks for your input guys

 

[Dogtrousers]

Many years ago I did several, and my procedure was to get the frame sandblasted (fortunately my dad could get this done back in those days) then a couple of coats of red metal primer, sanded carefully with fine paper between, then successive coats of ... I can't remember what ... black glossy enamel stuff, with thinner.

Leaving a couple of days indoors between coats and rubbing down carefully with fine abrasive between. Different bits would be ready at different times, so say the forks would be on coat 2 when the rear triangle was drying coat 1 etc.

Finish was good. Maybe not so good in fiddly areas like lugs and seatpost clamp.

@biggs682 can give an opinion of how good it looked after about 25-30 years as I gave him one of my old frames and he had it bead blasted

 

[NorvernRob]

I was going to wait till spring to do this anyway because as some of you have mentioned it's a little damp and cold out there at the mo plus I'm still using it.....
Well it seems that powder coating is currently getting the vote, as long as I can find one in this neck of the woods. Does powder coat require a primer first ?

I've just had all the alloy wheels on my car powder coated. For £200 I dropped the car off, they removed the wheels and tyres, blasted and repaired the wheels, powder coated them then refitted the tyres, the wheels and balanced them up.

Just find a local powder coater, take the frame and they'll do the rest for not a lot of money.

It really isn't worth the messing about painting, powder coating will be a pretty much perfect finish and much tougher.

 

[screenman]

OP, do you want a proffesional looking finish, that will last. Or spend hours to end up with something else. I can understand and admire you wanting to have a go.

 

[biggs682]

Many years ago I did several, and my procedure was to get the frame sandblasted (fortunately my dad could get this done back in those days) then a couple of coats of red metal primer, sanded carefully with fine paper between, then successive coats of ... I can't remember what ... black glossy enamel stuff, with thinner.

Leaving a couple of days indoors between coats and rubbing down carefully with fine abrasive between. Different bits would be ready at different times, so say the forks would be on coat 2 when the rear triangle was drying coat 1 etc.

Finish was good. Maybe not so good in fiddly areas like lugs and seatpost clamp.

@biggs682 can give an opinion of how good it looked after about 25-30 years as I gave him one of my old frames and he had it bead blasted

finish was good when I had it

 

[Doyleyburger]

OP, do you want a proffesional looking finish, that will last. Or spend hours to end up with something else. I can understand and admire you wanting to have a go.

Ideally.... Yes I'd like it to look as professional as possible.

I'm just a sucker for a project though !

 

[mrandmrspoves]

I was pleased with the results of this project I restored for my youngest son.....