Painting 101

Painting 101

First of all I am far from an expert on this stuff. I spent a few months reading forums, articles, asking experienced friends as well as reading product data sheets. I am writing this for a record for myself on the next jobs as well as for others like me who want to learn. I’m an Engineer and try to understand each and every step of the process to the fullest, just like I do at work. Hopefully this will clarify certain aspects and not muddy things up too much.

Enjoy,

Wesley J

Equipment

Compressor

This is an important piece of equipment but if you make the proper spray gun selection you’ll need a lot less compressor than you may think. I have a relatively large compressor, 60 gallon, 6.5 HP, 15 cfm @ 90psi. During spraying my bike it ran once per coat I would estimate.

Air system

This is more important than the compressor IMHO. My plumbing is all ¾” copper pipe going into a desiccant dryer, filter and regulator in that order. All fittings are ½” on these pieces to minimize pressure drops in the system.

Another upgrade I did to my system prior to spraying was to upgrade from the normal ¼” fitting and 3/8” hose to a ½” hose and ½” fittings. This ensures maximum flow to the gun with the least amount of pressure drop in the system. Some will argue that the best setup is to have the regulator at the gun. I agree to a certain extent, but a good quality regulator for at the gun is pricey and it reduces one’s dexterity with the gun. An alternative is to have the regulator hooked to your belt with a short (~3’) hose running up to the gun. This will be the way I go in the future prior to painting my truck.

Respirator

This has got to be the most important piece of equipment when painting. Ensure that you have paint/vapor cartridges installed. You should not be able to smell the paint while you’re painting. Also, the best setup a guy could have is a mask that includes a face shield so that your eyes aren’t exposed to the vapors either.


Coveralls

Do yourself a favor and get yourself a few sets of the automotive painting coveralls. They’re cheap as hell and come with a tight fitting hood so that none of your body is exposed to the harmful vapors. I also wear nitrile gloves so I can handle parts while spraying. My left arm had a very nice coat of base/clear by the time I was done.

Spray Gun (finishing, 1.4 mm tip)

This is an area where I believe good money must be spent. After spending a significant amount of time on prep and $400 on product, I believe it’s foolish to try to save a couple of hundred bucks here. I was planning to buy a SataJet 3000 RP, which is arguably the best gun out there and comes with the appropriate price tag of about $650. I’ve done a boat load of reading on forums (http://www.autobody101.com/forums/) and the general consensus seems to be that the new Sharpe Razor 1.4 RP is virtually as good but sells for almost half the price. So, I ended up getting it and have to agree that it is truly a quality piece.

My gun is actually a LVLP (Low Volume, Low Pressure) that requires about 8 cfm at 8-10 psi. Most little 30 gallon compressors can handle this.

A 1.4 mm tip gun can be used for primer/sealer, base coat and clear. In the future I may get a 1.2 tip for clears in an attempt to get even better atomization. But, because of the fact that I’ll be color sanding I don’t know if it’s really required.

Spray Gun (Primer/filler)
All of the products I used painting my bike required a 1.4 mm tip gun with the exception of the primer/filler which the product data sheet (PDS) indicates a 1.8-2.0mm tip gun is required. My primer gun is a 1.7 and although I did manage to lay down the material, it wasn’t easy/pretty. I’ll be purchasing a decent quality primer gun prior to my next project.

Supplies
Sandpaper/blocks

This is another area not to skimp on quality and volume. I did almost all of the sanding on my VFR by hand. There isn’t a single flat surface on the bike so a highly flexible sanding block is required. I got a small ¼ sheet block that worked very well.

A good selection of paper is required to minimize the amount of time and effort spent sanding. Use the proper grit(s) and multiple coats and types of filler as required.

Edit: I'd estimate that 4 sheets of each grit would be enough for the job, assuming you buy quality paper.

60 grit – used for rough shaping of filler and scuffing the base for adhering. Must be followed by another coat of filler or glaze. Dry

180 grit – used for removing large amounts of paint quickly or for finer shaping of filler. Dry

240 grit – used for shaping of glaze. Dry

320 – used for roughing up surface to remove the gloss as well as shaping glaze. Dry

400 – used to further remove scratches done by courser grits. Wet

600 – final sanding step, parts should feel silky smooth to the touch after this stage. Wet

When wet sanding, get yourself a good spray bottle. I fill mine with luke warm water and add a bit of dish soap to it. This reduces the interfacial tension of the water which has 2 effects. Firstly, it lays flat on the surfaces you’re sanding rather that beading up. The second and probably more important effect is that the water entrains the particles much easier. So, in essence you have a layer of water between the particle and the surface, reducing micro scratching as well as taking the fine particles with it when you spray it off.

Comfort

I can tell you that if you’re comfortable when doing your work, you’ll spend more time on it and do a better job. You may see in the background of some of my pictures that my truck frame is up on a frame table. This is so I can weld anywhere on the frame while sitting in comfort on an adjustable and comfortable stool. My welds look like a bunch of stacked nickels because of this. The same goes for sanding and prepping body panels. I have one of those mobile parts/tool trays that’s adjustable in height that I set the panels on. I sit on my stool in comfort sanding while watching TV or cranking the tunes. Ya, my shop is more like a living room with a concrete floor than it is a shop ;-) It really does reflect in my work though.

Paint booth

This is an area that I really need to improve. While I was painting my bike it was consistently between -40 and -50 degrees C (-55 F). Because of this I wasn’t able to ventilate my shop. This sux. Although I don’t believe it effected my paint quality much, it did make it difficult to work.

As you can see from the pictures I used tarps that go from floor to ceiling. I inserted some hooks in the ceiling. This was IMHO is a very good system, easy to put up and take down and the tarps were only about 1” down from the ceiling. This meant there was very little are movement in the “booth” and resulted in very little dust in my paint. I have a radiant heater in my shop so the only air movement in the shop is due to convection.









The day before spraying I took my car washing sponge with soap and water and washed the tarps down from top to bottom and rinsed them very well with a hose. The day of spraying I wet the floor down extensively to keep dust on the floor from becoming airborne as well as keep product from sticking to the floor.

If you have the ability, have a couple of lamps standing around to cast reflections to help you see if you’re laying down an even coat. My booth was too cramped so I wasn’t able to do this.

Hanging of parts can be bit of a challenge. As you can see from my pictures I hung the majority of my parts from a bar which hung from the ceiling. Due to my shop size constraints this was about the best I could do. What happens is that you end up trying to paint a moving target; hence my left arm getting painted while steadying parts. If you have the space and stands, parts sitting on something can give you a better quality finish assuming you can still get to all of the surfaces.

Edit: In hindsight I think I rushed my booth setup. I could have moved my frame table that my truck is on for some more room. Then I could have spent a bit of time building some wooden stands for parts. Yes it would've taken another evening but it would have improved the quality of my finish.

A note on metallics: when hanging panels try to hang them in the orientation that that go on the bike. This way the metallic particles all lay the same way and therefore all panels have the same color when out in the sun.

Paint Products

I used Dupont’s Chromabase system for a few reasons. It’s easy to spray, reasonable priced, very good quality, durable and is easy to mix. All products share the same reducer/activator which makes messing up the mix procedure difficult. The PDS’s are very well written and very self explanatory. I made myself a summary of each product as well as a checklist for when I was painting. I’ve included this list later on in this post.

Edit: I used approximately 500 ml sprayable per coat for all of the products. So, I bought at least twice as much product as required, with the exception of clear which I bought about 3-4 times as much as needed. It was my first time buying product so I wanted to make sure I had enough.

Total product cost was $450 CND so I'm guessing I could do it for $250 with what I know now.

Link to Dupont’s page: http://tinyurl.com/2gsqmd



List of products:

• DuPont™ Plas-Stick® 2320S™ and A-2320S™ Plastics Cleaner
• DuPont™ Plas-Stick® 2322S™ Adhesion Promoter for Plastics
• DuPont™ 7704S™ ChromaSurfacer® 2K Urethane Primer-Filler
• DuPont™ 7710S™ / 7740S™ / 7770S™ ChromaSeal® 2K Urethane ValueShade® Sealer
• DuPont™ ChromaBase® Basecoat
• DuPont™ ChromaClear® G2-7779S™ Multi-Mix Panel & Overall Clearcoat
• Tack Cloths (for automotive paint)
• Mixing cups and sticks
• Filters
• Cheap thinner for gun cleaning
• Evercoat Fibertech Kevlar reinforced filler
• Evercoat Poly-flex glaze

All of these products are the best I’ve ever used by far. I’ve done a few single stage jobs in the past (5+ years ago) and you really can’t compare the quality.

Prep Methods

These are the methods that I followed. The more you read, the more you realize that there are quite a few ways to skin the proverbial cat. This is by no means the only way nor is necessarily correct but here it is.

Prepping for Sanding/body work

I started by washing all of the parts with soap and water followed by the DuPont plastics cleaner. The reason for this step is so that you don’t force oils or waxes deep into the first bunch of scratches you create when sanding. Start with a very clean part and you have a better chance of successfully putting down a durable paint job.

Sanding

For all sanding that I did, I used an X pattern whenever possible and covered as large of an area as possible. I used a small flexible block that allowed all but the tightest spots to be sanded. Do not use sandpaper and your hand only or you’ll end up with a wavy panel that won’t be seen until you get a nice coat of clear on it. Always use a block unless it is completely impossible otherwise.

For parts that required extensive repair, I started with 60 grit dry paper. This give the filler something to grip to. I then proceded to do the rough shaping for the filler with 60 grit. The filler I used does not clog the paper whatsoever, that in itself makes it a really good value.





All parts that I felt needed primer filler, I sanded completely with 180 grit dry in order to give it a good base to adhere to. The primer/filler will likely fill 60 grit scratches with ease. The primer/filler is truly amazing, it will fill and hide much more than I expected. 2 coats of it then I blocked all panels with 180 to knock the roughness off (this stuff really builds) then switched over to 320.

At this point I used spot glaze to fill any small imperfections/deep scratches. The stuff sets up very quickly and is sandable without clogging the paper in a mater of 15 minutes. 320 dry paper is used for this step.



I then switched over to wet sanding.

From above:

“When wet sanding, get yourself a good spray bottle. I fill mine with luke warm water and add a bit of dish soap to it. This reduces the interfacial tension of the water which has 2 effects. Firstly, it lays flat on the surfaces you’re sanding rather that beading up. The second and probably more important effect is that the water entrains the particles much easier. So, in essence you have a layer of water between the particle and the surface, reducing micro scratching.”

I started by sanding all of the panels with 400 until I felt I had covered all areas equally. The goal here is not to shape panels of remove imperfections, it is to smooth out the surface so that and existing scratches do not transfer through the base/clear. Once I was comfortable that my job was done with the 400, I repeated with 600 grit.

It’s actually surprising how quickly this goes by when you are using the proper paper and methods. In 2 evenings I completed all of the body work and sanding.

Prepping for paint.

I started by washing all of the parts with soap and water followed by the Dupont plastics cleaner. I was very anal about these steps, really making sure things were clean. For the plastic cleaner step I used a 100% cotton fiber free automotive style polishing cloth. Beware using old hand towels as they may have lingering detergent/fabric softener in them.

Allow the parts to flash dry then tack them clean religiously. I’m used to tacking wood furniture prior to finishing but these tack cloths are much less aggressive. You pretty much have to tack in one direction to pick everything up and not re-deposit it on the panel.

You are now ready to start laying down some product!

Painting Preparation

I start off by relaxing over a good glass of wine and going over my check list and product mixing procedures. I get excited and anxious at this point so it helps to sit down and go over stuff in a relaxed environment in order to get my head in the right place.

A couple of things to put your mind at ease:
1. Sealer covers extremely well with a medium wet coat. No need to try to get a perfect coat like you will with clear.
2. The base coat lays down absolutely perfectly with ease. Again, no need for perfect coverage like clear. Also, maybe its my gun but the metallics lay down perfectly. My color is exactly the same everywhere.
At this point I organize my chemicals such that they are handy in the order I require them. My experience from painting my VFR, 3 pieces of luggage and a hugger is that I require 500 ml’s of sprayable product per coat. Not sure what that is in stupid units, maybe 1/8th of a hog’s head….. Sorry….

Here is a quick summary of the product data sheets:

1. Plastic Cleaner
a. 4-5 minutes of rubbing per piece
b. Flash dry
c. Should be squeaky clean

2. Tack all surfaces

3. Adhesion Promoter
a. Spray right after above
b. 1 medium coat
c. Flash for 30 minutes

4. Sealer
a. 1 medium wet coat
b. 6-8 psi
c. 30 min flash

5. Base coat

1 part Chromabase, 1 part Basemaker, ½ ounce per mixed pint
Example: 240 ml Chromabase, 240 ml Basemaker, 15 ml activator
Stupid unit equvilants:
Pint = 475 ml
Quart = 950 ml
Ounce = 30 ml

a. 8-10 psi
b. 2 – 3 medium coats
c. 5 – 10 minutes flash between coats
d. 15 – 30 minutes flash before clear

6. Clearcoat
a. 4:1 mix with activator
b. 2 hour pot life
c. 10-12 psi
d. 2 – 3 medium wet coats
e. 10 minute flash between coats
f. 20 minutes dust freeTack cloth prior to spraying

There have been very slight changes to pressures due to how they reference them. I’ve essentially added 1 psi of pressure drop betwixt the regulator and my gun. My pressures are referenced to my regulator on the wall near the compressor.

So, the above gives the mixing details but I wanted a check list so I didn’t miss and steps. The following is my checklist which I printed out in large text and had on my mixing bench:

• Clean with plastic cleaner and let flash dry
• Tack all surfaces
• Spray one medium coat of Adhesion promoter and let flash for 30 minutes
o Time when finished:_____________
• Spray one medium coat of Sealer at 10 psi (reg) and let flash for 30 minutes
o Time when finished:_____________
• Spray 2 medium coats of Chromabase at 10 psi and let flash 5- 10 b/w coats and 30 before clear
o 1st coat time when finished:_____________
o Time when finished:_____________
• Tack all surfaces
• Spray 3 coats of Clearcoat at 12 psi (reg) with 10 minutes b/w coats
o 1st coat time when finished:_____________
o 2nd coat time when finished:_____________
• Drink beer
o Number of beer:____8___________

Total time was about 3 hours start to finish (not including beer). About 60-80 minutes of that was spent relaxing in the house waiting for the product to plash prior to moving on to the next step.

One thing to note on timing: I did my spraying on Friday night so that if I had any problems (sags etc) I could fix them up Saturday morning without having to sand the entire panel. Essentially you have 24 hours between coats of clear before it has cured. During this time coats will still chemically bond to one another. After the 24 hours you must sand the entire panel prior to recoating with clear.

Another note on timing: the flash times above are the minimum flash times so don’t rush yourself. The time to recoat most of the products above are on the order of a few hours to a day.

Spraying Technics/Learnings

Gun setup

Setting up your gun for spraying a motorcycle is different than a car. Conventional theory states that you want the gun to be perpendicular to the panel at all times. Each pass will overlap the last pass by 50% giving perfectly even coverage.

If you have a look at the upper fairing around the headlights you can see that achieving either of these is impossible.

Also, when setting up the paint rate, it’s good to have a higher flow rate so that you have as much paint to air possible (within reason). With the intricacies of the body panels of the VFR, this makes it difficult to keep the clear from sagging. Also, when the cup hits one of the wires that the part it hanging from and stops, you get an instant sag in the clear…..

There you go, you have my long summary on how to paint a motorcycle, start to finish.

Please post any additional info/errors and I'll add to this post and repair as necessary.

Cheers,

Wesley J

 

This Is Freaking Awesome...sticky, Wiki, Whatever It Takes.....excellent write up.

 

Wow.... that is a wiki entry.

Great stuff Wesley. Here are questions that came to mine while reading:

1. What is the difference between a wet and dry coat? just how fast you move the gun? the amount of product you spray, set up on the gun?

2. What do you measure the liquids with? Do you clean the container between each use, or use something disposable?

3. Do you have any air movement in your "booth" or ventilation? Do you where charcoal respirator, paper, anything? (likely I missed this in my read)

4. Did you need to polish the final clear coat with rubbing compound, or was it pristine due to your prep work?

5. Where did you purchase the paint supplies?

thanks!

 

Very Nice!!!! I don't ever seeing myself trying to shoot paint but your write up is so clear and well written it makes it seem like more of a possibility. Thanks!!


Action

 

Thanks Guys

1: You are correct, the amount of paint you put down. Seems there are a few types, medium dry, medium, medium wet, wet etc...

2: Measuring cups puchased from the paint store. For instancee, this paint is a 4:1 so it has markings for the 4 and the 1. Nice and simple. Cheap too.

3: Normally yes but because of the temperature outside (-50) I couldnt.

4: I was planning to color sand it but it looks really good as is. The problem color sanding this bike is that there are so many edges you risk burning through the clear.

5: CMAX witch is a canadain reseller. Should be easy to find as its a DuPont product.

Cheers,

Wes

 

There really isnt any special skill. Like most trades its about being properly educated and have an acute attention to detail.

 

It actually was much more difficult to build my dogsled in my avatar. Steaming and bending wood properly is more difficult that painting.

 

Wesley, great job and write up. Paint job is sharp. I know this is somewhat off the subject, but what brand seat is that....Corbin??......Mustang??

Thanks.

 

Thanks!

Corbin. I love the looks but so far sitting on it in the garage making engine noises hasnt given me any instight as to how comfortable it is.

VrrrrrrroooOOOOOOom!

 

One of the best composed threads I ever seen, you got some mad skills Wesley! I was equally impressed with your home page because I'm 90% done with my Kitchen & Home Theater make over, thanks for taking the time to put this thread together :thumb:

 

Good job!. I have painted some cars - it is a ton of work - anyway you did an excellent job.

 

Can't wait until you shoot my saddlebag that slid down the highway (No, the bike wasn't attached at the time).


Seriously everyone, check out Wes's blog, his mad skillz aren't limited to painting VFRs. I don't know where he finds time in the day since I know for a fact he isn't independently wealthy and has a day job

 

Kris, I'll shoot it as soon as Gary decides whether or not he wants me to to color match his new Givi trunk to his froo froo bike (Ducati ST4S ;-). I'd like to shoot them both at the same time for obvious reasons.

Wesley J

 

R.W.: linkage to your kitchen and HT?

 

No rush. Temperature's back in the frosty zone anyway

 

beautiful write up, im hopin to spray in the next two or three months and this is freakin awesome, thanks man.

 

Very Nice! I love everything about it, highlights being the overall design, exposed plate thingy and the choice of flooring. Is it pine? What variety and hardness?

 

Whoa Wesley that's an awesome how-to on painting! :thumb:

But I have to admit that after reading on all the equipment needed I'm more inclined to just go to the body shop and pay someone to do all that. I guess that's just one of the luxuries in having body shops within a 10 mile radius.

All we need now is a ghetto painting how-to with rattle cans, masking tape, and the backyard ha ha!

 

Stunning - the color reminds me of my old Hawk GT - I believe the color was called "Anthrocite" of som such. Great thread Wes.