Painting 101

I must say that is a very nice and clear write up about painting. I've never done any painting with a paint gun, only rattle can. But was thinking about trying it on my 04 vfr. Your write-up is great to follow, step by step. Definately making me feel more comfortable trying it out. Well done, the finished product looks great!

 

OK here's mine...
go get paint bottle from hobby store(testors #1169 as listed in other post)
open bottle
insert brush
brush on affected areas
blow on wet paint
repeat
drink beer as needed

I'm am sure Wes's method will look better. That paint looks like shiney new metal. Awesome step by step, Wes. It's nice to have engineers in the group for all that technical stuff.
If anyone needs a write up on how to intubate and artificially ventilate the patient in respiratory failure, I have a write up of similar quality.

 

Great write up... The finish turned out great. I am curious as to whether you used a block to wet sand.? I noticed that you said NOT to hand sand the panel but that's the only way I've ever wet sanded. With the block you can't feel imperfections and it's very easy with the block to dig to deep. You gott'a rub it like a woman:biggrin: ... Either way it turned out GREAT. What color is that? I'm color blind so I can't trust my eyes, but to me it looks like a Gun Metal Metallic.

Sweet job

 

Great write-up, materials and tools list is great. Makes me want to go hang some tarps in the garage and start painting. I need a bigger garage...

If you were starting from undamaged stock panels, which sanding step would you start at? 400 grit?

 

I, much like Wes, was no expert when it came to painting. I had never touched a spray gun prior to doing my veefer. You will be very, very surprised at the results you will get with GOOD equipment. A really good gun will give you really good results. And read Wes' outline - I wish I had this to refer to - would have answered a lot of questions.
And the beer - don't forget the beer.

 

Its actually a toyota camary color, but dont tell anyone ;-) Yup, very dark charcoal grey.

Yup, then move up to 600 wet. And then onto beer. Reverse order is also acceptable.... actually, I prefer to add the beer step in with regular frequency ;-)

 

Any ideal of total cost that you spent on supplies or did I miss that somewhere?

 

I can't speak for Wes - but when I painted mine it cost no more than a few hundred $ total - including the graphics. I did have the luxury of having a brother with all the equipment. More time and sweat equity than anything....

 

It's in there somewhere but it was around $250.

 

Hey all,

Just thought I'd add a bit of info I learned while painting a couple of Ducatis.

This I already knew:

Priming consits of 3 essential products/steps:

1: Epoxy primer is the first coat. It's very durable and has sacrificial pigments in it which reduce corrosion. Bonds very well to bare metal. Body work can be done on top as effectively as below. Is not really sandable as its just too durable. Usually a 1.6 mm tip, product dependant of course. 1-2 coats, normally only 1 on motorcycle parts due to the flexibility factor.

2: Primer filler is the second coat. It is essentially sprayable body filler. It builds very well and is great for hiding minor surface imperfections such as 180 grit sanding to bare metal that is showing through the epoxy. Sanded with 320 dry, 400 and 600 wet. Provides a baby smooth finish for the next coat. Usually shot with a 1.7 to 2.3 mm tip. 1- 2 coats depending on the condition of the panel.

3: Primer sealer is the 3rd coat. Most of the time you will have sanded through the primer filler in spots so this coat is put down in order to provide a consistent color for the base color. Usually 1 coat is all that it required for coverage. Lays down very smooth. No sanding required.

Following the above proceedure will give you a fantastic panel to spray your base/clear on. Some companies, in order to increase efficiencies in a shop environment, have combined all 3 of these steps into 1 being an epoxy primer/sealer. This is the product I used as a base for the 2 Ducatis I sprayed this week.

After spraying both bikes I noticed that there was more orange peel than I thought I'd get as I had great products, gun and spraying environment. I could see prefectly how the clear was going down and I couldnt have been happier.

I was also spraying a piece of luggage for a friends Ducati ST4s at the same time. After I cleaned up my gun and products I went in to see how the clear was settling (clear changes pretty dramatically as it cures). The Duc panels have great gloss but had much more orange peel than I expected. I spent a while pondering what happened, then I look at the luggage panel. It is as flat as glass. Way better than I had envisioned ever being able to paint. Absolutely perfect, it looks as though it has been color sanded. No bragging, it just looks stellar.

This is what I learned:

So, what was different? The original paint on the luggage was sanded with 600 wet and was not primed. The Duc plastic was sprayed with the epoxy primer sealer combo product.

So, the lesson I've learned is to always have a sanded surface under your primer sealer. Do not use an epoxy or other combo product ditrectly under your base coat. It ruined the paint job. Dont get me wrong, it looks really good but in comparison to the luggage it looks like a 3 year old layed the paint down....

Pictures to follow

Wesley J

 

Good:





Not so good (epoxy primer sealer)