New to the Hobby/Business

[Motorhead]

The trick to the mid and clear coats is to spray wet on wet. In other words, don't let each coat of candy or clear flash too long before applying the next coat. If you can run that fine line between just enough and too much paint on each coat, you will have a nice smooth gloss without a need to wet sand the clear afterwards. Also, don't panic if the candy appears to cloud a little after the first coat of clear. Subsequent coats will bring out the true bright color again. As long as the weather is a reasonable temp, (here in Ft. Worth thats always subject to change!) you shouldn't have much of a run problem on candy or clear, and of course you can sand out the runs after it cures if you do happen to get them. Good Luck and post us some pics.

Motorhead

 

[Backinthedays]

The trick to the mid and clear coats is to spray wet on wet. In other words, don't let each coat of candy or clear flash too long before applying the next coat. If you can run that fine line between just enough and too much paint on each coat, you will have a nice smooth gloss without a need to wet sand the clear afterwards. Also, don't panic if the candy appears to cloud a little after the first coat of clear. Subsequent coats will bring out the true bright color again. As long as the weather is a reasonable temp, (here in Ft. Worth thats always subject to change!) you shouldn't have much of a run problem on candy or clear, and of course you can sand out the runs after it cures if you do happen to get them. Good Luck and post us some pics.

Motorhead

Thanks for the info Motorhead. I am a little nervous about this paint job, only because I have never done it before. The directions do say to only take 15 minutes between base coat, candy coat and clear coat. I am hoping to do it this weekend. I originally planned on last weekend, but as you know we had snow last weekend. Snow in Texas in March, global warming is going to kill us! I will try to post some pictures, good or bad after I am done painting. I did manage to finish up a CT70 engine I re-built this last weekend and make the Supercross at Jerry's Palace!

 

[Motorhead]

When you start spraying the paint, you'll get a quick feel for how much paint to apply as you go. This paint system is pretty foolproof, when the directions are followed. Anytime I paint, I always keep a large piece of cardboard near what I'm painting to test the spray pattern and settings after I load the gun each time. Sometimes the gun will spit on the first trigger pull, I think I would die if it happened on the bike during a candy paint job.

By the way, I haven't decided whether or not I can afford to enter Jerry's Palace yet. I feel my wallet sucking out of my pocket just passing by it on I-30. (lol)

Motorhead

 

[Backinthedays]

Well, it's a nice day here in Texas, a little windy but about 70 degrees. I got the pool filter cleaned and cleaned the pool out, so now it's time for the fun stuff. I got my high tech paint booth all set up and I am ready to apply some primer. Here are a few shots of the paint booth and a pic of a engine I just finished. Unfortunately the engine does not go with the frame I am painting

Motorhead - Jerry's only set me back about $300 bucks, luckly the in-laws live down the street from the palace and I didn't have to pay $50 to park. It was nice, but I think I could have done better! They didn't even sell Shinner Bock!

 

[Backinthedays]

Primer

Primer is on, now just wait 24 hours and then the base, candy and clear coats!

 

[Johnnyappleseed]

How did you strip the paint? media blast? chemical stripper?
Also, since you are going to this level of detail did you clean up the welds? Trying to look ahead and decide what I may need to do..

PS the spray booth looks like a majic trick with parts "floating"

 

[Backinthedays]

Disaster in the paint booth! :102: Everything went well until the clear coat. After the candy coat everything looked great and then when I applied the clear coat it seemed to get dull and had a rough finish. My best un-educated guess is the clear coat was to thick, it wasn't as thin as the rest of the coats. I am hoping I can wet sand it and smooth it all back out, but I am not sure if this is going to work. I will try to post some pic's later, the camera battery is dead and I am headed to the Maverick's game to watch the Mav's kick some Denver butt! I know it's hard to say with out seeing it but anyone have any sugestions? I am assuming I will have to try a different clear coat because I have no ideal what the mixtures are in the kit I bought. I am thinking about stopping by English Color and see if they have any Ideals.

Johnnyappleseed - I soda blasted the entire bike. I did not do anything to the welds. I like to restore back to original. I do have a custom bike planned in the future for my grand daughter. She wants a PINK Z50! I figure I will trick this one out to the max, give it a little bling bling and some speed.

 

[Backinthedays]

This picture almost makes it look worse than it is, but it does give a good look at the problem. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Motorhead]

Hey BNTD, did you try to apply the clear in a good wet coat or were you being conservative?. I was thinking maybe you sprayed the clear a little dry. Also could be a possibility of too much hardener or not enough reducer making it too thick. Ratio on this kit is kinda clear cut-(equal size bottles = equal parts, half sized bottles = half parts.) Color looks great. What you might could do is use 800 and lightly wet sand, being very careful not to go thru your clear, then retry another couple of coats of clear using a slow hand and stay 4-6 inches from the surface to get a good wet coat. Check your air to fluid mixture at the gun to make sure you've got plenty of paint flowing. Man I hope she comes around, cause that topaz looks great!

 

[Backinthedays]

Hey BNTD, did you try to apply the clear in a good wet coat or were you being conservative?. I was thinking maybe you sprayed the clear a little dry. Also could be a possibility of too much hardener or not enough reducer making it too thick. Ratio on this kit is kinda clear cut-(equal size bottles = equal parts, half sized bottles = half parts.) Color looks great. What you might could do is use 800 and lightly wet sand, being very careful not to go thru your clear, then retry another couple of coats of clear using a slow hand and stay 4-6 inches from the surface to get a good wet coat. Check your air to fluid mixture at the gun to make sure you've got plenty of paint flowing. Man I hope she comes around, cause that topaz looks great!

Thanks for the advice Motorhead. The first coat of clear was a light mist and it looked ok at that point, but I increased the fliud and thats when it went bad, I tried one more coat after the second and stopped. I am no painter, just learning, but when I poored the remainder of the clear coat back in the bottle through a funnel it took a minute for it to drain through. Do you think the kit could have had some bad clear coat? Like I said earlier, I think I am going to go to English Color and see what they say. I am thinking wet sand it like you said and re-clear coat it with some new clear coat. You should have seen it before the clear coat, it was looking good! I was sick the rest of the day, but all this restoring is a learning experiance to me. I learn a little more each time. I tell you though, this forum is a great place for good advice.

 

[Motorhead]

There is so much that can go wrong with paint that it can make a guy gray headed. I don't know which English color you may visit, but if its on the west side, there's a girl there (Tonya) who really knows her stuff. I'll bet she could figure it out by checking out your results with the first clear attempt.

 

[kmcrab]

That looks like a very dry shoot to me...What was your pressure set on? Play around with the air pressure on a spray board before you spray anything on the bike...Temps and humidity can wreak havoc when spraying paint...What worked one day, can wreak havoc the next with the same settings.

You'll get it, it just takes practice:4:

 

[Motorhead]

Thats what I'm thinking too Karen. Its actually better to shoot too wet than too dry.

 

[Backinthedays]

Well, both Motorhead and Karen should pat them selfs on the back! I went to English Color and they said the exact same thing as you two were saying. I bought more clear coat and openned the fluid control knob and wow! It looks amazing! Thats all it was, not enough fluid. I thought I was putting it on thick, but I wasn't even close. I would post a pic but the forum has changed and I am not sure how to do it now.

 

[kmcrab]

I'm glad that you got it figured out...I am anxious to see pics!

 

[Motorhead]

Excellent. I'm glad you were able to save it. Confidence oughtta be soaring when you paint the next one! Looking forward to pics.

 

[jdgmbi1]

Well, both Motorhead and Karen should pat them selfs on the back! I went to English Color and they said the exact same thing as you two were saying. I bought more clear coat and openned the fluid control knob and wow! It looks amazing! Thats all it was, not enough fluid. I thought I was putting it on thick, but I wasn't even close. I would post a pic but the forum has changed and I am not sure how to do it now.

BNTD,

When you say you opened the fluid control knob, was it the "Fluid Knob" or was it just the pressure regulator?

 

[Johnnyappleseed]

I can feel the cold feet coming on about taking the step to paint my ride... I am clueless about painting...

 

[kmcrab]

Don't be scared...Read all you can about painting...I think there are youtube vidoeos as well. Paint Supply Shops usually have DVD's or maybe even the library or Border's would have DVD's. Prep is the biggest part of a successful paint job and prep on a CT70 can be a tedious job with all the nooks and crannies. Just take your time...remember several light coats are better than a couple heavy coats. Stay within the flash time. You can do it!

 

[jdgmbi1]

Karen (or anyone who wants to chime in):

How sophisticated of a paint system do you need to pull this off? I mean compressor size, filters, regulators, gun,...and I assume auto paint (or mini paint) spray's different than your basic latex house paint? Also, does tip size matter?

I'm with everyone else on the paint experiance-NONE! But I would like to learn, just not to much of the hard way.