Best way to spray frame/fork at home?

Indigo Gorilla

I have an old Raleigh frame with paint that's seen better days.

Looking to take the current paint off and respray it.

Not overly fussed on finish as long as it's covered and robust.

What's the best way to strip it and re-paint it?

gt-arrowhead

Hi, i resprayed my Raleigh too for the same reason. (See sig link if you like).

Usually i wouldnt do replies this long but im fookin bored and have done it a few (too many) times before so i thought id give you an insight on how i do it. I paid a tenner for my Arrowhead frame and spent probably 3 times that on various different paint jobs in the past, now its lobbed up in my shed doing fark all.

Take everything apart so its just frame and forks, get rid of any grease using a de-greaser (i find engine de-greaser to be good) and after allowing the degreaser to do its thing for a bit, wash off with a hose.

After youve got it all washed, theres two things you can do. You can just sand away most of the original paint, just so that its taken the edge of it, allowing the paint to stick, or you can take it all the way back to bare metal.

Judging from what you have said, its probably best to just sand away at the original paint and not take it all the way back, as that will take forever. Just sand it down so that the shinyness of the paint has gone away, and you can see that its sort of roughened up.

I always like to use a finishing paper. Im not sure on the grade i used now, but any fine sandpaper will do nicely, and i do it with no water, just straight on. Sand paper is the vital bit here. Dont use anything coarse as it will make massive scratches that will show up. Use a really fine sandpaper. The finer the better.

After the sanding, wash again with hose to get ride of all of the residue, then wipe thoroughly with a clean cloth.

Now the spraying, choose the correct primer, it will probably say what primer is best for what colours on the cans. And as for brand, the Halfords paint is a bit of a bump. They are mostly thinner, and not much paint. If you are using Halfords paint, start from far away. The paint is very thin. The quality of the paints are good but i dont think they are worth paying double for near enough half the paint.

I like to use Plastikote as they are cheaper and the colours are still good. Only thing is though that your hand hurts quite badly after a while, the nozzles are very stiff.

Hanging, i hang my frame and fork outside on the washing line. Usually i hang my frame with a metal coat hanger, and i pass it through the headtube (where the fork goes).

You probably know the techniques of spraying so i wont say anything about that. As for the number of coats, just add as you see fit really. Around 3-4 thin coats of primer and the same with paint is enough really, but its really down to you.

People say to leave hours between each coat, or a similar stupidly long time frame, but if you arent overly fussed, then its fine just spraying a few thin coats just as soon as the outer surface has dried, which is usually around 10-15 minutes between coats.

After all of your spraying is complete, just leave it for a while to allow the paint to harden up. Ive got a wood burner in my shed so i just light that up and move all my bits from my garden into the shed and leave it overnight to sort of bake in the shed, then its all done! Assembly time!

Hope i have helped you out somewhat. Happy spraying.

nicklouse

Find a powder coater and give them £40

You will get a better job done for less than it would cost you to do it yourself with rattle cans.

gt-arrowhead

nicklouse wrote:

Find a powder coater and give them £40

You will get a better job done for less than it would cost you to do it yourself with rattle cans.

+1

gt-arrowhead

And it will probably be stronger. DIY can jobs are scratched quite easily.

coulddobetter

Leave it outside until a tom cat sprays it for you

nicklouse

This is also a good read

http://www.bikewebsite.com/paint.htm

Kowalski675

nicklouse wrote:

Find a powder coater and give them £40

You will get a better job done for less than it would cost you to do it yourself with rattle cans.

+1 again, but £40 is a bit expensive, unless you're looking at fancy colours.

plugp7

Try here.
http://penninepowdercoating.com/

from £35 for mountain bike.

Kowalski675

plugp7 wrote:

Try here.
http://penninepowdercoating.com/

from £35 for mountain bike.

That looks like a decent place, I've bookmarked them. Useful to know somewhere relatively local that does vapour blasting too.