Painting a frame myself.

Dippydog2

I have an old steel frame that I am thinking or refurbishing.

Doesn't have to be a concours job, but after it is paint stripped I was thinking of painting it myself.

What is the process for priming and painting? I do not have a spray gun. I was hoping to just do it with cans.

Is that a possible approach?

pinarellokid

Either way is fine, but personally I would just have it powder coated. Better finish and it will stay nice for longer

cubedean

In all honesty I would have it done professionally.
powder coating would only cost around £50 which when you have factored in primer, base & clear won't be much more.

If you do spay it yourself, make sure you do it in a warm & dry environment or the paint will just chip off.

rolf_f

cubedean wrote:

In all honesty I would have it done professionally.
powder coating would only cost around £50 which when you have factored in primer, base & clear won't be much more.

I renovated an anglepoise lamp. That alone ate up 3 cans of car spray plus primer so that's probably a good half way to £50 on an object that is a fraction of the size of a bike frame.

Dippydog2

Thanks for the replies. I shall find a powder coater. I guess my local car body shop could do it.

jimothy78

I've just done a home respray job on my mountain bike frame. It's true, you're not going to save a lot of money by doing it yourself, but there's a certain satisfaction to be had from it. Also, by spraying it yourself, you're going to have a wider choice of colours and finishes whilst still being in a position to "touch up" any battlescars it picks up along the way.

On advice from others, I used an acid-etch primer, then the colour coat, then applied decals and finally clear lacquer over the top of that.

Before:

After:

Closeup:

monkimark

Have you stripped the paint already? I started stripping the paint on an old steel bike and quickly realised that sending it off for shot blasting/powder coating was the sensible option.
So much less hassle, better finish and probably no more expensive once you've factored in all the nitromors and rattle cans you'll get through.

Dippydog2

monkimark wrote:

Have you stripped the paint already? I started stripping the paint on an old steel bike and quickly realised that sending it off for shot blasting/powder coating was the sensible option.
So much less hassle, better finish and probably no more expensive once you've factored in all the nitromors and rattle cans you'll get through.

I think I have my plan.

The frame has an irremovable aluminium seatpost. The local stripper has a nice big vat of caustic soda, so we will leave the frame in there. That will certainly remove the old seatpost. Might remove some paint as well. £25

The frame is then going to another place that will beadblast it, and powder coat paint it for me. £50.

I guess I would enjoy doing the job myself but I haven't got the stuff and sourcing it would not be enjoyable.

Any suggestion on paint types, and do I need to clear lacquer it afterwards? Is that a DIY job?

t4tomo

I had to adapt a pink / purple first kids bike that my daughter had learnt on for my son.

Can of Rover - British Racing Green spray from halfords and 10 minutes later (using face mask) and the job was a good un.

Customer (son) happy, but he wasn't particularly discerning aged 4 and didnt seem to mind the odd bit of purple appearing if he bashed it in a crash

monkimark

Dippydog2 wrote:

The local stripper has a nice big vat of caustic soda

That is one specialist fetish she caters for.