Painting a carbon frame

mattsaw

Does anyone have any advice and/or refer me to any resources on prepping and respraying carbon frames?

I have a spare frame that I would like to experiment on basically, so happy to prepare myself to a bit of trial and error, but eventually I would like to be able to achieve a high standard,

I'm guessing I'll need to get a spray gun and compressor and some auto quality paint?

reds99

buy a roll of cardboard to practise your spraying. Easier to throw in a bin, then sanding back a poor finish.

pinno

You need a paint stripper like 'Carbo-Lift'. The last thing you need is to be sanding the actual surface of the frame apart from the most minimal of etching to accommodate the primer.

Once stripped, use a few layers of primer (unless you intend to just lacquer the thing for a bare finish). Sand the primer with a very fine wet and dry paper using ordinary hand (cake) soap and water to an ultra smooth and shiny finish. Soak the wet and dry - at least 1200 and then 2000 paper.
The primer needs to be applied and ideally, in a heated room/shed. Sheds can be dusty, Bathrooms are good (if you send the OH away on a girls weekend). If you can heat the room to 45 deg, you'll harden the primer and it is far more durable and easy to get smooth. Well prepared primer should have a sheen to it prior to painting with a top coat to get the best results. Lacquer the top coat as it provides lustre but most importantly, a bit of protection. Chips in the lacquer are easily sprayed over too.
Pick a simple colour scheme. Don't try stencils or sharp lines between the colours unless you can get someone to make some film up for you but even then, getting the lines between the paint clear and fuzz free is difficult if you haven't done it before and tricky if you have!
Match your colour of primer according to the specs of the top coat recommendations. Primer affects top coat to the extent that if you get it wrong, top coats take much more paint and might not end up the right colour

I thoroughly recommend using Acrylic. Pick a nice colour form the local car parts shop. Then, if you get any chips or scratches in the future, you can easily find a match. Aluminium fleck and metallic paints are fine to use on CF.

Mostly, have fun.