Custom Paint - Workshop specials.

Great progress here.

Top work.

Burning through is part of learning... keep doing it.
You can't learn where the limits are if you don't break them!

Looks good to me. Actually, looks great.

Things got shiny, alas some bits got burnt through in the process.

No-one else will ever notice. They'll see it from at least 3 feet away and be very impressed.

They'll see it from at least 3 feet away and be very impressed.

Let’s hope!

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Any thoughts on how to achieve this type of effect? I guess lay down a base colour and then either sponge/rag roll/cling film a colour on top. Just looking for pointers on the technique really.

I think I've figured it out, just spray a bit of the accent colour onto steel wool and dab it on. Looks pretty good on my test piece but I'm sure it's not to everyone's taste.

Just worried about bleeding under the decals that i'll be putting on top as the accent colour is more pronounced. I'll give it a going over with 1200 grit first though probably.

I saw something like this years ago on a car in a magazine. They did black, let it dry, heavy coat of silver then scrunched up a plastic bag and dabbed it all over and then a red tint lacquer over the top. Looked quite good. Looked similar to that affect.

Just realised I never replied back to this but thanks for your help.

This is the second frame I've done with the first not really being my cup of tea so won't be showing it! Few things is I thought I had done enough clear on the first coat but its seem like I haven't. The fork is perfect though. Couple more questions @general_greyharbour can I go over the clear again without sanding with wet and dry once its fully dried. Been over a week now since I done it.

I noticed that the Metallic Montana Golds sit on the frame way way better than the solid colours, which is good but limiting in terms of colours.

Lastly, I've been given a load circa 40 can of Cellulose spray paint, all new unused but from the research I have done the 2K lacquer won't sit well on top of this.. maybe 1K would work better but have you got any advice?

Quick answer on the clearcoat... you'll need to scuff it first on this instance or the bond will be sub-optimal. Otherwise it'll be like painting on glass... it will be sticky but there'll be no mechanical bond and eventually they could delaminate.

Generally speaking, nitro-cellulose paints don't need to be abraded between coats but on a rattle can clear, deffo scuff.

You're right about product mixing.
Good practice says that you should be using products with suitable solvent relationships.

Get yourself some of these if you don't already... TEST PANELS
You should do a couple of these every time you paint... make sure your layers are going to bond well and that your recipes are suitable. Keep notes on the back regarding temperature, number of coats etc. Useful for repairs and also good for your portfolio... more importantly, if you goof, you'll ruin a cheap panel and not someone's bike!

One thing that the visual appearance of a finish can't tell you is the strength of the actual bonds... if the bike looks good, that's cool but if the paint flakes off after a summer then you'll have people asking you why.

Extensive testing on panels will help you figure out the combos which work for you.

As you come to paint a greater quantity of colour product you'll come to learn things like... metallics can cover better BUT the caveat is, they show prep marks and imperfections more significantly... on your final image, there are a couple of dings in the metal around the seat tube insertion area... some colours would hide this much better but a silver-like colour such as you've used is going to make a highlight of that!

Good luck with it all.

Hey not quite sure if this is the right place to ask because it is about DIY custom paint.
I am thinking of painting an old MTB frame. On the shortlist and heavily inspired by some of the brilliant stuff from @M_V I am considering a two-color Montana rattle can job.
Crackle paint or Marble. I feel like this might also be quite forgiving if the finish isn't perfect in the end.
I am just wondering how much I need.

1. Base Colour
   
2. Marble or Crackle
   
3. Varnish/clear coat?
   
   

Do I need a primer? Is one can of each enough?
Also while I am here. Any good tips for DIY filling a tiny dent before painting?

Inspiration below

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Thank you for the kind words.

I do:

Bare minimum 1 coat zinc rich primer. I usually end up doing two coats because I miss bits rather than for any thickness concerns.
At least one coat base colour. Often doing two for reason mentioned above.
Crackle or marble.
1 coat Halfords Heavy Duty PU clear lacquer.

The crackle paint requires you to use a base colour from the Gold or White range, one or both of them is low pressure and I don’t really like it. It comes out real powdery and goes everywhere. Crackle is also really difficult to do consistently. I think it’s pretty sensitive to temperature and drying time.

I prefer the Black range which are high pressure cans. You’ll still get a fair amount of ‘dust’ (I’ve been told this is the pigment and there being so much of it, compared to other types of paint, is why the finish can be so durable) but a lot less than the low pressure cans. Hold there can closer than you think, that way the pigment and solvent settle on the frame together, if you hold further back the solvent flashes off and it’ll be dry pigment hitting the frame which won’t stick as well and will be rougher.

One can of Montana Black range should do you a couple coats on a frame, if you’re doing forks too I’d get two cans.

You don’t nearly as much of the crackle and marble, one can will do multiple framesets.

The longer you can leave it between coats the better I think and you also want to give out all a good day or two at the end before building and it’s probably really a week or more till it’s 100% fully cured.

I don’t do any sanding between coats but if you can be bothered then you’ll probably get much smoother results.

Photos attached of the primer and lacquer I use. This lacquer seems to be a lot harder than any other I’ve tried.

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Thank you @M_V for the lengthy reply!
My dad's workshop isn't useable now, so I'll have to postpone this.

I’m about to spray a black carbon frame with Chromacoat Keylime. I realise from this thread I haven’t done enough sanding.

I’ve been recommended a grey primer (instead of black) so I can see where I have painted and where I have missed. I was then advised to do a basecoat in black.

Can I do a coat of black primer then spray the Chromacoat straight over the primer?
If I do need to go primer-base-Chromacoat, what is the best colour base for Chromacoat?

I'm going to have a go at painting a frame for the second time. The first time was a balance bike so not sure that counts but I definitely learnt something! Any clever tips for masking off things like BB threads and eyelets for mudguards/racks etc? I read that cotton buds work for smaller threads. If I just stick a sacrificial bolt in there, will I be able to get it out after painting?

For M5 threads for bottle cage mounts, rack mounts and mudguard mounts I just use nylon M5 bolts which are easy to undo after painting. For everything else I just use masking tape.

Good idea! I'll order some in

I imagine given that I'm 12 days late that you might already have progressed with this BUT...

Chromacoats need black beneath them to make the colour work "properly".

You can alter the groundcoat to alter the top colour effect... if your chromacoat shifts from blue to green to gold and you paint it over a green, it will instead have the effect of shifting more dramatically from blue to gold...

In terms of painting directly over a black primer, you can most certainly do this if you wish but in skipping the black groundcoat stage you're removing the opportunity for mid-process repairs.

Good practice would see you prime the bike, then put a key in the primer, then "spot prime" over place where you've accidentally burned through, then give a full even black groundcoat, and flip paint on top. If you have any inclusions in the finish when you're applying the flip, you can scuff it back a little and be safe in the knowledge that there's black beneath, then dust a little more in it's place... if you skip black and have an inclusion issue and you need to abrade paint away, you may end up exposing the substrate and need to start again.

The key you put in the primer will give you optimal bond between layers for a stronger, longer lasting finish. Importantly though, too coarse a key will show prep scratches in the flip paint (and silver and any product heavy with pearl or flake, and light in hue). The black intermediate groundcoat layer will minimise this effect by flooding prep scratches before the flip goes on.

For the BEST results with a flip paint, you would use this layering...
Wet on wet... primer, black, clear
Flatten, then flip, then clear, then flatten, clear.

You can also of course skip the black stage completely if you're working on carbon... just use a direct adhesion clear instead of a primer, then put the flip on.

Broadly speaking, you should always follow the instructions to the letter until you've mastered the products and tooling... if for no other reason than to understand how it's supposed to work according to the manufacturer and in trouble shooting, you'll potentially find solutions quicker.

Remember that when using rattle cans, you've already lost any control over the product blend or recipe, the product viscosity, the fan pattern, the pressure too... and some of these elements will change mid-process as the can loses pressure and you empty out the solvents and the pigment unevenly... changing more elements just makes the task a little trickier.

In our booth, we have silicone corks and bungs in various dimensions which are resistant to heat and chemicals and easy to clean. You can get these from home brewing beer sites and such... or I'm sure eBay will have them.

Anything with a thread can have a blank bolt popped in it as @Brommers has said. These can also double as additional handling points so you don't put your fingers in wet paint whilst you move the frame around as you paint... fwiw, if you aren't moving the fame around while you paint, you're doing it wrong!

A sacrificial seatpost with tape around it is great too.

Same for the BB... pop an old one in there in you have one.

Just dunk that stuff in paint thinner when you're done and wipe it clean with some scotchbrite.

We cut sheets of assorted sized vinyl circles on a daily basis with our plotter and then pop them over anything we need to cover, flash them with a heat gun and then paint. This is often better than using bolts, which can sometimes get in the way of even coverage, especially in a fade for example.

In some cases, because of colour combinations, or specific product nuances, masking or blanking a thread just doesn't work, so you can simply ignore that stage, and rely on cutting the thread clean afterwards.

It's also worth knowing that sometimes it's simply much more practical, and gives a better result if you paint over something and then sand the paint off afterwards... lots of builders have stainless elements in awkward shapes and masking can be a big time investment so it can simply be easier to primer, then sand the primer off, then base and sand, then clear and sand. Here's an example.

Same is true of stainless bottle bosses or track ends... if it doesn't need paint, don't put paint on it because the alternative is that you'll bind and grind the paint off when you fit your bottle cages or put the rear wheel in etc.

I'd avoid using cotton buds completely... this is poor DIY practice, the fibres from the them can get in the finish, and they can also be too absorbent and draw product away from where it needs to sit.

I'd also swerve any kind of bing bag/clingflim affair that I've seen people get involved with online... paint can dry on the surface of these and then as soon as you remove it, crinkled up crumbs of colour land unevenly in your work.

If you're plotting graphics, a rolled up piece of your backing sheet can be used on a BB.

And if you're using masking tapes, just make sure you use a tape designed for an edge if you want a clean edge.

And if you have a nice bike with an internal headset, be mindful that some masking tapes can leave a gluey residue so be prepared to remove this with a suitable solvent, or choose your tape carefully.

A sacrificial seatpost with tape around it is great too.

I've got a few quill type dummy seatposts I made up from old seatposts and a machined wedge which I use for holding the frame in a stand while I spray it.

Great idea!

If you're in a DIY situation, these can be helpful.

Or if you can get one of the park tool expanding seatpost clamps, these are also useful.

This is all really helpful, thanks a lot! With things like using an old BB to protect threads, is it an issue removing them at all? My (possibly unfounded) fear would be the BB getting stuck because of the paint. I should have mentioned, this is a crappy gas pipe frame I got for free from work. The finish doesn't need to be amazing, it mostly just needs to cover the existing branding to make it non-recognisable as an ex hire bike. I want to do as good a job as I can but it doesn't need to hold up to too much scrutiny.

It won't be an issue at all but... if you're worried, just don't install the BB all the way... it only has to cover the threads.

And these inconsequential projects are the ones where you can afford to make mistakes and learn how to do a better job on a "proper" finish... the more meticulous you are, and the more detail focussed your are, the better you'll be on the next one and the better you'll be as a refinisher overall.

Good call. We've got plenty of old, knackered BBs lying around so I'll use one of them.
Thanks for all the help!

Here may be the best place to seek advice.

I bought a raw aluminium caad x frame that I want to sand and polish up. I understand the process of going higher in grade of wet and dry to achieve a more polished look....

But my question is... How the hell do you achieve this finish... low bikes

It's not that polished in terms of reflection but it is super smooth and consistent but yet dull?

I'm assuming Andrew low has perfected this process and most likely uses power tools and polishing wheels to achieve this, As all the polishing marks looks the same direction. Beats my hand sanding and messy direction.

For what it's worth I'm about to start the 600 grit process and have not touched metal polish yet.

Anyone have any insight?

Get it completely smooth and shiny after going through the grades and polishing. Then brush it with a fine scotchbrite pad

This.

Its a scotch pad.

The trick to that consistency is keeping all the lines parallel.

Place the pad on the substrate, move it left and right like you might see a shoe shine in a movie... then lift and replace it. If you try to move up and down a tube whilst also going left and right, you'll get zigzags in your scratch pattern and they will compromise the effect.

Without wishing to dismiss anyone's efforts, that effect doesn't require a great amount of skill, just patience.