Best rattlecan paint for bikes?

Does anyone have much experience of spray painting bikes with rattle cans?

Ive done tidbits with cheap car paint, and some krylon when I was a kid too naive to know where the powdercoaters was.

But the prices of powdercoating is getting pretty high, and spray cans seem attractive again. Particularly the freedom of being able to change colours at little expense.

Good quality graffiti spray cans only seem to be £3-£4

Does anybody know if they work well on bikes?

Or would something like halfords 2 pack paint be better?

THIS:

http://www.spraymax.de/index.php?id=2&L=1 -> "SprayMax 2K Acryl-Decklacke RAL"

as it's 2 component based

if you want a cheap powdercaoting job and you dont mind going out o flondon you could try:
http://sitebuilder.yell.com/sb/show.do?id=SB0001467038000050
did mine like this for £25:
http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/ad110/fozzibike/DSC_0240.jpg

I sprayed a couple of bike this summer. You need min. 2 cans auto primer, 2 cans paint and 2 cans lacquer per frame to do it well (I did anyway) plus the time and effort prepping the frame, dustsheets to make a booth... with the cost and hassle I think I'd just go for a cheap but decent powdercoat now as the finish is never as good as you hope and it chips really easy. That said, some folks swear by Hammerite as a cheap alternative and I've never used it.

^ the finish is only as good as you make it.

I used to be a professional spraypainter and with proper preparation and a lot of wetsanding you can get a perfect finish with rattlecans. You could apply the paint with a brush or roller and still get a good result if you had enough patience.

Hi there

I'm on my 2nd rattle can job this year
As the pro shops over here charge
At least 130 quid.

My first was a raleigh pro track which
Is somewhere on the forum. That turned
Out well enough but i was in no rush
And didnt want to fxxk it up. That was
Just rattle cans.

My second is a hetchins i bought off
Hillary a month ago. Just.
I agree with the guy above at least
2 primer,2 main,2 laquer and plenty of time.

All in the prep at each stage.

This guy has some good
Info-

Www.theflyingwheel.com

Good luck!!

probably very true-I think not having much regular experience I just found it really hard to get an even application of paint, then got the occasional tiny run or random splatter from the can that fucked everything up... even a big bit of dust or fibre screws up the finish! I tried to be careful with the environment by making a wee booth and keeping a good temperature but can imagine a real booth and a good gun would go a long way.

Still, glad I tried it and I could see a big improvement from the first frame I did to the second one.

With regards to the durability of the finish-is that just my lack of skills too or wrong type of paint for the job? I left the frames inside for a couple of weeks to cure in a warm room and they still chip really easily, which are worse than any of the blemishes on them from my lack of skill!

Generally rattlecan paint chips easily, even the acrylic stuff. There's not a lot you can do about it other than use decent primer. I still rattlecan stuff (I've gone back to uni so I had to leave my compressor and whatnot in my girlfriend's garage) and I've found that Hycote Double Acrylic is my personal favourite, and their primers are good too. It still does chip easily, but not nearly as bad as Carplan or Halfords watery crap.

My mate painted his forks with Plastikote enamel - it's at least as tough as Hycote stuff and a bit cheaper too, but the range of colours is really limited.

I would suggest against using lacquer if you want your job to last more than a few days. Even if you take great care with the prep, I still find the laquer is seriously brittle. I have gone the matte route on the last couple of bikes I have done, used the toughest rattle-can matte I can and given it as many coats as possible. This seems to be a lot more durable. I hate getting a beautiful finish with the auto lacquers and then having it ruined the first few lamp-posts you chain your bike to.

Does anyone know of any really durable clearcoats you can use if you just want a bare metal bike? Lacquer on bare metal is obviously a stupid idea, but it got me to thinking that there must be some more bombproof straight-to-metal varnishes that would do the job, even if they were paint on.

Also, does anyone know a powdercoaters in the southampton/hampshire are who know how not to ruin BB threads and suchlike?

I would suggest against using lacquer if you want your job to last more than a few days. Even if you take great care with the prep, I still find the laquer is seriously brittle. I have gone the matte route on the last couple of bikes I have done, used the toughest rattle-can matte I can and given it as many coats as possible. This seems to be a lot more durable. I hate getting a beautiful finish with the auto lacquers and then having it ruined the first few lamp-posts you chain your bike to.

Does anyone know of any really durable clearcoats you can use if you just want a bare metal bike? Lacquer on bare metal is obviously a stupid idea, but it got me to thinking that there must be some more bombproof straight-to-metal varnishes that would do the job, even if they were paint on.

Yeah you only need lacquer for protecting a metallic finish. No point on solid colours. They're not durable out of a can even if you key the surface properly.

As for clearcoating, I used cheap cellulose clearcoat that I shot out of a gun. It's... not durable. 2pk acrylic might be better. Armourtex do a clear lacquer that I've heard is very durable over bare metal.

Or you could just use a greasy rag.

bump

Anyone know a good place to buy hycote double acrylic in London?

Also, does anyone know a powdercoaters in the southampton/hampshire are who know how not to ruin BB threads and suchlike?

Any frame painting will require you to chase and face a BB anyway.

If you don't want to why not just get it painted with an old BB in the frame? Cut round the BB before removing and the internals of the shell should be as they were prior to painting.

^ naw, there's no need to chase or face since all you're doing is removing paint, rather than removing metal. All you need is a bradawl to clean out the threads (or it's easy to make a thread cleaner out of an old BB cup) and some fine emery paper on a flat block to remove the paint from the BB shell faces - I've always done it like this even on frames that've been powdercoated and not masked at all. If I had a fancy-schmancy external-cup BB then I would get it faced, but with a normal cartridge or cup/cone I don't think there's much point in spending the money.

Old BB cups are the best thing for protecting the threads though, so long as you can get them out again (i.e. use ones with spanner flats rather than pin-spanner holes).

Some good info here, thanks.

I find Halfords paints are really good.

I have been building a singlespeed [check out the blog diary of it : http://buildingabicycle.tumblr.com/].

Do primer first, then a gloss and then clear lacquer.

I find Halfords paints are really good.

I have been building a singlespeed [check out the blog diary of it : http://buildingabicycle.tumblr.com/].
"The URL you requested could not be found."

http://buildingabicycle.tumblr.com/

sorry I linked it wrongly

Cool, I may as well go to Halfrauds for the paint, I need it for stuff that won't get too many knocks.

Another question: if I wanted to use filler to smooth out wavy tig welds prior to paint, what kind will be suitable? Something for cars?

P38 is good filler. ive painted boats over P38. no cracking and perfectly smooth finish. it takes to metal really well plus it smells amazing.
i have a tub for work and just open it up every now and then just to take a smell

it less that a fiver for a tub

drugs are for mugs

In what kind of emporium will I find this elixhir?

P38 you will get at any builders merchants like Leyland SDM or any car shop.
its not harmful, just smells nice. just read the tub, harmful by inhalation....

Cool, hopefully halfrauds will have that too.

halfords do a good discount on trade accounts if you know anyone with an account. a good 30%+

http://buildingabicycle.tumblr.com/

sorry I linked it wrongly

I wasnt expecting much when you said halfords and rattlecans, but thats suprised me. im looking forward to seeing how it will look once completed