H A P P Y N E W Y E A R ! ! !

Just HAD to post this for the top o' the page!

Before:

After:


Rattle can job done by me.

Yes it is ... almost.

kpfeif - looks good. The test will be in how well it holds up.

Dr. D. - I saw one of your masterpieces, belonging to a gentleman named Zach, here in Santa Cruz last Friday. It was a gorgeous Pinarello with a fish scale looking paint job, blue/green fade. It got quite a few looks.

el twe, that is an oooold paintjob, if it's the one I'm thinking of.

I did that one back in..uh...1992?
I'll have do dig deep to find pictures of that one!

Was there a matching fork??

Funny thing is that my Jr. High School psychologist gave me that frame/fork. (yes, I spent mucho time in his office)
In 8th grade I was the unibomber!
90% of my yearbook signatures contain the comments "Don't blow yourself up this Summer!"
(yes, I had all the chemicals to make nitroglycerin! although at the time, I was just unaware that you had to DISTILL the chemicals together to get it to work correctly. According to my 8th grade chemistry teacher, the 100mL that I mixed, had I distilled it, would be enough for about 8 sticks of TNT!)
Glad THAT ONE didn't go as planned!

Anyway...After I painted the frame/fork and Dan saw it, he paid me for it and took it back. Thing was that I had misplaced the fork. He took the frame & I never saw him or it again. A couple months later I found the fork but couldn't find Dan. So I left the fork at a LBS that he frequented, hoping it would reunite with the frame.

Until el twe posted about it, I haven't heard hide nor hair about that frame since!
Apparently, The frame is out there!* Thanks for the update!

*isn't that what agent Muller used to say?

The current owner's name is Zach, so there might have been a sale. I don't think the fork was matching, it may have even been carbon...

Here's the only picture I could find of ... the fork!

I guess the frame & fork never found each other again

This picture may look different than what you saw because the 3 color fade is front/middle/back.
Yellow from the front of the bike, green from the side and blue from behind.
The colors are candy* colors over a pearl marbelizer over black base.
The cut-outs were done in gold leaf. Aaaalmost visible on the fork crown.
No decals as I originally did the paintjob for myself, but Dan saw it and talked me into selling it to him.
(he still wears the leather belt I made him in 8th grade.)

I was going to letter Pinarello in gold leaf on the down/seat tubes, but in those days I didn't know much about cut vinyl masking.
So it never happened.

I've been trying to pinpoint it's paint vintage, but I can only say somewhere from '89-'92ish.

That seems about right. Only identifying marks are the engraved seat stay caps.

Does anyone have any experience with Toxic Design Laboratory in Vancouver B.C.?

Allllright. Paint is stripped and I am ready to start painting. Again, I am doing this Fuji Special Road Racer on the cheap. I have ready about every post I can find about paints. I think things like Ditzler's and other spray gun paints are our of my price range and am looking for some rattle can advice (Gasp!).

I have only been able to track down someone recommending the following: Duplicolor and Rustoleum. I would rather get something from an auto store and the one guy in my area that can custom mix requires me to order 10 cans which is way too much $$. I also would like to make sure the primer and top coat are from the same manufacturer. So.....

Any recommendations on a rattle can metal prep for steel?
Should I put down a white or black base coat?
Any recommendation on a rattle can primer, top and clear coat?

Or do I just go to the automotive store and buy what they have on the shelf.

Wouldn't you know it. Right after I posted this I found this.

https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/306077-favorite-best-rattle-can-paint.html

Any one know of any painters in Orlando, Fl? I'm looking to have one of my projects done pearl white. Then I'd like to do the pin striping myself. Then clear coat?

My winter project is to repaint my steel Fuji frame. I used denatured alcohol after removing the paint to get rid of all the grease. I sprayed on a coat of duplicolor self-etching primer followed by duplicolor white primer a day later. After giving the first coat a day to dry I started lightly sanding with 600 wet/dry before I gave it a second coat. I am not sure if this should be happening but some of the paint sands right off and I am back down to metal (see pic). I don't think I am sanding too hard. Even after the second coat I am having this problem. The coat of primer is nice and smooth and feels great to the touch. Do I need finer paper or do I just need to give it a very, very light sanding?

Judging from the picture, I'd say .. neither!~

Clean it and spray a couple of coats of the white primer. If you get that on pretty smooth, you shouldn't really need to do any sanding.
The next day (if the Duplicolor says that soon, sometimes you have to wait 72 hours before continuing)
Spray the 2-3 coats of color, with 1-3 hours between coats. Again, refer to the can.
Spray a coat of clear as coat #4.

Let that dry for the 72 hours at least.

Scuff with red ScotchBrite pads & water.

Clean with water or DX330, not alcohol or other chemicals. water is just fine though. Be sure to get all the nooks & crannies. I use an old soft toothbrush.

Aplly decals if desired.

Dust with a tack cloth.

Spray 3-4 coats of clear, same as you did the color.

Let dry until you can't make an impression with your fingernail. Test somewhere like the dropout where the axle is going to go.

If you are ever in doubt, do a test piece on some old PVC pipe first.

Jonathan Greene. PM me if you want me to get you contact information.

Dr. D, You mention trying not to sand metallic/pearl colors. Does this include colors like Duplicolor metallic acrylic lacquer rattle cans?

YES! Sanding a pearl or metallic will leave a dull silverish area that WON'T go away when you clear over it.
If you get a run or other ****er in pearl/metallic colors you can...
A) Leave it, and be more careful next time...
B) Let it dry & sand it. But then you will have silvery stuff, which requires more color to hide it. But if you only spray one area, you'll have dusty edges. Spray those with straight reducer to blend them out a bit.
C) Spray one more shot at the run, then support the frame so the sag goes back the other way. May have to flip it a few times until the paint sets a bit. Then just hit that spot with some extra clear so you can buff out the bumps in the clear instead of the color. Just don't sand through TO the color!

If in doubt, try a sample on a piece of PVC pipe.

This is the way I usually wind up doing it

That Dupli-color stinks to high heaven. My whole house smells funny now. Time to get some ventalation in the Dungeon. (Basement)

I have a couple powdercoating questions.

I got a quote to spray my 73 World Voyageur for $120. I'm trying to match the blue (it's Schwinn Opaque Blue or something close to that), but have to source the powder myself. How difficult is it to match powder and who (if anyone) can do it affordably (like $100 or less)? The shop's quote was $450 to match, mask, and spray so I stand to save a considerable amount by doing it myself.

The chrome seat/chainstays, headtube lugs, and forkblades are getting masked. Is there some sort of hi-temp tape I should use to keep it the masking safe in the oven?

I'd look for another shop if you can. Around here, I can get a frame stripped, masked and coated for $100-$150 depending on color. I've heard of folks getting all that done for $50 elsewhere. While NYC could be high, $450 is nuts and if you look around you can probably find someone that can do the entire job for a lot less, including masking, stripping and matching the color you want.

If you want a truly top-notch job, check out Spectrum in Colorado.

Finally, check this thread for answers to most any powder coating question.

Thanks. I don't think I would have ever seen that thread. That's incredibly useful.

I was reading the how tos on bike painting, but nowhere do i see to use a heat gun. Is it good to use a heat gun and "cook" the paint on after painting a frame?

+ hacksaw + lots of rusteater + sandpaper + 30 bucks worth of spray paint =







terribly amateur and flimsy paint... but cheap.

Anyone recommend a particular bang-for-buck HVLP gun?