Thanks for the responses and after rattle can painting a set of car wheels and pricing various rattle can solutions I'm leaning toward Spray Max 2k rattle cans of epoxy primer, color and clear from 66autocolor.com. I might include a sandable primer too, not sure.

Those who prefer enamel from rattle cans, where do you find interesting colors? Unfortunately I'm only finding basic colors in enamel.

Thanks again.

Tractor Supply seems to have the widest variety of colors, but none of them exactly excited me either.

Finished the paint job this weekend. 3 coats of primer, 4 coats of color, 3 coats of clear. Super easy to chip the frame. I bumped the drop out against a board and off came some paint. Put the rear wheel in and removed the paint from the slot. Will go with a brush next time just to see the difference. Will use the boat poly urethane paint, too.

Colors are not too bad, and I saw quarts of the stuff on Ebay for 35 bucks:


http://www.jamestowndistributors.com.../large/64s.jpg

Which type of spray can primer and paint did you use?

Thanks

Valspar Premiun for both the primer and top coat. About $5 a can at Do It Center. I believe it is made by Rustoleum.

$5 dollars a can? Why that's outrageous! Isn't there anything cheaper? :D

I have dozens of friends who have had really good results with https://us.spray.bike/ . My friends at Squid have done some amazing spray jobs with it.

I sprayed my first frame with Spray Bike. I think that for the most part it came out really good. I had a few interesting things happen that I can't exactly explain with one of my colors and the clear coat. The blue is considered a flouro and because of that it has more power in the paint. It is/was certainly more finicky. The orange came out beautiful. I don't think I'd use a flouro color again but I'm getting ready to paint my second frame and have already got my paint.

The clear seemed to take forever to cure, like weeks. Even many days afterward, the frame was sticky to the touch in places. I live in a very dry area and humidity is almost non-existent, but almost think it was more humid than I thought. Not sure. Maybe I'm an idiot too. Could be.

Overall I'm happy with the results as a first time user. Second frame will be done once it cools down here.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...26a56b8196.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6c526f5e09.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...63c60a1a78.jpg

Because I don't want to spend the extra money on a proper respirator for spraying automotive paint I checked into the spray.bike guys. Unfortunately they're currently out of primer. I sent them an email asking when it will be available again and if they had any suggestions for other primers that will play well with their paint. Hopefully I get an answer soon, I need to get this frame painted already.

fwiw I am of the firm opinion that you should use a respirator for any type of spray paint

I agree and I do. I just don't want to spend the kind of money for a positive pressure respirator.

I wouldn't feel comfortable using isocyanate-based paints without a supplied air mask. When I was looking into DIY solutions, I found Breathe-cool. They sell a system for about $400

got it ......all of this is why if I need to redo a frame it will be powder coated or painted by someone else

Please let us know what they say regarding other primers. I'd like to know as well.

Here's the Spray.Bike response regarding primers:

We are probably at least two weeks out on having the primer back in stock.

We have painted quite a bit with rustoleum primer from the hardware store and had pretty good luck. Definitely no reactions with Spray.Bike that we have run into.

now that it's getting colder here, finding a place to spray is going to be a problem. I was looking at spray tents in the garage, but there is no ventilation other than opening the door, which would get back to the temperature problem

Doug Fattic, in SW MI, faces this temp issue by trying to not paint when it's cold out. With good/healthy venting it's impossible to keep the booth warm enough. And IIRC the additives to help the paint's flow out/curing also take away from the paint's final finish and durability, Andy

There should be a colour/life indicator somewhere on the cartridge that changes colour with exposure to the chemicals you are trying to filter out. It's kind of like reading litmus paper, so you can choose how far along the filtration cycle is good for you. I usually toss mine at about the 75% used mark.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/worker-h...por-cartridge/

Thanks for pointing that out, I was not aware of those markers.

AFAIK, nobody rates their cartridges for use with isocyanates so I feel like they wouldn't put detection strips on it for that. However, from what I read after this thread started, they stop working for VOC before they stop working for isocyanates, so maybe it's okay. Take that as internet wisdom though, wasn't from an authoritative source My asthma annoys me enough that I'm not taking risks with something like that, as enticing as the thought of saving $400 might be

I'm fortunate to live in a climate that's agreeable for painting outdoors. I set up some plastic screens on one side of my patio and have at it. There is lots of venting and airflow. When shooting the clear when my head may be in the overspray, I hold my breath and get in there and spray fast and then I back off. I use a charcoal mask, not a fresh air setup. I've spent some time in automotive paint shops and have seen them shoot small panel repairs using just a charcoal mask on their downdraft primer area. I questioned this and they said it meets their safety requirements. Anyway, as just an occasional user this is what I do. I don't recommend this for anyone else of course, just sharing a data point and my reasoning.

I know it's been awhile but I finally painted my bike and it went nowhere near according to plan. After pricing automotive paint and then proper respirators I decided to use bike enamel. Then the bike enamel site didn't have some of the paints I wanted and I didn't want to wait. I ended up using Rustoleum Professional Enamel in rattle cans. Since I was doing a couple of different colors, I sprayed the grey first then the blue then finally the green. When I thought I was done with color, I went to spray non-professional Rustoleum clear enamel and the color immediately started to crack and bubble - the paint guy at Home Depot was wrong, they don't work together. Luckily I saw the bubbling quickly and stopped. I re-sanded those areas and resprayed the color.

Overall, even though it looks nothing like I originally imagined, I'm happy with how it came out. It's still really a 5' paint job but I'm fine with that. If I ever build another frame, I'll put more effort into the paint.

Mistake post.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bd5234b972.jpg
And here's a pic. Again, if you don't look too closely it doesn't look bad.

GC- Even if I squint I can still see the colors and pattern:)

While not my cup of tea I'm glad you're good with both the work and the results. My next frame will go against my better judgment and get PCed due to cost and how it will get used. Andy

Well, if I do another frame it will likely be Ti so I won't paint at all. If I do a steel frame, realistically there's a good chance I'd have it powder coated. At least I'd look long and hard into that option.

On bare steel you can give it a hcl wipe down . This will quickly remove carbon, rust in varing degrees of severity. Just rinse with very cold water and dry quickly. A great source of weak hcl is toilet bowl cleaner get the watery stuff not the gel or thick versions snobowl is what I was taught on. We would clean all our tubes, lugs and fittings in it before brazing. Just do not leave parts in too long or they will get eaten by the acid. This was a hand me trick from one of my predecessors and the great grandfather of a few of us MN frame builders Cecil Behringer

HCl may be fine for steel cleanup before brazing but I wouldn't use it before paint without neutralizing. Phosphoric acid on the other hand is a good option.