NorCal Frame Painters?
 

Anyone know of a good frame painter near Sacramento or in NorCal in general? I have an old steel frame/fork that I want to get sand blasted and powdercoated.

I'd be interested in this too, especially if it's around $100 for the job.

I had a quy quote me 40.00 to sandblast the frame and fork...I understand that most powdercoaters..do the blasting and prep and the powdercoating.

Do you know if you have to remove the headset races or can those be masked?

not sure what all has to be removed...I've been trying to search the painting threads

I've heard of this guy, but never used him personally..

http://www.joesbicyclepainting.com/

Check these out, both from nor cal.http://www.joesbicyclepainting.com/, http://www.sycip.com/

Try PM'ing genejockey and see where he got his steel frame done. Not sure where they are located but they did a really nice job on his bike.

A place called Maas Tech in Hayward will bead-blast and powdercoat your frame/fork for $75. If you're doing a fancy restoration and want a really meticulous paint-job, they are not what you're looking for. But if you're just looking to make an old, not-too-special frame look decent, they are a good option. Here's a frame I had painted there.

Maas Tech is suppose to be good. There were a few threads about them in the Road forum.

I work in Santa Clara and had my frame done at one of my vendors. BR&F Spray. They did my Al frame for $75 strip and powder coat. The quality was just ok, not that great.

Here's an option for a high quality job. Not cheap, but worth it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...y/DSCF0540.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../BatFinal4.jpg

D&D Frame Services, San Lorenzo. 510-278-2976

Those pics don't do genejockey's frame total justice. You should see it in person! It's a work of art! They did a beautiful job on the details on the frame!

You won't be able to get a decent wet paint job done for less than $300-$350. Powdercoat yes, paint no.

That being said, I recommend Ed Litton in Richmond. He did a heck of a job on my Swiss Mondia restoration.

Yeah, I think I might just go ahead and rattlecan the old Trek myself. After reading through all of Dr. D's posts first, of course.

I rattle canned a job and it looked great. But, the durability was not good. I would recommend meticulously prepping and waiting till summer to do it. I sprayed mine in the fall and left it for 3 mos. but I don't think it really ever cured right. If you have a way to bake it, even better. I'll be redoing my spray job this coming summer. Also, if you're going to use chemical stripper, use the brush on stuff. The spray on is not nearly strong enough.

The blue one in the top left is the before:

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/7950/dcao02838cs.jpg

Here's the after:

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/6...bike004qz4.jpg

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3...bike003nc7.jpg

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/2381/img0210ds3.jpg

Huytheskigod,

That is a good looking DIY paint job. What brand paint did you use and what kind of prepping did you have to do? I going through Dr.D threads now to get ready to paint a frame I just picked up. TIA.

Here's an old bike of mine (one of many I regret selling).
Miyata 310
Rattle canned: stripped with Jasco, 2 coats Rustoleum primer, 3 coats Rustoleum "almond", Rustoleum "sunrise red" lugs, 3 coats Rustoleum clear coat.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2354/...da188075_b.jpg

There's a place in Grass Valley (near here) that quoted me 135.00 for the frame and 30.00 for the fork. That's to sand blast and them powder coat.

joesbicyclepainting used to be Calfee's painter until they went in-house.
a good quality paint job they do.

Hmm....let see.

I first stripped the frame with a spray on stripper which did not work as well as I would have hoped. That's why I recommend a brush on type. Residual paint is removed with course sand paper.

I washed the frame thoroughly with soap and water then dried completely.

Next I sprayed one coat of primer and let dry. Wet sand down then sprayed a second coat followed by a second sanding.

Now I sprayed the white that on the downtube and seattube. Three coats with the dry time in between as required by the paint. I let that dry for a couple days or a week...I don't remember. I masked over that with painters tape to get ready to spray the blue.

I think the blue needed 3-5 coats -ish. The first coat or two will be very thin and will be spotty. Don't worry, you want light coverage but not runs. It'll fill in on subsequent coats.

I wet sand the paint surface before the clear coat. I sprayed on a coat of clear. After that dried, I affixed the decals.

After that, I sprayed on 3 coats of clear.

Last step was a wax and polish with some turtle wax.

The paint was Dupli-color automotive paint from Kragen. I also used an engine clear coat for the strength and heat resistance. It should have worked if the paint cured right.

I sent my frame to Calfee for repair, and they sent it to a frame painter. I'll bet this is the frame painter, as he is in nearby Watsonville. Carbon Frame repair and painting came to $300.

Thanks, skigod and blast for the info.

Like I said - powdercoat yes, wet paint, no.

A traditional wet paint job by a painter that knows what he's doing - single color with clearcoat - will be at least $300, more like $350.

Maas in Hayward will blast and powdercoat frame and fork for under $100, for colors they have in stock. But you'll burn up your savings in time and gas getting there fvrom where you are.

Anyone try Scheib or Maaco for a wet paint job?

Nope - that might be a good idea, but I've had them paint cars before and drips/runs are pretty common with their work.

I tried a local body shop one time with no luck. I told them to just spray it with whatever color they happened to have in the gun when they had some slow time. They told me they would prefer to stick to painting autos, and said the paint guys were plenty busy painting regular jobs as it was.