salvaging my paint job (rank amateur)

I have spent the past week attempting a rattlecan repaint. It seems to have gotten a bit ugly and I want to know if it's worth fixing or if I need to strip it and try again (or pay out the schnoz for a shop). I stripped it to bare metal, bondoed the small dent, wetsanded the hell out of it. primed and sanded until I ran out of primer. Then I wet sanded with 800 grit until it was super smooth. I painted it with high gloss duplicolor black, two light coats then one medium, wetsanding with 1000 grit between.

It looked like crap. Really, really bad. It was all splotchy and uneven, and you could see individual droplets in the light. I've wetsanded it to a flat black, to maybe try again, but I don't want to mess it up this time.

There are some factors against me. I don't have anything like a temperature and humidity controlled environment. I am a college student, so I don't have any place to do this at my own house. I've been using my girlfriend's mom's garage (no garage door). It's not cold per se, but definitely not warm. (about 55-60 F) This may be causing some of the problem. If you guys think it will help, I can take a pic of the the tank in it's current state of black flatness.

I really want my bike to be in great shape for spring, so any advice from you guys would be appreciated.

safe riding,
Cary

You should get some replys from this one, but if not, do a search in the archive's, it has been talked about before, and I have seen some great rattle can paint jobs on here. One thing it sounds like to me..... ( im no pro ) but you said you sanded all the primer off. did you sand it all off? if so you need to start over cause the paint wont stick well without it. and if you use enamal paint, you MUST use enamle primer, if not it will not turn out at all. Hope this helps.

Maybe that was unclear... I did NOT sand off all the primer. I sanded the primer smooth after each application. There was plenty of primer on the surface when I applied the black paint.

wait till it warms up a little and take your spraypaint and stick it in the sink and let hot water run on the can untill youre ready to use it,it helps thin the paint out so it goes on smoother!when you spray it try going back and forth evenly and overlap your coats,ive never spraypainted a gastank before but painted lots of little parts and this has allways worked for me!also make sure you use good paint if you use 99 cent paint that what you get !after you get it the way you want it cover it with a couple coats of clear that will make it shine!goodluck,happy wrenching!

You say you have it sanded down to a flat finish now. If that finish is smooth and without flaws, a good coat of clear will will really make shine.

tlh nailed it, but theres alot of factors in painting to consider, temp plays a huge role in the outcome of your paint.
as far as running hot water on a can, bad idea these cans are pressurised and heat makes the paint expand.
just keep the cans and parts in your house until your ready to shoot them. 65- 75f is optimal temp.
as far as you garage is concerned you can buy a roll of 1-6mil plastic from home depot to keep the contaminant levels down.a ceramic heater with a way to "duct in" the heat, do not put the heater anywhere near the fumes. you have decent climate right now but it could use a slight warmup so you dont have to crank the heat.also get a mercury style thermometer. spring type arent very accurate.
you will need a good light as well, flouresent is good.
when you spray watch the spray pattern in the reflection. practice to get a feel for how the paint spreads, how far away to hold the can and how fast to move.
6 inches is usually good for even coat with less overspray.

the splotchy and uneveness is most likely caused by the flash time or lack there of.
flash is the term for the paint tacking (most paints are 10-15 minute flash) if you miss this window its best to let that coat fully cure before next coat.
you dont have to sand between every coat.
only the important ones. last primer coat,last color coat and if you spray 6 coats of clear you should sand after the third and last coat.
then you can buff and wax it to a high gloss.
im still trying to figure out what kind of wax is best for protecting gas spills.
so far from what ive tested carnuba seems to work best.
i suggest to everyone who goes with rattlecan to save for a prospray.
rattlecan paint lacks the catalysts and hardener to protect against uv and corrosion(though many claim to)

your paintjob should hold for a couple of years depending on how often you ride and how many gas spills happen.
that should be plenty of time to save a few hundred for a paintjob.
a prospray will last at LEAST 3 times as long.

p.s. never take it down to bare metal unless you absolutly have to and have a sealer handy and ready to shoot.
ANY moisture that gets to the metal will effect the outcome of your paintjob.
best thing to do is sand down the previous paint smooth

this doesn't make me very optimistic. I'll try to find a more temp controlled place to work. I'd like to powdercoat, but the bondo won't hold up to the heat.

Like mysticwolf said....if enamel paint, make D*MN SURE
the primer is enamel based....if lacquer paint, lacquer primer. This little lesson I learned the hard way:blink:
Sounds like a technique thing, rather than weather, altho could be slightly warmer in a perfect world.
I'd get a piece of cardboard and spray IT same way as yer shooting the tank to check pattern, speed, etc.
Also....prep solvent is a good idea right before spraying....and tack-rag after each sanding
Good luck, let us know how goes.....

I plan to shoot again as soon as it warms up a bit. In the mean time, I'll sand and clean what's already on there. Thanks for the help. I'll be sure to let you know what happens when I try again.

If it is all flat, and all the same shade, with no shiney low spots...try buffing it with 3m superduty, followed with microfinishing compound, and finished with maguiiers pro swirl remover. You can still repaint it later if need be. I wouldn't put more paint on if it's a uniform shade of flat black. If you got all the spots out, just buff it. This will also give you some time to see if any water was absorbed by the bondo. That section may need redoing, if it was. Generally, wet sanding bondo isn't recommended. Also, you can dry sand with 1500 to make sure it's really uniformly sanded. Wetsanding is great, but it all looks the same under the water. I very light sanding dry with the 1500 will show the real story. This is what my tail looked like after the process I gave you above. It was uniformly flat black before this. hope that helps.

If you post some pics it will be easier to diagnose things.

I'd bet the temp isn't gonna make a difference if you are around 60F. just make sure the workpiece is the same temp as the paint you are applying. messing with temps can cause some crazy reactions that you don't want.

pictures of it now, and then put 3 more coats on it and take some more pictures.

then again if your feeling froggy you can heat the piece and cool the paint and get a real nice crinkle.
messing around with different temps on both the paint and the parts will change the pattern and effect how much it crinkles.

btw welcome back john.



Post edited by: mykznme, at: 2006/01/13 21:47