Help with painting KZ750 frame and wheels

I plan on painting my whole bike. From the triple tree to the wheels and frame. Someone recommended I use the Finish 1 product from ACME. I was planning using the single stage Acrylic enamel in gloss black. Does anyone know if that is a good paint to use on the frame and such? I would assume it’s cheaper that power coating everything. Ik I need to buy a HPLV 1.4mm spray gun. I saw some from Summit Racing that look okay. It was 75$ or so. I assume that is mid range.



Thanks.

Good Luck, Good for you to try yourself! Singe stage paint is excellent! I have been using it for over 20 years. But are you sure enamel? Not urethane? And $75 bucks for a spray gun is cheap! I paid over $400 bucks for one of my guns. You can get guns with all 3 nozzles, that you can change out as you spray. 1.4, 1.6, 1.8. Single stage is great for small parts and frames. My HVLP can spray out 9-10 psi. Hit parts slow and direct! Like slow motion. My black flows like black liquid water! Plus you can water sand and buff single stage. And blend in on panels. Only draw back is metalic. Solid colors are the tits! Only ACME stuff I know of is what "WYLIE COYOTE" used on the "ROADRUNNER".
Just use anything car quality, that a collision shop uses! Dupont's "NASON" is my choice nowadays. Dupont Chromaone or PPG is real expensive. Go with off brand name.
JMO I started with lacquers in the mid 1970's.. Nowadays, you need to have a Chemist's degree to figure all the product out now!

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationI used Nason single stage urethane and it was the best paint I've ever sprayed.

Flows out great and doesn't run unless you lay it on super heavy. Great great stuff!

Transtar epoxy primer was laid down first, after sandblasting the frame. You can see some photos in my 750E rebuild thread linked in my signature.

Well, if anyone lives anywhere close to Birmingham Alabama and has a quality paint gun, is willing to help me out, let me know. Because a $400 gun isn’t in my budget.

Thanks!

You don't need a $400 gun. You can find nice used guns on ebay if you want to go that route, and then rebuild them. Or get one of the better knockoff's, some of which are pretty good. I shoot most everything with a 1.0 tip in a touch up gun so you don't need some fire hose gun to shoot a motorcycle.

For what you plan to do, the $19.95 Harbor freight "purple" HVLP gun will do just fine. Tear it down as soon as you get it and clean out any junk left inside. Reassemble it with teflon sealing tape on all threads. There's several videos on YouTube on how to prepare the "purple spray gun". The only negative is limited spray tip size. You're stuck with the 1.8, but that's fine for epoxy primers and single stage solid colors. I eventually splurged and bought the $49.95 Harbor Freight gun. It gives a little better atomization. I use it for metallic and clear coats. The most expensive spray gun in the world is not going to fix poor set-up or technique.

I watched hours of videos on how to set-up a spray gun. Most knew less about it than I did. Others were geared towards the Professional painter way above my level or entry level gun. Eventually I boiled it down to 2 easy steps. Use a large piece of cardboard or heavy paper to do your set-up.
Set the Air Pressure to the gun manufactures recommendation. For an HVLP gun it's going to be below 30 lbs.
1. Hold the gun 8-10" away from you test surface. If you need to check, spread your fingers fully. The distance from the tip or your thumb to your pinky should be about right. Pull the trigger briefly and adjust the spray pattern, or width to 8-10". Use a clean spot on your test surface for each shot.
2. Once the width is set, hold the gun the same way and pull the trigger. Count to 3 without moving the gun and release. If the paint runs, decrease the paint volume. If it doesn't, increase the paint flow. Find the point where the paint just starts to run, then back it off 1/4 turn.

From there it's all technique. This can only be learned and improved with practice. Keep your distance (8-10") the same. Keep the gun a 90 degrees from the surface. Move at a steady speed. Maintain your overlap and "spray-thru" (start and stop spraying before and after the piece.

You'll do fine. Don't be afraid to make a mistake or 3. Worst case is you sand / strip it and start over.

I just realized that I don’t have a compressor with high enough CFM to run any gun. It has maybe 3.4 CFM. I can either get my dad to buy one or I might be able to borrow one from a friend. And as far as the gun, idk anymore. Some of yall say its okay to buy a cheap one, seeing as I don’t have the money to buy one. And I probably don't need one for that application. But if yall had to recommend one, what would yall suggest? So, now I feel a bit lost I know now what paint I will use. Either the Nason or Finish 1 or Summit Racing single stage acrylic urethane. So I’ll see what happens from here.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

Is this a crappy gun? I plan on using the Nason and and transtar epoxy primer 2k. Is this gun a good choice? Or should I go with....

I don’t want to spend more than $200 dollars on a gun. I don’t have to money to spend that much.

Thanks!

I have no experience with those guns but DeVilbiss is a good brand. I'd be leary of purchasing from China direct which rules out that red gun. Oh, and a touch up size gun works fine for bike parts unless you have large hands. It's a little easier to maneuver for shooting the frame in my opinion.

Firstly, I am definitely NOT a paint expert, although I have painted a few in my first life(was a bike mechanic in the '70's). If you want to use a paint gun and automotive quality paint all the advice you have gotten so far seems spot on. I used a touch up gun when I did frames also, and they work excellent for this application. So I am definitely NOT saying not to go that way.

However.

Refinishing a '78 LTD over the winter, and I really wanted/needed to keep the cost as low as I could, and also do as much as I could myself. The LTD frame had some rust from the rear brake MC leaking, etc. So I spent a LOT of time sanding, used a spot sand blast gun which I had, and a soda blaster (borrowed) to clean up the frame.

Then, POR-15 (I know, I know) after following all (and I do mean ALL) their directions, including the etching solution. Used a small brush (GASP!!!!), 2 coats, with sufficient dry time to allow tacking, then 1 coat of POR15 top coat, followed by a final spray of the top coat. The top coat is a pretty new product for them.

Results shown. Brush marks minimal as the flow out is actually pretty good. Time will tell how it stands up, but my prior experience has been positive.

Just saying there is more than one way to skin the cat.

I understand what you’re saying about the red gun. I was a bit hesitant myself.

So are you saying that the “fun gun is legitimate?
Like I would assume even that gun is better than the “HF purple gun”.

Thanks!

JohnLuke wrote: I understand what you’re saying about the red gun. I was a bit hesitant myself.

So are you saying that the “fun gun is legitimate?
Like I would assume even that gun is better than the “HF purple gun”.

Thanks!

So again, I don't have experience with those guns. I just did some google searching about cheap guns and there is tons of info out there. I suggest some researching. One thing that came up is the ability to rebuild the gun in the future and some of those cheaper guns are not rebuildable. That would be a deal breaker for me but it may be fine if it's cheap enough.

Good luck with the search.