Quality paint and hardener in small quantities?

This annoys me to no end. I want several colors in small quantities with hardener that won't go bad in months or years of storage. Is there anything?

The smallest one stage enamel my autopaint supply place can mix is a quart. 10 times too much!

The smallest base/clear is a pint, but they say the hardener for the clear goes bad in 1 week! That's Omni paint. This means I would have to spend hundreds to paint a few parts and then have the stuff go bad...

So here I am with this big bike building project and lots of small parts to paint over a long period of time. I feel forced to use spray cans, which I hate!

solution??

get to be buddies with the neighborhood body shop owner,and use colors he keeps on hand so he can sell you some when you need it

I use single stage urethane and mix in the catalyst and reducer. My auto body supply shop will mix 1/2 pints.

sounds good. what brand name? will the urethane and catalyst have a long shelf life after opened?
thanks

I use Dupont urethane base/clear, and the clear and activator easily last a year on the shelf. Mix them and it's a different story

Great Paint, QT, PT, 1/2 PT.
Also have pre-mix. www.tcpglobal.com/hokpaint/

Jim

twerth is that the Nason line here?:
pc.dupont.com/dpc/en/US/html/visitor/b/nsn/s/product/nason.html

which part numbers? there are several types. thanks!

I use Nason. Don't worry about what is what, let the salesman set you up. Since nothing I had was mixed it should last a long time. You just need to find a better paint supplier than what you have.

All this was about $125. 1/2 pint will do a frame using a small touch-up gun. Mixed at 8:2:2



One light tack coat followed by a wet coat.

thanks. and I love your FMF avatar. 2strokes forever!

However this illustrates my problem. you've got $125 invested in one color. Fine if you're doing a bunch of stuff in kawi green, but if I want to do various brakcets, wheels, pedals, triple clamps etc. in diff colors... you see what happens. It becomes very pricey and we're not even talking about the paint for the bodywork yet.

Paint is expensive in any quantity my last venture to auto color and supply with my exwifes bodyshop discount for a mixed pint of viper red Dupont ESSSF 73.43 that included pint of paint 41.43 Single stage Hardener ESH200/pint 15.75 and a pint of ESx520 hardener mixed 6:1:1 and I have plenty of it left as for the shelf life I cant atest to, but in 3 months it hasn't gone bad painted an old GPZ tank yesterday. so with that being said i get to use the activator and Hardener for 6 pints of color and now If i were to 5 more pints of color at 41.43 each it would get expensive. I chose the beg for leftover route. stoped in at the bodyshop asked if they had any colors they mixed and hadn't activated they had no use for and what do you know had to sign a EPA form they gave me about 12 quart cans with varying amounts from an inch to almost full that they nolonger had to pay to dispose of Win! Win! now I can continue painting my friends bikes on the cheap and get the needed experience. (they use Dupont as well)

Guess what I am tring to say it's not that pint of hardener or activator it's the paint. I have bought premixed house of Kolor airbush paint on ebay 20.00 bucks for 4 ounces did some flames and have 3.0 ounces left (it is premixed) You need to invest in some real clear though

Nelson wrote: thanks. and I love your FMF avatar. 2strokes forever!

However this illustrates my problem. you've got $125 invested in one color. Fine if you're doing a bunch of stuff in kawi green, but if I want to do various brakcets, wheels, pedals, triple clamps etc. in diff colors... you see what happens. It becomes very pricey and we're not even talking about the paint for the bodywork yet.

Thae color was like $60. So all you need is 1/2pt or less of color, then just mix that with the catalyst and reducer.

PJ1 epoxy blacks are pretty nice, aerosol too.

But yeah, if you want to have a small paint shop at your disposal it's gonna cost you.

A cheap alternative to mixing your own clear coat is the Spray Max aerosol 2k clear. It's an aerosol can that has an activator button on the can to combine the 2 parts. Un touched it has a looong shelf life, mixed is 24 hours. One can is $17 and will do a tank, rear fender and side panels.

yeah man! I love that story about the body shop. Gonna give it a try.

I used that spray max can on my frame. I'm happy with it, however it doesn't seem to have the same depth and wet look of urethane, so I'm not going to use it for the bodywork.