Bike paint primer dilemma

[ClintBX]

Hi ESFMs

I've taken to painting bicycle frames for my own sense of style over the past few years. I've sprayed 3 frames with Rust-Oleum universal spray cans. Each time with metallics. The beauty about using these are that they are primer and colour in one. I've never had to worry about primer before.

Which brings me to my newest project. I've decided to give acrylic a go and after searching and researching, I decided to use Montana gold to paint this frame.

I got Montana's DTM primer and proceeded to do the priming and first topcoat in one session.

It wasn't until the following day that I learned I should have waited 3 hours before hitting it with a colour coat. I maybe waited 20 minutes.

Is this a problem? Do I need to start over or is there something I can do so that I don't have to start from scratch?

If anyone has experience with painting bikes with acrylic,I would appreciate your knowledge and experience. And moreso if you've had any experience using Montana gold.

Might I add, I laid the primer on a hot night. It was 25°c+. It was also somewhat humid.

Clinton

 

[marty]

Let paint dry for 24 hours, 24 days, or what ever it says on the instructions. Examine finish. If it looks good? It is good. I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[DogDipstick]

This is the way to do it... :

Walnut or Soda blast.

Clean, prime in epoxy two part. Primer gun.

Let set for 1 day.

Sanding primer, 3-5 coats. These you can usually wait about an hour for sanding between coats. Long as you are not to heavy with the guns. (primer gun)

Basecoat, color of choice, 2 coats, let dry for one day ( or less depending). Do not touch until topcoated.

Pearle coat, or Hydrographics, over that if you desire. Let dry 1 day if you do this.

Topcoat, fast clear, 2 part with all the additives, like fisheye preventer.... Two coats. One light, let dry for 1/2 hour, then the final glossy coat. Dont overdoo. ( good to dedicate a gun just for this, the clear

Let set for two days without touching.

Done, for years.

Or you can rattlecan it. Lol.

Generally urethane paints dry very quick, and sometimes acrylic does too, but I would wait more for the drying process.

 

[ClintBX]

This is the way to do it... :

Walnut or Soda blast.

Clean, prime in epoxy two part. Primer gun.

Let set for 1 day.

Sanding primer, 3-5 coats. These you can usually wait about an hour for sanding between coats. Long as you are not to heavy with the guns. (primer gun)

Basecoat, color of choice, 2 coats, let dry for one day ( or less depending). Do not touch until topcoated.

Pearle coat, or Hydrographics, over that if you desire. Let dry 1 day if you do this.

Topcoat, fast clear, 2 part with all the additives, like fisheye preventer.... Two coats. One light, let dry for 1/2 hour, then the final glossy coat. Dont overdoo. ( good to dedicate a gun just for this, the clear

Let set for two days without touching.

Done, for years.

Or you can rattlecan it. Lol.

Generally urethane paints dry very quick, and sometimes acrylic does too, but I would wait more for the drying process.

That's great, but I am rattle canning it. I don't have the setup or the space to get into spray gun yet. I live in a share house with no garage.

 

[ClintBX]

Let paint dry for 24 hours, 24 days, or what ever it says on the instructions. Examine finish. If it looks good? It is good. I wouldn't worry too much.

It looking good isn't the same as it lasting. But yeah, it does look good so far. I will have to deal with a couple of runs and some nibs before I move into the masking and next topcoat/s phase. That's if I don't have to start from scratch off course.

For now, I'm letting it hang in the sun in hopes that baking it will mitigate any issues that could arise from topcoating too soon.

 

[John in CR]

The only times I went to the time and expense of a proper paint job:
Once,the paint dried purple, but I ordered and it mixed and went on a nice blue.
The other time, in the first week somehow brake fluid got spilled on frame.

I used to be able to get rattle cans in a variety of colors of very high temp PlastiKote along with epoxie spray paint and both are quite durable. Then Harris came into the market with their chaep crap spray paint and quickly became a monopoly.

At some point I'm gonna take the Delorean route and do some builds with stainless steel and forget paint all together.

 

[nicobie]

Hey John,

Regular steel sprayed with WD40 works well. That's what we used to use on the race car frames. Makes repairs easy after smashing them up. Believe it or not, semi-flat black top coated with WD looks pretty good too. Just apply liberally and often.

 

[DogDipstick]

That's great, but I am rattle canning it. I don't have the setup or the space to get into spray gun yet. I live in a share house with no garage.

I love to paint. I got the system down when I got into it with a few friends back in the day, doing bumpers for cat lots... So many bumpers...
Yes, about 1000$ in equipment in guns, dryers, filters, consumables, and the whatnot. Lil filters, additives, Dixie cups, desiccants. But... I can clearcoat, basecoat, hydrodip, pearlecoat, flipflop paint, anything. All Urethane, not acrylic or the new fanged water based systems.

I dont do it much, unless it is worth it ( make a smashed 500$ car into a unsmashed 2000$ car). Coating is an important part of the whole in my opinion, ( like the color the wife cares about in the house on your wall.. I dont care, but she does.. ) and I have been considering. Complete dissy of my bike is a mountainous prospect. Plus, the coating on it is weatherproof and lasting already, Ironhorse did it pretty good back in the day. My whole bike is real paint and clearcoat, not cheap one coat cover. It is real base/clear and sprayed over the stickers, the stickers were not applied later. Good quality. Not a line on the whole thing.

I did a BMX once in three colors, Bright green, white pearle and forest green. Bike was stolen in a month. Whoever got it got a nice paint job. Lol.

Jappanblack it, if you dont care. That is forgiving. Long lasting. Henry Ford approved.

 

[nicobie]

I used to do japanning when restoring old hand planes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBqgpdBNrt8

 

[John in CR]

Hey John,

Regular steel sprayed with WD40 works well. That's what we used to use on the race car frames. Makes repairs easy after smashing them up. Believe it or not, semi-flat black top coated with WD looks pretty good too. Just apply liberally and often.

Sounds like an oily mess to ride though. Plus, as someone who never washes his bikes dust and road grit would get everywhere...easier to clean I'm sure, but don't want to clean. I wash my hands before riding to make sure a grip doesn't slip out of my hand, so any oily bike sounds like a recipe for eating asphalt. I definitely don't want the throttle ripped from my hand ever again. Once was enough and how I managed to escape injury despite being on the road on my back with a leg caught in the triangle requiring the assistance of by-standers to get untangled still remains a mystery to me.