5/28/02 - Flame How To

For a great site with a great "How To" section on flame painting, check out www.customflamepainting.com. They have a very detailed "how to" section, plus lots of photos of their work which helps give you some ideas.

Jim

5/24/02 - Paint

I tried PPG and had very little luck as a do it yourselfer. My opinion is that it is primarily designed for use in a sterile evironment, like a commercial auto body shop spray booth, and for "bang em out" production kinda work.

The reason I say this is that I made three attempts to paint my sheet metal with the stuff, and each time, something held up the process, and each time, it was at a different point along the way. Resuming the process the following day, each time, led to disaster, and required stripping the parts (or in the last case, just buying new parts) and starting from scratch.

The problems manifested themselves as (1) poor adhesion, paint peeled while trying to tape flames, (2) paint wrinkled up after applying 2nd coat of base coat, after letting first coat dry overnight, and (3) paint wrinkled up after spraying 2nd coat of clear, after letting first coat dry overnight.

Sooooooo, I took anything I had with the name PPG on it, put it in a box, and dropped it off in front of the door at the place I bought it all. "You like this shit, you use it!"

Then, on the recomendation of a friend, who's shop is dirtier, and even smaller than my dirty and small garage, and whose paint jobs ALWAYS come out great, I tried Dupont's Chroma Base, and Chroma Clear. It made a world of difference. Despite the fact that I have never completed a successful paint job to date, and despite the dust, dirt, bugs, and other delays, it came out superb! Not only did I finish my sheet metal, I did a few small parts, and even did a rush job on a friend's set of Road King saddle bags so he could have them on his bike in time for Rolling Thunder. Everything came out great!

In 6 hours we applied 2 coats of a mint green base coat, followed by a coat of clear with white pearl, taped out scallops to match his bike's paint, painted those in black base coat, and then put three coats of clear on top. The colors matched perfectly.

So, which paint would you choose? :)

Jim

5/22/02 - Paint Gun Selection

For anyone considering a "do it yourself" paint job, I want to make a strong recommendation.

If you're an amateur like me, there is nothing like a DeVilbiss FLG2 gravity feed HVLP gun!

I did my tank and rear fender using this gun, and did everything in my power to screw it up, and it came out great. Yesterday, I found out I was using the gun entirely wrong. It came with a pressure gauge, and it is supposed to be set to read 23lbs with the trigger pulled.

I have to send 110 lbs to the gun in order to get it to 23lbs while spraying, so I was sure there was something wrong with the gauge. I used the gauge on my compressor's regulator, and set my regulator to read 23 lbs while spraying. I was about 70lbs short of where I should have been, and it still sprayed far better than my siphon gun.

So tonight, using the pressure gauge on the gun, and sending about 110 to the gun, I got a reading at the gun of about 23 lbs. It seemed like way too much air was coming out of the gun, but I was going to take the word of the guy who sold it to me, and just try it.

Well I primed my new front fender and it came out like glass! All I had to do was give the thing a quick once over with some 400 grit paper, and I was on to color. Two coats of color went on like glass. On to clear, two coats, like glass. Unbelievable! What a gun!

If you're going to do it yourself, take my word for it. Spend the $169 for THIS gun. It is awesome!

Oh yeah, it also uses an optional bag system, which makes cleanup a snap! It comes with 6 samples. Try em, you'll like em, and you'll go back and buy the box of 48 bags for $30 like I did. :)

You poke a plastic bushing through the bottom of a special ziplock bag, and then using a tool that comes with the gun, you push the bushing into the outlet in the bottom of the paint reservoir. You poor the paint into the bag, and then zip it up while stuffing the bag down into the reservoir to get out some of the air. Then you put the lid on the gun, and have at it!

When you finish painting, you aim the gun straight up, and pull the bag out. It leaves a drop of paint in the bottom of the reservoir. That's it.

Jim

aka Critter