Paint anyone an expert?

[He11cat]

I am currently anytime now putting my bike in for a respray.

Lucky for me a car sprayer is going to do it when he has a gap in his workload.
Sadly due to one thing and another I have missed this gap I couldn't deliver all the parts and it needs to be done in one hit due to the nature of the finish.

But what I will do is now take the opportunity to prime some other bits to take to him.

I am such a fuss pot fanny that I am still going to paint the fairing myself so I can get the effect I want then say to him thats what I want while waiting to sort it all out again.

I am working with metal flake thats big.
I have a special gun to give the sprayer but an applying the flake by hand on the fairing to a wet coat of clear coat.

Problem is I am not mixing the flake in with the clear coat but applying it over the top then adding several layers of clear over the top.

the nature of how it lays surley will mean that where the flakes sit under the top coat the area will be a tad raised up more then the clear coat that has no flakes under IFYSWIM..
I need to obviously get a dead flat finnish so it doesn't feel like sandpaper when you run your hands over it.

How many top coats should I apply over the flake and whats the best way of flashing it back so it has a high gloss finnish and is dead smooth..I have to be ultra careful not to cut into the flakes as well.
I know it would be safer to wait and hand it to the sprayer to do but I do like trying stuff.. and being a creative soul want to put something into my bike :) that I can be proud of hopefully.

Any advice would be fab!..I don't want to muck it up as the flake I have is rather expensive!
and the time to sand it all back again would drive me mental.

[BluprintZ]

Hi Mel.

The main point is, how deep do you want the flake to be?
You need to flat each coat of clear (laquer) down, then add another coat and flat that down, etc, etc.
It all depends on which coat of clear that you intend adding the flake, the closer to the final coat, the less depth it will have and vise-versa.
If the final coat of clear is sufficient, then you shouldn't be able to feel any rough spots when it's finished, it can be tricky.

G ; )

[gary tompkins]

Have a word with Scrapps

I understand his painter had similar issues on his re-spray

[dunlop0_1]

Girl you are opening a can of worms however, if you want to have a go then fair play too ya.

After primer/stopper etc use p800 (with lightly soapy water) to flat back.
Apply your colour acrylic basecoat either by gun or aerosol.
10-20 min flash off dependant on room temp.
Apply 1 dust coat acrylic laquer (5 min flash off) and then a 1-2 full coats.
Leave over night.
Flat back with soapy water and p1200
Apply laquer/metal flake mixture 1 dust coat (5min flash) 1-2 full coats
Leave for 30 mins
Apply at least 3-5 laquer coats
Leave 5 days
Flat back with p1500 and soapy water
Polish with cutting compound then t-cut

This is just a rough guide i used on a couple of helmets i did some time ago. To be honest unless your car painter has experience of metal flake and motorcycles you should steer clear.

The seat unit on my 748 took me 10 days (1 of which was spent just polishing) from start to finish with 6 coats of laquer and no metal flake, after 28 years i should have the hang of it by now.:biggrin:

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q289/dunlop0_1/IM001176-1-1.jpg

[Nickj]

Sounds more like chunks than flakes!!
So you need as much clear as will be equivalent to the thickness of the flake, then about 3 more on top.
After that as Dunlop says its all elbow grease.

[He11cat]

Thanks :) :)

He did my friends bike with flake but it was a subtle dusting.. enough to show but not enough for me .
Did a nice car..
But a monster ..hmm

The flake has to be dry dusted over wet clear coat with a flake buster gun which I have.. too big to go in the laquer... so kind of like doing a kiddies xmas card.
I know the plan is to do this on another body work kit so if goes wrong I still have a bike!!

I love scrapps bike :)

I know I am mental.. I think it will all end in tears and tantrums as I am such a fussy woman when it come to paint.

But I need to play!!!...

[He11cat]

Nick.... omg that means about 10 coats lol!!!! whaaaaaaaaaa!!

[Nickj]

That would look so deep though

[He11cat]

squint and your see the flakes!!! .. no they have to be the same thickness as normal flakes ...

[scrapps]

My metal flakes are smaller than the ones you bought.
My paint took 7coats after the base and flakes then another 2 over the decals.
With the primer,base coat,silver paint with flakes in then clear mine has around 12 layers to get the finish you have seen.
Good luck and if you get stuck the guy who did mine would do yours but would take a while.

[He11cat]

Well I will have a bash .. I do not intend to do the whole bike myself!!!! Just fancy a go at the fairing.
But I may today spray an old bandit muddy I have and see how the flakes lay..if its like a primary school xmas card I will hand over the primed fairing over.
I am just terrified that the bike will come back with a teeny bit of flake on it....

If the result is not how I want it I will have to save up again and drive the body work down to your chap..
I am keeping my dark body work on.
It means I can run the bike while the paint gets done !!

[He11cat]

Right dugout bandit muddy and didn't do it properly but laquered it and shook stuff all over it...

Your right it needs to go through a gun as you can't shake fast enough to get it even!

However ..... I know what coverage I now want...
I am sitting here grinning as oooh its so pretty!!..

I did however cover my disgusting grey kitchen floor with sparkly stuff and it now looks pretty dam Saturday night fever... Im tempted to do the floor to match the bike!

Any way I have laquered over the flakes and will see what happens in 5 days and il have a go at skimming it all, then I can feed back to sprayer and take it my pathetic effort and say see this... I want my bike to look like this! But done well...

Granted it will be to very few peoples taste but I am going to give Mr Scrapps a run for his money.
And yes I will need shades!
I am loving that sparkly stuff!

[scrapps]

You can never have to much sparkle HC. cant wait to see it when done (polorised lenses cope best with the glare)
Got a little bit of bling to do on mine ready for Belgium just cant help it i have to do more.:banghead:

[He11cat]

My kitchen floor... hmmmm ..I hope it comes off lol!!! :biggrin:

I hope this guy can pull off this paint job.. if not I am gonna be very out of pocket!!!!..and gutted.

Its certainly blingy stuff .. but how it works on a bike tank could be interesting!
My kitchen and front room is now covered in metal flake!..

I will park next to yours in the sun and chuckle .. watch the people shade their eyes!:biggrin: