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I'm far too tight to pay someone to do this for me.
Other than lightly sanding and degreasing and masking are there any other tips?
Doesn't need to be perfect as it'll be covered in crap after the first ride, crashed alot, dropped, and generally neglected
Cheers!
DIY paint jobs are the biggest waist of time and money, once you factor in all the time you spend doing it and all the prep work it is much cheaper (long term) to get it powdered or painted by a pro.
A frame should be about £50 upwards depending on colour but it will last rather than looking absolute gash before you get it out of the car.
what he said imo.
Either get it blasted and powder coated or accept it 'as is' - a cheap rattle can paint job will chip easily and have a poor finish, an expensive rattle can paintjob will take days, chip easily and be more expensive that a powder coat.
(assuming frame material allows powder coating obvs.)
If not I'd still get it blasted and sprayed, not just rubbed down.
Yup. I sprayed my old commuter because I like diy'ing things but doing it well took a long time and was more expensive than powdercoating. Most diy paints just aren't suitable.
That's not to say don't do it- just, do it for one of the 2 good reasons. 1, you want to, or 2, you don't care about the cosmetics of it at all (in which case, why are you doing it? Magpie-proofing a commuter can make sense though.
If you go with powdercoating- and you probably should- then check them out carefully first. Last time, I used a place with a pretty good rep and they did an absolutely awful job. If you've got a place that does motorbikes, that's generally a safer bet (because if you do a bad job of a motorbike refinish, sooner or later someone's going to batter you)
i did a frame when i was a teenager, and did a really good job. even though i hung it from a tree in the garden.
I had loads of time and not much cash, probably the other way round now. or just less time?!
and it did take [b]loads [/b][u]of time.
I've done loads of these now. Mostly BMX's when I was a youth. The quality of the finish is directly proportional to how long you spend prepping it. If you're just keying up the old paint instead of bare metal and primer you'll save loads of time. Some pointers off the top of my head;
1. Halfords rattle cans are actually really good and come in a million colours.
2. Leave the tins in a bucket of warm water prior to spraying. It really thins it out and makes a smoother finish.
3. Don't even bother if it's below 10c in your shed/garage. The frame will be freezing and the paint will take forever to dry. The longer it takes to dry the softer and more fragile the finish will be.
Kobra graffiti spray cans work well, are cheap and the nozzles are decent. Finish with lots of clear coat if you want it to look vaguely smart.
Cheers for heads up on temp. I'd forgotten that. Have a blower heater which should be ok and has thermostat
I don't really care about chips etc
Last bike I did with Halfords cans has been ok ish.
Liking the tip about warming cans.
Will take it easy with coats too. Last one I tried to get perfect first go.