DIY frame respray, any tips?

I have the time, ventilated space and the nitromors incase it all goes horribly wrong. I’m not after a satin finish just something that doesn’t look like it’s been done by my one year old.
What do I need to know?

One idiot I know (it wasn’t me honest) spent several days respraying a frame with hammerite and then found out that hammerite and clear laquer do not mix (unless you are aiming for the wrinkly stocking look).

Other lessons learnt:
– A bike stand and a seatpost to prop your frame at all the angles that suddenly become essential is helpful (you can mask both with newspaper if your really fussy
– If your spraying outside make sure its in a sheltered location and that little cloud in the distance is heading very slowly in the other direction.
– If your spraying inside sheet out the area in advance to minimise dust floating about and to avoid spray painting the fridge (Its in the shed even Imy friend isn’t stupid enough to spray in the kitchen (twice)).

Not tough to get a smooth finish IME

Impossible to get a durable one though – so I wouldn’t spend too much time on it.

is Hammerite the best make? I see they do a ‘straight to metal’ spray.

From experience its easy to put on reasonably smoothly, as long as you use thin coats. Reasonably durable but as above it will never match a professional job/powdercoating

Easy enough to do. What are you spraying over ?
Bare metal will need some primer.
If you can find a nice warm airing cupboard to put it in afterwards for a couple of weeks it will be nice & hard. A cold garage at this time of year isnt the best place. Will take weeks to harden properly.
Its not going to be as durable as powder coat / stove enamel, but certainly durable enough.
If your after a nice shine then add a good few coats of lacquer after the colour. Then gently rub down main areas with 1200 grade & T-Cut to a nice shine.

Go to bare metal.
Build up with primer.
Spray on a guide coat and cut back with wet & dry.
Lots of thin coats, start the spray before you get to the frame.
Wet & dry any imperfections.
Laquer coats.
Do it in a ventilated and warm place i.e garage in the summer or else your gonna have the only artexed bike about, and you’ll get blooming.
You can actually get some very good results, but I’ve only done it with trade paints and a compressor.

Oh and aluminium requires more special preparation if going back to bare metal.
In days past some paints reacted with the old paint though it should be ok with most bikes

With most powdercoaters charging about £20-£30 for a bare frame, it’s not worth the hassle IME.

I’ve wasted far too much time stripping and spraying stuff before, never again.

as already said, get it stripped right back to metal and put a couple of plain grey base layers on, then gently sand it back so that its smooth, and then another couple of layers.

plain old spray cans from motor factors and the like will do a decent job. a few keypoints to remember:

do hold the can about 30cm away from the frame ( or whatever the can says )

you make passing movements, so you move towards the frame, bring on the spray, pass over the frame while spraying, let of the spray, all in one smooth movement.

it takes lots of layers to get a good covering … so dont expect it to be fully coloured after the first spray. do your first layer from the correct distance and leave it … NEVER go back over a bit to try and catch a little bit you’ve missed … you’ll end up just putting too much paint down and getting a run. You’ll get it in the next layer.

Once painted, it takes ages to cure if you leave it at normal temp ( days and days ) … so give it that time.