Anyone paint a frame herself??

[hirakukibou]

I am an artist and have a bike frame I want to paint. I want to paint a base color and then hand paint designs on it. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any tips?

I am taking the paint off with some serious remover. That's the first step, but I am more concerned with the actual painting of it.

Thanks for any ideas.

Pata

[mimitabby]

Pata
I want to do it too! I can't offer you any suggestions, but go to Dario Pegoretti's website and look at what he's done with handpainting bike frames.

this should get you started
http://www.dreambike.com/pegoretti.htm

[Tuckervill]

My son painted his steel John Deere frame himself. He sanded it all down to bare metal first, and then used primer for metal, and sanded again. Then he taped off the lugs and sprayed it John Deere green. The lugs were then painted John Deere yellow.

He used very many light coats to keep from getting drips, and it worked. He put some custom decals on it (unfortunately, they're not straight, but oh well, it's his bike). Then he clear coated it all a couple of more times.

I think it looks good. I think it could have used a little more sanding after the primer, but for what it is and for who did it, it looks fine.

Karen

[Surlygirl]

Most places use car paints and air brushes to do frames. I'd be very careful to make sure paint and bike material are compatible. You also don't want paint in your bottom bracket. They also put a clear coat on after to protect the finish.

[Tuckervill]

Oh yeah, if you have access to a sprayer, you'd do a much better job. If you have a compressor, you can get a sprayer for it from almost anywhere for about $25. You could use automotive paints for that.

As for the bottom bracket, we cut a piece of cardboard to fit and just tucked it in there until it was all done. He got a tiny bit of paint on the outside threads, but the bb went in just fine.

Karen

[mimitabby]

Tuckerville, I'd love to see pictures of the John Deere Bike!