1 Spring Paint Job becomes Winter Overhaul Fri Nov 11, 2022 12:19 am
zaubertuba
Silver member
Time always seems to conspire against you---the best laid plans and whatnot. I'd hoped to get my RS painted and outfitted for work and my regular monthly drives around my district for work last Spring, but time and conditions didn't really materialize until late Summer...and our Summer seemed to short us a bit. :p
Anyway, after reading extensively, and developing a good relationship with our local paint supply shop, I took a stab at doing my own shoot. There's still some runs and drips (it's a *very* fine line between putting not enough paint on to make a smooth finish and putting too much on), but in the end I was really happy with how it turned out. Some lessons learned:
-Buy good paint. It's expensive but worth it.
-The Harbor-Freight paint gun I used was plenty up to the task, but make sure you clean the reservoir strainer *thoroughly*--I ended up ditching it completely when the water-based primer I used didn't clean out totally and conspired to foul my next coat.
-Clean the gun religiously.
-A 21-Gallon Air Compressor is just *barely* large enough for this job. If you're patient. And it's not too hot. 30 would be better.
-Prep and Sand, Sand, Sand, and when you think you're done sand some more--you can't possibly prep enough!
-I created a "booth" by hanging plastic in my garage. I vacuumed the space meticulously, left the shop vac running for awhile to try and clean up any "floaters" and dust, and then used the Shop Vac to blow clean fresh air into the booth and create some positive pressure to try and keep dust out. I *still* ended up with a few drifters here and there but it was wayyyy better than in an "unconditioned" space. Oh...another good tip, hose down the floor and keep it damp to capture dust and overspray and keep it from kicking back up. Also, when shooting, between coats, I used the "paintless" first stage of the gun trigger to gently blow off any dust that did happen to show up.
-Degrease and use a tack cloth right before shooting.
-Read the instructions for your paint and clear coats carefully.
-Wear a real respirator--these pro-level solvents are positively *evil!"
-I had one piece in particular that viciously Orange-peeled *twice.* After the second try, I went, wondering what went wrong, to the paint supplier and he told me "probably not your fault--you don't know what's deep down under those coats" --he said the solvents in the reducer will sometimes draw crap up out of older paint. He suggested a water-based primer, which I used, and seemed to do the trick.
My "Materials" Table:
Prepared Workspace and parts resanded after a first botched shoot (I didn't prep enough and had some bad sanding swirls still showing):
After the final Clearcoat shoot:
Orange-peel on a re-painted part.
And here's why--how many coats can you count? A water-based primer sealed these out and I didn't have a problem on the third shoot for this part.
Mostly together. The mirrors dripped *badly* so I may reshoot those at a later date, but I'm still pretty happy with how it turned out.
Next up:
-Finding a seat for my '85-->Post '85 cowl change
-installing the Parabellum screen
-Touring bars (the "not actually BMW" C-style bars I'm using will hit the Parabellum shield before full lock), Heated Grips, and Touring Dash cover.
-Rebuild of the Gen II Gas Cap I bought from Cambridge....England (because I bought the gasket kit not remembering my cap was a Gen I)
-Longer control cables (have my throttle and choke cables, just need the center throttle bracket bits and a clutch cable.
-I think a tranny-seal refresh may be in the works, judging by the drips on my garage floor.
So much for riding this (Short) Summer, but hopefully she'll be fully ready in the Spring!
Anyway, after reading extensively, and developing a good relationship with our local paint supply shop, I took a stab at doing my own shoot. There's still some runs and drips (it's a *very* fine line between putting not enough paint on to make a smooth finish and putting too much on), but in the end I was really happy with how it turned out. Some lessons learned:
-Buy good paint. It's expensive but worth it.
-The Harbor-Freight paint gun I used was plenty up to the task, but make sure you clean the reservoir strainer *thoroughly*--I ended up ditching it completely when the water-based primer I used didn't clean out totally and conspired to foul my next coat.
-Clean the gun religiously.
-A 21-Gallon Air Compressor is just *barely* large enough for this job. If you're patient. And it's not too hot. 30 would be better.
-Prep and Sand, Sand, Sand, and when you think you're done sand some more--you can't possibly prep enough!
-I created a "booth" by hanging plastic in my garage. I vacuumed the space meticulously, left the shop vac running for awhile to try and clean up any "floaters" and dust, and then used the Shop Vac to blow clean fresh air into the booth and create some positive pressure to try and keep dust out. I *still* ended up with a few drifters here and there but it was wayyyy better than in an "unconditioned" space. Oh...another good tip, hose down the floor and keep it damp to capture dust and overspray and keep it from kicking back up. Also, when shooting, between coats, I used the "paintless" first stage of the gun trigger to gently blow off any dust that did happen to show up.
-Degrease and use a tack cloth right before shooting.
-Read the instructions for your paint and clear coats carefully.
-Wear a real respirator--these pro-level solvents are positively *evil!"
-I had one piece in particular that viciously Orange-peeled *twice.* After the second try, I went, wondering what went wrong, to the paint supplier and he told me "probably not your fault--you don't know what's deep down under those coats" --he said the solvents in the reducer will sometimes draw crap up out of older paint. He suggested a water-based primer, which I used, and seemed to do the trick.
My "Materials" Table:
Prepared Workspace and parts resanded after a first botched shoot (I didn't prep enough and had some bad sanding swirls still showing):
After the final Clearcoat shoot:
Orange-peel on a re-painted part.
And here's why--how many coats can you count? A water-based primer sealed these out and I didn't have a problem on the third shoot for this part.
Mostly together. The mirrors dripped *badly* so I may reshoot those at a later date, but I'm still pretty happy with how it turned out.
Next up:
-Finding a seat for my '85-->Post '85 cowl change
-installing the Parabellum screen
-Touring bars (the "not actually BMW" C-style bars I'm using will hit the Parabellum shield before full lock), Heated Grips, and Touring Dash cover.
-Rebuild of the Gen II Gas Cap I bought from Cambridge....England (because I bought the gasket kit not remembering my cap was a Gen I)
-Longer control cables (have my throttle and choke cables, just need the center throttle bracket bits and a clutch cable.
-I think a tranny-seal refresh may be in the works, judging by the drips on my garage floor.
So much for riding this (Short) Summer, but hopefully she'll be fully ready in the Spring!
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1985 K100RS